Long-Term Athletic Development (LTAD) models have provided a youth sport framework for more than 2 decades, aimed at improving skill progression, training outcomes, and athlete preparation. Although influential, traditional LTAD approaches are limited by their sport-centric orientation, linear design, and focus on elite performance, leaving them less relevant for most youth and adults who do not pursue competitive sport. In response, we propose reframing LTAD as Long-Term Activity Development (LTActD), an accessible and flexible model designed to promote lifelong engagement in physical activity, including recreation, exercise, and sport. LTActD emphasizes 5 dynamic phases—Explore, Develop, Apply, Sustain, and Thrive—that accommodate diverse pathways, periods of inactivity, and opportunities to re-enter active living at any age. Represented as a curvy road, the new model underscores that participation in physical activity is rarely linear, more like a winding journey shaped by health, motivation, environment, and social context. LTActD bridges sport science and public health, positioning physical activity as a lifelong resource for health, independence, and fulfillment. LTActD offers a practical framework to empower individuals of all ages and abilities to discover meaningful ways to move, re-engage, and embrace active living throughout the life course.

Rhodri S. Lloyd, lead author of the LTAD Position Statement, provides an abbreviated look at what long-term athletic development is and how strength and conditioning professionals can implement effective training strategies into programming to improve health, well-being, and growth.

In the second of this two part series, this article will discuss program design with an emphasis on integrating lower limb plyometric training into soccer training to enhance power actions, as well as, consider high school athletes’ biological characteristics and long-term athletic development (LTAD).

This article in NSCA Coach shares a research-driven framework for dryland training in competitive swimming. Visit us online to learn more on sport performance and exercise science.

USA Football's senior manager of education and training, Andrew Ryland, discusses the long-term athletic development (LTAD) model and its growth and application in the United States, as well as the breakdown of what it looks like for youth football players, in this session from the NSCA’s 2019 Coaches Conference.

This article explores evidence-based nutrition practices for youth athletes, emphasizing hydration, dietary quality, and breakfast consumption to support long-term athletic development. Visit NSCA online to read more about sports nutrition and athletic development.

NATCON 2022

Learn about processes of data collection and presentation, and how to use the data to individualize athletes’ training. In this session from the NSCA’s 2016 National Conference, Kevin Paxton demonstrates an age-specific long-term athletic development (LTAD) syllabus for soccer players.

In this session from the NSCA's 2016 National Conference, Boo Schexnayder demonstrates how to effectively design long-term and short-term programs for speed development. Schexnayder explains how to effectively periodize strength training in a manner that supports speed development, as well as how to use speed and power training as a neural integration tool to enhance strength development.

Synergistic development of muscular strength and motor skill competency is central to long-term athletic development. However, these qualities need to be developed in a logical and progressive manner, and training methods need to be developmentally appropriate, engaging, and enjoyable for young athletes to help them build a positive association with strength and conditioning-based activities. This article aims to provide a resource for coaches to use when developing the athletic motor skill competencies in youth, including game-based activities, and a more structured resistance training curriculum.