Given the growing interest surrounding youth strength and conditioning, the NSCA recently engaged a group of leading experts to author a position statement on long-term athletic development. The document proposes ten key pillars of successful long-term athletic development that practitioners should adhere to in order to enhance performance, promote health and well-being, and minimize the risk of sport- or physical activity-related injury.

What does LTAD mean and how can parents get more involved with their child’s athletic development? Rick Howard provides an overview of youth development, important concepts to understand, ways to impact physical development, signs of overtraining, and further resources that are a great refresher for coaches and can be passed onto parents.

Rhodri S. Lloyd, lead author of the LTAD Position Statement, provides an abbreviated look at what long-term athletic development is and how strength and conditioning professionals can implement effective training strategies into programming to improve health, well-being, and growth.

The NSCA is committed to provide helpful resources by partnering with the experts in Anti-doping to ensure athlete safety and promote safe sports.

The CSCCa and NSCA have created consensus guidelines which recommend upper limits on the volume, intensity, and work:rest ratio during transition periods where athletes are more vulnerable.

The benefits of resistance training are almost overwhelming, however, too few older adults participate in resistance training, largely because of fear, confusion, and lack of consensus to guide implementation. It is the hope that this position statement may have a positive impact addressing these issues and on empowering healthier aging.

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The National Strength and Conditioning Association is a non-profit organization that is lead and governed by an elected board of directors and an established set of bylaws, codes, policies, and procedures.