This article considers some of the main differences between the training of Olympic weightlifters and the use of Olympic weightlifting exercises in strength training for sport.

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.

This excerpt from NSCA’s Essentials of Sport Science highlights the importance of quantifying training load for both programming and monitoring an athlete’s progression or regression over time.

The tactical strength and conditioning field is evolving each year. Because of the experience of those in the field, as well as the growing body of research, we are gaining a better understanding of what it actually means to work within the tactical field.

This article briefly describes how individuals can have the same training program, but have large fluctuations in the adaptation responses due to genetic and life style factors.

Beyond the programming, exercise technique, and human physiology, it is also important to create a customized system for sales success. Re-framing the purpose of the sales presentation in the proper light and creating a customized system that will allow a fitness professional to sell their services with integrity can allow them to help more clients.

This article will provide some conditions and standards with specific tools personal trainers may consider using in their initial interview with potential clients.

Both unilateral and bilateral training should be used to optimally develop basketball players. This article compares single-leg and double-leg training options and provides considerations and potential implications for training basketball athletes.

When choosing whether to purchase new technological advances, strength and conditioning coaches should consider price, practicality, and credibility in order to maximize the training of their athletes.