The “coach’s dozen” is a collection of 12 principles that will help youth coaches, physical education teachers, and pediatric exercise specialists maintain inclusive, sustainable, and enjoyable participation in exercise and sport.

The purpose of this article is to outline the three general formats in which sports science programs are implemented within intercollegiate athletic departments and to provide pros and cons of each situation.

Eating the right types of food, in the right amounts, and at the right times are the keys to staying healthy and performing well. But does it have to be so confusing and complicated? Do we have to dissect every little detail to maximize performance? What if we could instead find the few specific changes that lead to the greatest results in each of our clients?

Jeff Connors, who retired after a staggering 31-year collegiate coaching career, talks to the former NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about being a servant to athletes and contributing to their lives. Topics under discussion include “surviving” head coaching changes, learning from others in the field, and using his coaching experiences to write books.

Factors such as the types of exercises used, the number of muscle groups trained per session, the structure of the program, and the client’s training status and overall fitness level dictate training frequency.

This article examines how training the core and performance are connected. This article seeks to help propose how to best use the literature to maximize understanding and use of the current concepts.

In recent years, performance and prevention strategies have grown to include monitoring training load (TL) to understand fatigue and the potential effects of fatigue on training adaptation and performance.

The purpose of this article is to give an overview and theoretical framework on the concept of periodized nutrition—with an emphasis on adequate carbohydrate intake to enhance performance.

Veteran Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA), Bill Foran, joins the NSCA Coaching Podcast and reflects on a more than four-decade coaching career. Foran discusses his early beginnings teaching elementary school physical education, with NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager Eric McMahon, and what led him towards pursuing collegiate and professional sports strength and conditioning. Foran shares stories of resourcefulness from the early days, before the strength and conditioning field was formally defined, up to more recent years using sport science technology and foundational core principles to inform training practices for elite NBA players, such as Lebron James and Shaquille O’Neal. This episode is informative for strength and conditioning coaches at any level, emphasizing the importance of building lasting relationships with athletes and head coaches, as well as taking advantage of all that the NSCA has to offer. Reach out to Coach Foran at by email at bforan@heat.com | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs Learn more about NBA strength and conditioning with the National Basketball Strength and Conditioning Association (NBSCA), an Official Sport Partner of the NSCA.

This NSCA Coach article discusses training modalities in bench press training and incorporating accessories to improve rate of force development (RFD) among athletes. Visit NSCA online to read more on strength training and exercise science.