This book excerpt from Developing Endurance goes over nutritional strategies for pre-competition and during competition phases to maximize performance.

The goal of this article is to promote professional dialogue and broaden the knowledge of ways to use nutrition and recovery techniques to work with the physiological changes that come throughout the menstrual cycle.

Erica Suter provides insights that help drive optimal performance in female athletes though research behind the menstrual cycle, the functions of female hormones, and application to the female athlete at the 2024 NSCA’s Coaches Conference.

The purpose of this article is to share the importance of the menstrual cycle’s effects on elite athlete performance, and how these effects should influence the training and recovery of high-performing athletic women.

Nutrition and dietary intake are key factors for exercise and sport performance. While a substantial body of research highlights the impact of nutrition on exercise, many dietary and nutrient recommendations are based on research studies only conducted in men. However, the distinct physiological, neurological, and hormonal changes across a woman’s life cycle significantly affect nutritional needs. This narrative review explores key recommendations for calories, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and select supplements, highlighting the absence of sex-specific guidelines in current dietary frameworks for strength and conditioning female athletes. The review synthesizes current literature to provide practical guidance for coaches, sport dietitians, and health practitioners to optimize both performance and health outcomes for female athletes.

This excerpt briefly explains nutrition periodization for different training cycles to help maximize performance for endurance athletes.

This article from Personal Training Quarterly looks at training plans based on menstrual health to help personal trainers better support female clients. Visit NSCA online to read more on athletic performance, health, and fitness.

This section from the book, Developing Endurance, gives an overview of how to plan and develop a program for endurance athletes by following four steps.

This excerpt from NSCA’s Guide to Sport and Exercise Nutrition discusses the research surrounding the timing of hydration and its impact on sport performance for those participating in aerobic endurance exercise.

To maintain an NSCA certification, all certified individuals must complete a certain number of Continuing Education Units (CEUs), every three years. Earning CEUs mean certificants stay current on evolving knowledge and skills in the profession, and promote the ongoing competency of those certified.