This article gives readers a personal insight into the qualities that a successful and credible personal trainer should have.

In this session from the 2015 NSCA National Conference, Nelson Ayotte—the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the St. Louis Blues National Hockey League (NHL) team—explains how to design and implement a specific energy systems program at the elite level. Ayotte demonstrates the characteristics of each of the three energy systems and their trainability, and explores how to understand the energy demands of a sport by analysis of its characteristics, competition intensity, and duration of efforts and recovery periods.

This is an excerpt from NSCA's Essentials of Sport Science by NSCA -National Strength & Conditioning Association, Duncan N. French & Lorena Torres-Ronda.

In order to develop athletes who can move optimally in multiple planes of motion, training should include elements that can challenge them in multiple planes while providing various resistance and proprioceptive challenges.

Athletic performance can be enhanced through the use of implementing various unstructured, semi-structured, and structured play from the 12 types of play. These can be performed in the weight room, at a sports practice, or even at home.

The purpose of this article is to make the case for implementing non-traditional sports into training programs that prepare youth for participation in traditional American sports and bridge the gap between pedagogy of physical education and strength and conditioning youth coaching.

Bone tissue is “alive” and is a dynamic tissue that can respond to resistance training. In addition to the obvious effects of resistance training on muscle mass and strength, resistance training may lead to decreased risk for osteoporosis, fractures, and falls in later life.

The loss of required thoracic spine ranges of motion for sport movements can be problematic for the elite athlete, as well as the weekend warrior. The purpose of this article is to explore biomechanical causes for thoracic mobility restriction as well as provide easily applicable techniques to restore mobility.

Chronic fatigue, stress, sleep deprivation, unhealthy diets, and pain can be commonplace in most departments. The tactical facilitator should try to keep their action plans simple and achievable to help prevent injuries and optimize performance.