Understanding attentional styles can improve coaching effectiveness by allowing the coach to provide appropriate cues or methods for each athlete.

The purpose of this article is to examine components that affect speed to determine the degree that speed is governed by skill versus genetic factors.

This book excerpt reviews functional isometrics as a way to build strength at the weakest point in the range of motion.

Building athletes who are strong, healthy, and resilient requires more than sets and reps, starting with a shift in mindset. Christi Edson, Head of Performance for the Orlando Pride in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), shares how she integrates strength and conditioning with sport science to sustain athlete health and performance. She reflects on the field’s evolution from the well-known “Bigger, Faster, Stronger” program to a training culture emphasizing resilience, active recovery, and durability. Drawing from her experience coaching high school athletes to NWSL professionals, Edson highlights the adaptability and creativity coaches need. Those qualities help her to develop athletes who can thrive through a demanding 11-month season. She details how tools like GPS, force plates, and velocity-based training sharpen communication and reshape expectations in the gym. Her story points coaches toward the future of athlete development: collaboration, precise load management, and long-term health as the foundation of strength. Connect with Christi on Instagram: @christiedson and LinkedIn: @christiana-edson | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs Read the article, “A Creative Mind in the Professional Development of a Strength and Conditioning Coach,” from NSCA Coach, 11(1), February 2024 — referenced in this episode’s return-to-play discussion. NSCA Members enjoy full publication access. Interested in bridging coaching and sport science? The Certified Performance and Sport Scientist (CPSS) credential can help you expand your qualifications, open new career paths, and strengthen cross-department collaboration.

This Personal Training Quarterly article discusses blood biomarker monitoring as a vital tool in overtraining syndrome diagnostics and recovery. Visit NSCA online to read more on fitness news and exercise research.

This NSCA Coach article explores how combining strength and plyometric training can improve volleyball hitters’ vertical jump and power. Visit NSCA online to read more on athletic performance and sports science.

Although accelerometers, pedometers, heart rate monitors, and questionnaires are not as accurate as direct and indirect calorimetry in determining metabolic rate, these less expensive tools can be used to create exercise plans, particularly those focused on health promotion and fitness.

This article is the 11th in a continuing series of tactical strength and conditioning (TSAC) research reviews. It is designed to bring awareness to new research findings of relevance to tactical strength and conditioning communities.

This excerpt describes plyometric training with regards to the stretch-shortening cycle.

Fitness testing uses a battery of protocols recognized by the scientific community as both reliable and valid, and it measures important fitness constructs such as aerobic endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, power, agility, flexibility, and balance.