Learn about the education and experience requirements for the Certified Performance and Sport Scientist certification. The NSCA's CPSS requirements allow for three different eligibility routes based on your level of post-secondary education.

Position statements are official statements of the NSCA on topics related to strength and conditioning and exercise science. All NSCA Position Statements are published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research® and free to the public.

Sprinting is a key component for many individual and team sports. Therefore, to enhance sprint performance, various training methods are widely used by coaches and practitioners, including maximum sprint speed and resisted sprint training. Resisted sprinting with sled towing is a method that has recently received considerable attention from the sport science community. However, to date, no consensus exists regarding its acute and chronic effects in team sport athletes. This narrative review aimed to (a) review and analyze the mechanics of sprinting under unresisted and resisted conditions with a specific focus on team sport disciplines; (b) provide a thorough and applied discussion on the importance of considering acute and chronic effects of sled loading on technique, electromyographic activity, and force production, as well as on the role of muscle architecture and neural factors in sled training; (c) analyze the effects of increasing sled loads during acceleration and maximum velocity phases on contact and flight phases, while concomitantly examining kinetic, kinematic, and neuromuscular aspects, because all these factors affect each other and cannot be properly understood in isolation.

In today’s digital era, nutritional information, and misinformation, is readily available for most people by media outlets, social media, and on-line streaming videos. Nutrition is of utmost interest because of its role in health, fitness, weight management, and athletic performance. Because of the public interest and information availability, qualified health care providers and exercise professionals can be an excellent source of evidence-based nutrition counseling for appropriate clients to improve overall health and athletic performance. The goal of this article is to provide a source of practitioner and client evidence-based education regarding nutritional strategies to improve athletic performance

The National Strength and Conditioning Association is governed by a Board of Directors that is elected by the NSCA membership. The board is comprised of eight members of the NSCA and one elected public member.

This continuing education opportunity explores a variety of topics as they pertain to nutrition and supplement information. Articles 1) Betaine Supplementation: A Critical Review of Its Efficacy for Improving Muscle Strength, Power, and Body Composition 2) Energy and Macronutrient Considerations for Young Athletes 3) Evidence-Based Nutritional Strategies to Enhance Athletic Performance 4) Green Tea and Black Tea for Exercise Recovery: A Systematic Review 5) Understanding the Scientific Evidence and Regulatory State of the U.S. Dietary Supplement Industry: Considerations for Health and Fitness Practitioners

Held annually, NSCA Conferences are an exceptional way to learn the latest research, techniques, and breakthrough performance methods used by top professionals around the world. Learn from the best and grow your network! All of our conferences provide CSCS® and NSCA-CPT® Continuing Education Unit (CEU) opportunities.

For many athletes, being agile is the end goal of physical performance training. It represents their capacity to change velocity and direction in response to the actions of their opponent and the opportunities and constraints of their environment. The aim of this article was to describe the pitch-based development of agility, focusing on 60–1808 turns. This ensures all turns have the demand of deceleration, turning, and reacceleration, requiring both outside leg turns (608) and inside leg turns (1808). To enable the effective coaching of these, coaches must understand movement mechanics and thus the fundamental principles that underpin good technique. Within agility training, a detailed appreciation of how the center of mass and base of support interact to affect the direction of force is fundamental to this. This understanding and the ensuing technical models ensure athletes have the best chance of executing the task optimally and ensure coaches can effectively instruct athletes and adapt drills accordingly.