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

Join the 2026 NSCA Performance Science Integration Summit in Austin, TX, on March 28. Explore applied sport science research, train hands-on, and earn 0.8 CEUs.

You can find answers to the most frequently asked questions the NSCA receives here.

Choose your 2026 NSCA Fall Performance Summit from two focused strength and conditioning events. Earn 0.8 CEUs with expert continuing education.

In this video from the 2022 NSCA National Conference, Chris Bailey discusses monitoring, quantifying, and other relevant research in regard to asymmetries in sport performance.

The countermovement jump (CMJ) is one of the most used performance assessments in strength and conditioning. Although numerous studies discuss the usability of different metrics in this test, this is often performed within the context of a specific aim. However, to our knowledge, no information currently exists providing practitioners with some over-arching recommendations on which metrics to choose when the purpose of using the test differs. This article discusses how the metrics selected to monitor during CMJ testing may differ when aiming to use it as a proxy for athletic performance, as part of neuromuscular fatigue monitoring, or as part of a test battery for return to performance in injured athletes.

Dr. Tim Suchomel gives the annual Dr. Mike Stone Lecture at the 2021 National Conference and discusses muscular strength in detail, including its effect on performance variables, effective training progressions, and strategies for athletes through the whole training spectrum.

Join 2026 APTA & NSCA Return to Play Performance Summit in Washington, D.C., Sept. 26, for physical therapy & strength and conditioning education. Earn 0.8 CEUs

Hybrid fitness competitions such as HYROX have rapidly gained popularity, blending aerobic endurance running with a variety of high-intensity resistance and ergometer-based stations in a globally standardized format. The sport’s unique structure, comprising eight 1-kilometer runs interspersed with diverse workload stations, presents distinct physiologic, biomechanical, and technical demands. This review synthesizes existing research on hybrid fitness events to identify the key determinants of HYROX performance, emphasizing aerobic capacity, anaerobic power, local muscular endurance, and maximal strength. The aerobic system is foundational, enabling recovery between high-intensity efforts and sustaining performance during the event’s prolonged duration. Conversely, anaerobic capacity is critical for executing the high-intensity efforts demanded by each fitness station. Local muscular endurance supports repeated submaximal contractions, while strength and power underpin performance in movements such as sled pushes and running economy. Technical proficiency and injury prevention strategies are also discussed, alongside targeted programming recommendations, including high-intensity interval training, circuit training, and blood flow restriction methods. Despite its growing popularity, limited sport-specific research exists, necessitating further investigation to refine training and performance strategies. This review provides a comprehensive framework for athletes and coaches to optimize preparation and performance in HYROX, contributing to the broader understanding of hybrid fitness competitions.

Multidirectional ground reaction forces (GRFs) and jump tests within baseball pitchers provide insight into athletic ability and coordination to produce lower-body force and power. Lower-body power is a biomechanical feature that denotes physiological capacity through dynamic and passive tissue stretch-shortening in transferring energy from the ground through the kinetic chain. Optimized lower-body power may lessen the magnitude of forces on the upper extremity. Insufficient lower-body power may create a greater risk of upper-body injury. Lower-body power and its relationship to ball velocity have been minimally investigated, yet some research points to a correlation between jumping ability and fastball velocity. Because pitching is unilateral, practitioners should consider unilateral jumps to determine the extent of bilateral asymmetry or stride to drive leg differences that can guide training to remediate deficiencies. The purposes of this brief review are to (a) examine factors that influence vertical jump performance among baseball players, (b) examine research on pitching multidirectional GRFs, and (c) examine literature concerning jump performances to baseball pitching performance. Collectively, this review can assist coaches and practitioners in lower-body power testing and training for baseball pitchers.