This excerpt from NSCA’s Essentials of Sport Science highlights the importance of quantifying training load for both programming and monitoring an athlete’s progression or regression over time.

This article features the recharge skate—an in-season hockey conditioning drill, designed by the authors, to maintain hockey-specific energy system fitness throughout the competitive season.

Learn the basics of conducting a needs analysis for tactical athletes based on the athlete’s goals and desired outcomes, assessments, limitations on workout frequency and duration, equipment availability, health and injury status, and occupational physiological demands.

Both unilateral and bilateral training should be used to optimally develop basketball players. This article compares single-leg and double-leg training options and provides considerations and potential implications for training basketball athletes.

Some research has found that static stretching can have detrimental effects on subsequent performance. This is not to say that static stretching should be eliminated from an athlete’s program, but it should be sensibly incorporated into the daily training regimen since chronic stretching can enhance the range of motion around a joint and potentially improve strength and power performance.

This article discusses the findings of a recent study on the effectiveness of a time-efficient occupationally-specific training program to improve performance in qualities related to physically demanding tactical tasks in law enforcement officers.

This article explains the quadrathlon and how it can help strength coaches measure linear speed, speed-strength (power), and elastic or reactive qualities efficiently.

This article considers some of the main differences between the training of Olympic weightlifters and the use of Olympic weightlifting exercises in strength training for sport.

In today's National Football League (NFL) world, teams are always on the lookout for the best talent. That is why strength and conditioning coaches are crucial in optimizing a prospect's value. This special episode of the NSCA Coaching Podcast features NFL Combine expert, Bryan McCall, sharing details of coaching process leading up to the event. The conversation includes co-hosts Eric McMahon, the NSCA Coaching Program Manager, and Gatorade Team Sports Manager, Jon Jost. You will hear Coach McCall credit Coach Jost as an early career mentor and emphasize the importance of mentorship for all coaches. Learn how to make a successful year-round business of strength and conditioning and advance your coaching career with an entrepreneurial mindset. You can reach Coach McCall on Instagram: @justbmac_ or Twitter: @just_BryanM | Email Jon at: jonathan.jost@pepsico.com | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs To learn more and join the Gatorade Performance Partner Community, visit GatoradePerformancePartner.com.

This excerpt from Developing Power discusses neuromuscular training for youth athletes.