Strength and conditioning professionals should consider mental skills training when creating a training program to maximize performance. Developing mental skills is a very long and challenging process; however, the benefits are worth it. Utilizing these skills will put the athlete in a position to succeed in sport, as well as life.

The purpose of this article is to bring awareness and provide an overview of emerging areas within strength and conditioning and sport science.

In order to develop athletes who can move optimally in multiple planes of motion, training should include elements that can challenge them in multiple planes while providing various resistance and proprioceptive challenges.

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.

Joint Statement from NSCA and CSCCa to NCAA on Behalf of Division 1 Strength and Conditioning Coaches

Triathlons are unique compared to other sports as athletes are required to master three distinct disciplines: swimming, cycling, and running. This article lays out a training program that focuses on a balance between strength training and sport training to avoid overtraining and overuse injuries and to maximize performance in a multi-sport athlete.

Women are at greater risk for body dissatisfaction and disordered eating than men with the goal of achieving top sport performance and physical condition. It is important to provide proper referrals for female athletes requiring nutritional guidance to improve their body composition or with a need to lose weight.

The purpose of this article is to discuss creatine supplementation for athletes by addressing supplementation for athletic performance, recovery, cognition, brain function, safety, contraindications, and other special considerations.

The top concern of strength coaches should always be athlete safety. For this reason, the NSCA has compiled a list of resources to raise the standard of care when working as a strength coach at any level. By reading and sharing these examples of standards and guidelines, policies and procedures, position statements on vital topics, mental health best practices, and more, strength coaches can push to increase the safety of athletes around the world.

The goal of this article is to define some of the basic physiological responses to acute and chronic altitude exposure and to provide some evidence-based, practical guidelines when approaching training and racing at higher altitudes.