This column from TSAC Report 76, examines the performance benefits of supplementing creatine monohydrate for tactical athletes. Visit NSCA online to learn about nutrition, and performance fitness.

This excerpt from NSCA’s Guide to Sport and Exercise Nutrition discusses the research surrounding the timing of hydration and its impact on sport performance for those participating in aerobic endurance exercise.

This article is part of a continuing series of tactical strength and conditioning (TSAC) research reviews. It is designed to bring awareness to new research findings of relevance to tactical strength and conditioning communities.

The goal of this article is to promote professional dialogue and broaden the knowledge of ways to use nutrition and recovery techniques to work with the physiological changes that come throughout the menstrual cycle.

Nutrition plays an important role in the injury prevention and treatment of tactical professionals. Nutritional goals for healthy connective tissue are twofold: increase collagen content in connective tissues susceptible to injury and prevent a decline in collagen content to help mitigate injury and facilitate recovery.

The effects of alcohol on athletic performance vary depending on quantity, demographics, and type of exercise, making it difficult to determine specific recommendations. From an athletic performance standpoint, the acute use of alcohol can influence motor skills, hydration status, aerobic performance, as well as aspects of the recovery process.

Athletes have sought out intermittent fasting as a strategy to optimize performance. However, it is important to critically evaluate the research available in order to establish specific recommendations and determine if intermittent fasting is safe or effective.

All sports nutrition professionals should be able to answer basic nutrition questions. However, athletes with complex nutrition issues should be referred to the appropriate resource as explained in this book excerpt.

Before sports nutritionists and coaches begin prescribing unconventional eating recommendations to athletes, it is important to consider the scientific evidence supporting a low-carbohydrate diet for boosting athletic performance.

Considering the great popularity of eccentric-based training, the purpose of this review is to first provide the scientific rationale for its use; second, summarize the eccentric-based training modalities that can be used; and finally, offer practical recommendations on how to implement eccentricbased modalities to enhance sports performance. The molecular and neural mechanisms underlying eccentric actions are partially distinct from those of concentric and isometric actions. During eccentric actions, theories suggest a strain-induced modulation of actin-myosin interactions at the crossbridge level, activation of structural protein titin, and winding of titin on actin. Eccentric acute physiological responses differ from concentric exercise responses, including variations in neuromuscular, metabolic, hormonal, and anabolic signaling. Eccentric training elicits greater improvements in muscle strength, power, and stretch-shortening cycle function compared with concentric-only or traditional resistance training. Therefore, eccentric-based training can lead to unique neuromuscular (e.g., improved coordination of motor units) and morphological (e.g., increased muscle fascicle length and enhanced distal cross-sectional area) adaptations that could play a key role in sport performance. Practitioners may implement eccentric exercises with external loads, fully eccentric-based exercises (e.g., Nordic hamstring curl), accentuated eccentric loading, flywheel resistance exercise, and plyometrics to develop specific physical adaptations in line with their goals. Eccentric work (e.g., for hamstrings) can be obtained during other exercises such as downhill running tasks, decelerations, and sprinting activities. Practitioners need to be aware that no single “silver bullet” training modality exists; consequently, practitioners should use a combination of eccentric-based training approaches with their athletes to obtain the desired adaptations.