In this hands-on lecture from the NSCA's 2014 Movement Performance Clinic, Jay Dawes demonstrates stretches and mobility work that are designed to emphasize good postural control and good postural stability.

This Personal Training Quarterly article discusses how myofascial techniques can reduce pain, improve mobility, and enhance quality of life for women in breast cancer recovery. Visit NSCA online to read more on recovery, health and fitness.

This NSCA Coach article provides a proposes a framework for standardizing SEB resistance training based on principles of kinetic and potential energy. Visit NSCA online to read more on exercise science and sport performance.

Elite sport often gets more attention, but youth training gives strength and conditioning coaches an earlier chance to build athletes’ competence and confidence. Kelli Brightwell specializes in youth development and brings more than a decade of sports training experience, including four years at Michael Johnson Performance. Brightwell defines peak height velocity as the period during which height increases fastest. She then explains why its timing can differ among teammates of the same age. So what should strength coaches test, and what do the results mean? The answer changes with each athlete’s maturity and training experience. Brightwell addresses the growth-spurt “awkward phase,” when familiar movement patterns can break down as an athlete adjusts to a changing body. She also considers how sport sampling can expand children’s range of physical skills and help them discover what they enjoy. Learn how maturation can affect movement, testing, and programming — and why young athletes need foundations before specialization.

This excerpt breaks down the optimal positions of the body during acceleration and deceleration.

Acceleration is the rate of change in velocity, so this phase of sprinting is critical for changing directions as rapidly and efficiently as possible. Optimal technique for linear sprinting in the acceleration phase involves four factors that maximize stride length and frequency.

This excerpt describes plyometric training with regards to the stretch-shortening cycle.

This excerpt from Developing Speed discusses the various start patterns that exist and how to include them in a speed development program.

This article describes two different methods for testing core muscle power. Both of the described methods utilize medicine ball throws.

Flexibility training is important because of the role that flexibility plays in improving movement performance and reducing the opportunity for injury. Learn more about the role of flexibility training in this exclusive excerpt from the book NSCA's Essentials of Personal Training, Second Edition, published by Human Kinetics.