This is my story of how a strength and conditioning coach influenced not only one of Pakistan’s up and coming cricket team’s approach to fitness and lifestyle, but also that of the wider community.

From the NSCA 2020 Texas Virtual State Clinic, Erik Korem, Senior Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete High Performance at the College of William & Mary, discusses these unprecedented times and safe ways to reintroduce athletes back to full competition.

A sound year-round aerobic endurance training program should be divided into sport seasons with specific goals and objectives designed to improve performance gradually and progressively.

This article is intended to provide an understanding of the demands of football from a bioenergetic perspective and provides a framework in which strength and conditioning professionals can design conditioning plans that focus on preparing athletes for competition.

Ultimately, there is no “one magical exercise” that can be programmed to appropriately develop all physical training adaptations required in competition, but the JOP Matrix can be used to help address several necessary adaptations needed for lacrosse players.

In this session from the NSCA’s 2017 National Conference, Iñigo Mujika explains the scientific basis of tapering and peaking in sports, and the effects of manipulating training components during the taper process. Mujika provides the scientific background and examples of tapering and peaking for a league format competition and a major tournament in team sports.

Brett Bartholomew talks about the risks posed to athletes who are partaking in randomized and unstructured training practices often supervised by non-certified professionals. This session from the NSCA’s 2017 Coaches Conference will help you identify ways in which a “skills not drills” approach towards movement training design can not only lead to enhanced transfer of training to the competitive environment, but also better retention on behalf of the athlete as they progress through future training.

The path to actual integration of mental and physical training for the tactical athlete is paved with growing empiricism. The current challenge is to sustain creative development of functional approaches and demonstrate that integration can deliver potential benefits.

The body’s system can be observed by blood testing to help achieve desired results whether training for a competition, pursuing an individual goal, or improving general health.

Bert Sorin, President and Co-Owner of Sorinex Exercise Equipment, discusses his road map to staying relevant in a growing field of competition, provides alternate views of success and the long-term impact as a trainer, and offers insight into effective leadership qualities in this session from the NSCA’s 2018 Personal Trainers Conference.