Learn, participate and network with colleagues at (location) while earning CEUs. Hosted by the state, provincial and regional directors, this local event brings cutting-edge research and application to your backyard.

This article in NSCA Coach discusses how machine-based testing can be used to gather data and improve training. Visit NSCA online to learn more on sports science and exercise research.

Extreme Weight Cutting - A Micro Approach

When working with athletes who play team sports, your main goal as a strength and conditioning coach is to ensure that your athletes arrive at a competitive peak in a predictable way, Dave Hamilton says. No matter the athlete's level - college or elite - training loads impact the ability to perform. As coaches, we need to remove the subjectivity and use monitoring tools that are effective.

Strength and conditioning professionals who incorporate a properly designed and supervised training program can help their young athletes train, compete, and reduce the likelihood of injury.

Both unilateral and bilateral training should be used to optimally develop basketball players. This article compares single-leg and double-leg training options and provides considerations and potential implications for training basketball athletes.

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to synthesize the literature and provide a robust estimate of the correlations between lower-body, multijoint, isometric and dynamic neuromuscular assessment variables and snatch (SN) and clean and jerk (C&J) performance in competitive weightlifters. A comprehensive search through 3 electronic databases (PubMed, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science) returned 12 studies that met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analyses were performed on Pearson’s correlations between SN and C&J performance and 15 variables from 5 neuromuscular assessments— countermovement jump (CMJ), squat jump (SJ), isometric midthigh pull (IMTP), back squat (BS), and front squat (FS) one repetition maximum (1RM). The FS and BS 1RM exhibited nearly perfect correlations (r 5 0.93 to 0.94), whereas the IMTP peak force exhibited very large correlations (r 5 0.83 to 0.85). The IMTP force at 250 ms exhibited very large correlations (r 5 0.77 to 0.78), and the CMJ and SJ peak power exhibited very large to nearly perfect correlations (r 5 0.88 to 0.92). These findings illustrate the importance of lower-body maximal and time-limited force-producing capabilities in weightlifters. Moreover, each assessment offers at least one variable that exhibits a correlation of .0.70. Therefore, these assessments may be used to gauge weightlifting performance potential.

This article contains examples of how to periodize training programs to help aerobic endurance athletes reach their peak condition at the appropriate time of the year.

Much in the same way that a single movement or a single workout does not make or break a training cycle, the same holds true for mental skills. The challenge is that the strength and conditioning coach will likely need to reach out to another professional trained in sport psychology to help establish the plan and construct the appropriate interventions.

This article discusses overtraining risk factors in endurance athletes and provides strategies for optimizing effective programming. Visit NSCA online to learn more about athletic performance.