This excerpt from the book Developing Endurance, published by Human Kinetics, presents a sample 5K training plan for runners.

The purpose of this article is to share the importance of the menstrual cycle’s effects on elite athlete performance, and how these effects should influence the training and recovery of high-performing athletic women.

This article addresses various aspects of overtraining and overreaching, including the signs and symptoms, preventative supplementation, and the recovery process.

Trainer Tips are infographics designed to help you, an NSCA professional, educate clients and promote your services. These member-only resources can be used for client education, motivation, and promotion.

This article will examine the physical demands of soccer players and discuss why repeated sprint ability (RSA) is considered highly important in the performance of these athletes.

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.

Through this article, personal trainers should understand the extremes of the Wim Hof method, and instead encourage clients to follow scientifically-backed deep breathing and cold therapy practices to supplement a well-rounded exercise program.

The goal of this article is to overview the most evidenced-based recovery strategies that are promoted in United States Air Force Special Warfare.

The use of exercise interventions to maximize athletes’ performance is a common practice in competitions. This systematic review aimed to compile research that explored the effectiveness of priming strategies to maximize physical performance in track and field. The literature search was conducted from PubMed and Scopus. One hundred eighty-two studies were assessed against the inclusion criteria: (a) minimum 1-year participation/competition experience; (b) randomized controlled trials with pre-post intervention outcomes; and (c) studies involving exercise interventions applied #6 hours before outcome measures were collected. Fifteen studies satisfied the criteria and were categorized according to the exercise interventions used (i.e., resistance training, plyometric/ ballistic training, resisted sprints, and modified warm-ups). Heavy-loaded resistance training (i.e., .85% 1 repetition maximum) and resisted sprints increased subsequent sprint performance. Plyometrics/ballistic training also positively impacted subsequent jumping (i.e., long jump) and throwing performance (i.e., shot put). Modified warm-ups (i.e., high-intensity sprints and heavier throwing implements) also improved subsequent running and throwing performance. Overall, exercise interventions performed at high intensity and low volume augment subsequent physical performance as close to 4 minutes before the event. However, a sufficient recovery interval must be considered for a positive performance response.

This article is intended to provide an understanding of the demands of football from a bioenergetic perspective and provides a framework in which strength and conditioning professionals can design conditioning plans that focus on preparing athletes for competition.