As the final article of the three-part series on long-term athletic development (LTAD), this article will focus on enhancing physical fitness and participation in LTAD programs that promote physical fitness and physiological wellbeing, regardless of age, ability, and aspirations.

This article provides essential guidelines for athletes beginning a strength and conditioning program that ensures safety and productivity of the training sessions.

The Educator of the Year Award is presented to an educator who has made noteworthy contributions to education and clinical application of strength training and conditioning.

This article is part of a continuing series of tactical strength and conditioning (TSAC) research reviews. It is designed to bring awareness to new research findings of relevance to tactical strength and conditioning communities.

Multidirectional ground reaction forces (GRFs) and jump tests within baseball pitchers provide insight into athletic ability and coordination to produce lower-body force and power. Lower-body power is a biomechanical feature that denotes physiological capacity through dynamic and passive tissue stretch-shortening in transferring energy from the ground through the kinetic chain. Optimized lower-body power may lessen the magnitude of forces on the upper extremity. Insufficient lower-body power may create a greater risk of upper-body injury. Lower-body power and its relationship to ball velocity have been minimally investigated, yet some research points to a correlation between jumping ability and fastball velocity. Because pitching is unilateral, practitioners should consider unilateral jumps to determine the extent of bilateral asymmetry or stride to drive leg differences that can guide training to remediate deficiencies. The purposes of this brief review are to (a) examine factors that influence vertical jump performance among baseball players, (b) examine research on pitching multidirectional GRFs, and (c) examine literature concerning jump performances to baseball pitching performance. Collectively, this review can assist coaches and practitioners in lower-body power testing and training for baseball pitchers.

This article suggests how high school strength and conditioning coaches can not only prepare high school athletes for sports and fitness, but also help with the process of improving fitness and athleticism of all youth.

This excerpt from Developing the Core briefly defines closed- and open-chain exercises and their respective roles in training.

As consumers embrace technology, they are also expecting that same incorporation of technology into their exercise programs. This article shares how some top trainers are meeting this need.

While pharmaceutical treatment is complex, dynamic, and important for optimal glycemic control, exercise clearly plays a critical, but often overlooked, role in the overall treatment plan for patients with T2D or those at risk of developing it.