The purposes of assessment are to gather baseline data and to provide a basis for developing goals and effective exercise programs. Gathering and evaluating the various pieces of information give the personal trainer a broader perspective of the client. The process and the data collected assist the trainer in identifying potential areas of injury and reasonable starting points for recommended intensities and volumes of exercise based on the goals and fitness outcomes.

The “coach’s dozen” is a collection of 12 principles that will help youth coaches, physical education teachers, and pediatric exercise specialists maintain inclusive, sustainable, and enjoyable participation in exercise and sport.

Knowledge of metabolic rate can help athletes as well as health-conscious people improve their exercise performance or obtain the fat-to-lean-mass ratio optimal for their personal situations. Two examples of how this works follow.

Dietary fat has both long-term and short-term effects on an athlete and athletic performance. “Fat loading” as a strategy to improve athletic performance remains unproven.

The exerciser with 8 to 12 months of training experience can begin to include exercise complexes that combine trunk movement patterns with multijoint movements. Single-plane and multiplane movements can be performed using both open- and closed-chain exercises.

This article reviews the use of heart rate as a way to program cardiovascular exercise.

Personal trainers should be aware of the physiological changes during pregnancy for each trimester in order to provide appropriate exercise modifications and alternatives for their prenatal clients, to positively influence overall health.

This excerpt from NSCA's Guide to Sport and Exercise Nutrition briefly discusses micronutrients and their role in optimal athletic performance.

This article seeks to explore weight bias and provide strategies to reduce weight bias behaviors.

The purpose of this article is to identify and discuss some barriers and benefits of training initiatives among professional firefighters.