This PTQ article focuses on the use of the back squat along with innovative technology to measure velocity during lower body lifts. Visit NSCA online to read more on personal training news and athletic performance.

This infographic briefly reviews the differences in sprint velocity and technique, including stride length and hip, knee, and ankle flexion during a 20-meter resisted sprint.

This study examined the effects of visual kinematic feedback during the back squat exercise.

Deceleration in court and field sports, such as football and soccer, is an important component of speed and agility. This book excerpt looks at how to train for effective deceleration.

Neil Baumgartner, PhD, speaks at the 2013 TSAC Conference on the science and rationale behind the Air Force Fitness Test.

“The goal of what we’re trying to do is make a difference in someone’s life,” says Gary Schofield in this session from the 2015 NSCA National Conference. Coach Schofield explains areas where you can make a difference for your athletes, including movement efficiency, recovery and regeneration, autoregulation, velocity-based training, and conditioning with purpose.

Sprinting is a key component for many individual and team sports. Therefore, to enhance sprint performance, various training methods are widely used by coaches and practitioners, including maximum sprint speed and resisted sprint training. Resisted sprinting with sled towing is a method that has recently received considerable attention from the sport science community. However, to date, no consensus exists regarding its acute and chronic effects in team sport athletes. This narrative review aimed to (a) review and analyze the mechanics of sprinting under unresisted and resisted conditions with a specific focus on team sport disciplines; (b) provide a thorough and applied discussion on the importance of considering acute and chronic effects of sled loading on technique, electromyographic activity, and force production, as well as on the role of muscle architecture and neural factors in sled training; (c) analyze the effects of increasing sled loads during acceleration and maximum velocity phases on contact and flight phases, while concomitantly examining kinetic, kinematic, and neuromuscular aspects, because all these factors affect each other and cannot be properly understood in isolation.

In this session from the 2017 NSCA National Conference, Mike Stone explains what rate of force development (RFD) is, how it is derived, and the underlying mechanisms affecting RFD.

This infographic summarizes a study in which adding both horizontal and vertical force-vector exercises enhanced physical performance during in-season play.