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.

Understanding how the body adapts to the overload of aerobic exercise is critical to designing effective exercise training programs, monitoring exercise responses and progress, and assessing training outcomes.

This NSCA Coach article aims to equip coaches, athletic trainers, and support staff with the knowledge and tools necessary to manage REDs among college athletes. Visit NSCA online to read more on mental health and sport performance.

Nutrition and dietary intake are key factors for exercise and sport performance. While a substantial body of research highlights the impact of nutrition on exercise, many dietary and nutrient recommendations are based on research studies only conducted in men. However, the distinct physiological, neurological, and hormonal changes across a woman’s life cycle significantly affect nutritional needs. This narrative review explores key recommendations for calories, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and select supplements, highlighting the absence of sex-specific guidelines in current dietary frameworks for strength and conditioning female athletes. The review synthesizes current literature to provide practical guidance for coaches, sport dietitians, and health practitioners to optimize both performance and health outcomes for female athletes.

This article will highlight recent key dietary practices and provide practical applications for implementing these practices for firefighters.

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.

This article examines how plant-based diets can effectively support athletic performance. Visit NSCA online to learn more about exercise science and nutrition research.

This article discusses the background, statistics, mechanisms, timing, dosing, influences, and practical applications for the use of caffeine as an ergogenic aid.

Consumption of dietary protein by athletes is a common intervention to maximize gains in muscle and strength, and to improve body composition. The purpose of this article is to analyze the current research on the optimal amount of dietary protein for resistance training athletes.

The purpose of this article is to present a brief review of research on the safety and efficacy of caffeine used by athletes participating in anaerobic-dominant sports.