This Personal Training Quarterly article presents time-efficient fitness strategies to maintain physical and mental health during early parenthood. Visit NSCA online to read more on nutrition, health science, and fitness news.

This excerpt from NSCA’s Guide to Sport and Exercise Nutrition briefly analyzes some of the research behind creatine and its application to sport performance.

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.

Athletes have sought out intermittent fasting as a strategy to optimize performance. However, it is important to critically evaluate the research available in order to establish specific recommendations and determine if intermittent fasting is safe or effective.

Matt Crawley, Strength and Conditioning Coach and Internship Coordinator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Performance Institute, discusses performance considerations around testing and programming for UFC fighters, as well as the role of the strength and conditioning coach within the interdisciplinary team.

This article seeks to provide a sample periodized program plan that will progress wrestlers for multiple years while considering the diverse individual needs and weight class-specific goals.

NSCA Member Spotlight: Diane Homan shares her journey from club volleyball to coaching youth and professional athletes, built on NSCA credentials and community.

The purpose of this article is to provide strength and conditioning coaches with practical knowledge from the framework of self-determination theory to facilitate student-athlete motivation within the weight room across varying sports.

Expectations for strength and conditioning coaches now extend far beyond the weight room. Athletes and sport coaches demand better data, deeper insight, and stronger performance. Faith Brown, Associate Director of Strength and Conditioning at George Mason University, supports women’s basketball and volleyball while collaborating with the Patriot Performance Lab. Brown describes balancing teams, testing, and athlete monitoring as a “circus act.” At the heart of her coaching is one goal: be the coach she wishes she had as a college track athlete. She demonstrates ways strength and conditioning coaches can contribute as scientists, creating impact and value outside the weight room walls. Brown shares how GPS, heart rate monitoring, and force plates support workload monitoring. However, she believes that technology should only be used when it answers a real question. Learn how to turn data into better training decisions, translate sport science so sport coaches buy in, and reach out to other coaches to refine your program. Connect with Faith on Instagram: @faithsabrown, LinkedIn: @faith-brown, or by email: fbrown20@gmu.edu | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs From the Episode: Explore NSCA’s Essentials of Sport Science, a foundational text defining the field and the role of sport scientists in high-performance environments. It also supports preparation for the Certified Performance and Sport Scientist® (CPSS®) certification exam.