This NSCA Coach article explores how intergenerational training can boost youth fitness participation and foster a lifelong appreciation for physical activity. Visit NSCA online to read more on youth development.

This article focuses on providing first-hand insight into the alternative licensure program (ALP) route from a current coach in the field.

Elite sport often gets more attention, but youth training gives strength and conditioning coaches an earlier chance to build athletes’ competence and confidence. Kelli Brightwell specializes in youth development and brings more than a decade of sports training experience, including four years at Michael Johnson Performance. Brightwell defines peak height velocity as the period during which height increases fastest. She then explains why its timing can differ among teammates of the same age. So what should strength coaches test, and what do the results mean? The answer changes with each athlete’s maturity and training experience. Brightwell addresses the growth-spurt “awkward phase,” when familiar movement patterns can break down as an athlete adjusts to a changing body. She also considers how sport sampling can expand children’s range of physical skills and help them discover what they enjoy. Learn how maturation can affect movement, testing, and programming — and why young athletes need foundations before specialization.

It is important for strength and conditioning coaches, sport coaches, athletic trainers, and administrators to recognize and address the evidence of stress within student-athletes in order to avoid chronic stress-related anxiety and injury.

NSCA Member Spotlight: Vincent Martins shares how the CSCS helped open his path to lead high school strength and conditioning aligned with LTAD. Read his story.

The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) is proud to announce the recipients of the organization’s 2025 Coach of the Year Awards

This article discusses overtraining risk factors in endurance athletes and provides strategies for optimizing effective programming. Visit NSCA online to learn more about athletic performance.

The purpose of this article is to compare the effects of quarter, parallel, and full depth squats on muscle activity, joint stress, athletic abilities, and potential injury risks for the consideration of all strength and conditioning professionals.

This article explains the connections between the upper and lower body and their influence on performance and recovery strategies in sprinting.

This article provides a first-hand account of the usage and benefits of dumbbell training programs with athletes.