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Explore New Orleans during the 2026 NSCA National Conference — nearby culture, music, and food enhance your in-person experience while you earn up to 3.0 CEUs.

Choose your path with new 2026 NSCA Performance Summits. Join us at one of four specialized strength and conditioning events across the U.S. and earn 0.8 CEUs.

Dietary supplement use is quite prevalent among bodybuilders to enhance their physiques for competition. Many of the dietary supplements used by these athletes are neither safe nor effective. Several reviews have been published detailing the efficacy of dietary supplements for athletes; however, none have been written specifically for bodybuilders and physique athletes. Therefore, the aim of this article is to provide an evidence-based review of the top 5 dietary supplements for bodybuilding competitors: creatine, caffeine, protein powders, free-form essential amino acids, and beta-alanine. This review will provide bodybuilders, coaches, and practitioners with information on each supplement’s mechanism of action, seasonal benefits, protocol for use, and special considerations to optimize supplement strategies for performance, physique, and overall competitive success.

Early sport specialization involves physically immature children participating in intensive year-round training and/or competition for a single sport. The lack of sport exposure and diversification during the developmental years may underlie the increased risk of overuse injuries, blunting of motor skill development, psychosocial issues, overtraining syndrome, burnout, and potential dropout from sport. With increasing number of youth choosing, or being encouraged, to specialize at an early age, we aim to provide evidence based recommendations for the integration of strength and conditioning into the development programs of young athletes who participate in sports with a culture of early specialization. In addition to the principles of programming, strategies are provided relative to monitoring of growth, maturation, and training load to illustrate the potential complexities of attempting to optimize long-term athletic development in early specializing athletes.

Meet the 2026 NSCA Tactical Award winners honored at NSCA Tactical Annual Training for advancing tactical strength and conditioning, readiness, and resilience.

Explore tactical strength and conditioning careers across military, law enforcement, fire, and EMS. Learn about roles, pay, credentials, and how to get started.