Strength training is an often neglected aspect of training for distance athletes. This article gives an overview of the importance of strength training for collegiate female distance runners by providing a sample of an annual training program and considerations to increase performance and avoid injury.

Learning to lunge correctly can strengthen the lower body musculature, improve core stability and balance, enhance hip flexibility, and increase functionality. There are a plethora of modifications and progressions to consider.

In this session from the 2018 NSCA Coaches Conference, Ben Gleason brings awareness to the circumstances that lead to rhabdomyolysis syndrome, and some of the exercise programming that can cause this condition. Ben offers recommendations for preventing exertional rhabdomyolysis when training athletes at a variety of preparedness levels.

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 video from the NSCA 2017 Personal Trainers Conference features Morey Kolber discussing how to recognize clients with at-risk signs and symptoms who require a medical referral for their low back, and what exercise programming is needed for specific lower back injuries and impairments post rehabilitation.

In this session from the 2015 NSCA Personal Trainers Conference, Diane Vives demonstrates key sequences of progressive and regressive tactics that build functional strength for primary lower body exercises. Learn to coach effectively in order to prompt the best execution and to identify common barriers of better movement to determine the best choices for progression and regression tactics for these movements.

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of two different durations of training cessation on upper and lower body maximal strength performance, and to investigate the mechanisms underlying performance changes following short-term training cessation.

In this session from the NSCA’s 2015 Hockey Clinic, San Jose Sharks Strength and Conditioning Coordinator Mike Potenza discusses how to create a program that can help re-assimilate an injured hockey player’s body back to pre-injury functions and movements, and eventually back to competition. Potenza also covers the structure of an off-ice reconditioning program, the members of the performance team, methods for building a “return to skate program,” and reintegration procedures for the athlete.

It has been said that power lies within the transverse plane, but actually the frontal plane foot motion is what drives the transverse plane. In this session from the NSCA’s 2016 Personal Trainers Conference, Emily Splichal reviews frontal plane foot movements and how they are coupled with transverse plane rotations of the lower extremity.

The squat is one of the most widely used exercises in resistance training programs. The aim of this narrative review was to analyze the effect of the squat on lower-limb muscle hypertrophy. Briefly, the available literature indicates that the squat is an effective exercise for inducing hypertrophy of the quadriceps, mainly the vastii, but also the rectus femoris, although to a reduced magnitude. Multiple lines of evidence suggest little to no hamstring hypertrophy from the back squat. Although the gluteus maximus clearly participates mechanically in the back squat, few longitudinal studies exist on the topic. The limited evidence available on this topic suggests deeper squats may be more hypertrophic for the gluteus maximus, and that, squat depth beyond 908 of knee flexion may not provide further hypertrophy of the knee extensors. Despite the popularity of the many squat variations, there are still controversies surrounding their hypertrophic potential for lower-limb musculature. Further studies are needed to investigate the hypertrophic effects of different squat variations, as well as differences in hypertrophy because of squat depth, stance, barbell position, and different squat apparatuses/machines.