For those dealing with clients who have back pain, this article focuses on non-specific low-back pain and potential exercise solutions for it.

The physiological response to breath holding includes bradycardia and peripheral vasoconstriction, which contrasts with that of exercise which includes tachycardia and peripheral vasodilation. This raises the question as to what the physiological response is to breath holding during exercise. During low-intensity exercise, the breath holding response of bradycardia and peripheral vasoconstriction prevails over the exercise response of tachycardia and peripheral vasodilation, but nevertheless the exercise may be sustained. Due to the lack of availability of extrinsic oxygen (O 2 ) from the atmosphere during breath holding, the energy demands can be met by increased reliance on intrinsic O 2 stores (i.e., O 2 that was in the body before the breath hold) via increased O 2 extraction at the muscle compared with exercise while breathing, or increased contributions from anaerobic energy systems. During high intensity exercise of short duration, the exercise response may prevail over the breath holding response due to the increased parasympathetic withdrawal and sympathetic drive of higher intensity exercise. If breath holding during high-intensity exercise was sustained for long enough, the breath holding response may eventually overcome the exercise response, although this may be difficult due to the inverse relationship between exercise intensity and breath hold duration.

A review of the literature concludes that a strength training program including low-intensity to high-intensity resistance exercises and plyometric exercises performed 2 – 3 times per week for 8 – 12 weeks is an appropriate strategy to improve running economy in highly trained middle- and long-distance runners.

Hydration, footwear, and exercise frequency are only a few of the essentials to safe participation in cardiovascular activity. Make sure to include all six essentials in your program to ensure safe participation.

Almost all functional movements of the trunk are combinations or variations of four basic movement patterns: trunk flexion, trunk extension, trunk rotation, and trunk lateral flexion. This article lists exercises to address each of these movement patterns.

Coach Joe Kenn, MA, CSCS,*D, RSCC spoke at the NSCA's 2012 National Conference about how to choose the correct exercises and develop a comprehensive daily plan.

In this hands-on lecture from the NSCA's 2014 TSAC Conference, Lee Burton talks about the need to remedy mobility dysfunction in tactical athletes, and discusses the Functional Movement System and programming functional exercise progressions.

Mark Watts presents, "A Strength and Conditioning Coach’s Guide"

Learn how to perform a front raise. This video demonstrates proper technique for performing a front raise.

Learn how to perform an inverted row. This video demonstrates proper technique for performing an inverted row.