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.

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.

While analyzing the speed requirements of different sports may, at first, seem to be a massive challenge, asking a few key questions can make the task much simpler.

The goal of this article is to understand contralateral and ipsilateral loading, how to set-up loaded carries, electromyography activity during exercises, and how to apply these exercises into the strength training program.

Brett Bartholomew, founder of the performance coaching and consulting company, The Bridge Human Performance, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about learning what drives people, how to interact effectively with others, adapting to change, and the value in learning from other fields.

Beyond the programming, exercise technique, and human physiology, it is also important to create a customized system for sales success. Re-framing the purpose of the sales presentation in the proper light and creating a customized system that will allow a fitness professional to sell their services with integrity can allow them to help more clients.

There's risk in every business, but fitness professionals can often face higher risk than most. While personal trainer insurance can offer solid protection, fitness professionals can best protect themselves by understanding the fundamentals of risk management as they apply within the realm of sports and fitness. In this article, global insurance firm Integro Entertainment & Sports offers tips on how to best protect yourself and your business, defines common insurance terms, and provides an overview to understanding insurance conditions.

This Personal Training Quarterly article shares hospitality­driven approaches to help personal trainers build connections with clients. Visit NSCA online to read more on fitness, hospitality, and health news.

An organized, science-based, and evidence-based periodized program that is guided by capable and competent professionals is the most efficient and effective way to accomplish the task of returning from a shoulder injury to full active duty. The concepts of periodization paired with evidence-based strength and conditioning interventions provides the framework needed for tactical facilitators to accomplish this task.

Field tests have become popular in applied exercise science and sport performance enhancement programs because of their simplicity and ability to generalize results. However, numerous confounding factors may influence the validity of test data from such evaluations.