This excerpt from NSCA’s Essentials of Sport Science briefly explains workload and injury risk factors.

Do you understand the youth athlete? In order to train youth athletes effectively, coaches must have an understanding of how to motivate youth athletes. This article will explain how to do just that, as well as how to use age-appropriate developmental cues for this population.

This article discusses the findings of a recent study on the effectiveness of a time-efficient occupationally-specific training program to improve performance in qualities related to physically demanding tactical tasks in law enforcement officers.

During the rehabilitation process, a client may need therapy outside of the personal trainer’s scope of practice. This article discusses safe and effective modalities that personal trainers can use with clients in the post-rehabilitation phase process.

Strength and conditioning professionals who incorporate a properly designed and supervised training program can help their young athletes train, compete, and reduce the likelihood of injury.

This article seeks to explain monitoring body composition, including how to assess it properly for an accurate evaluation to minimize errors in body fat estimation and maximize physical training.

This article highlights the benefits of exercise for adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It also provides practical recommendations for high school strength and conditioning coaches working with ADHD student-athletes.

As Director of Sport Science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), Heather Farmer spearheads comprehensive integration efforts. This includes ensuring every stakeholder, from sport performance staff to academic advisors, has a seat at the table. Farmer also outlines developing an internship and graduate assistantship program to meet staffing needs and offer opportunities for practical experience. She recounts how leveraging relationships — not data — has been her key to scalability. Additionally, Farmer recognizes that to make an impact, she must meet athletes and sport coaches where they are, which she uncovers through “highlights” and “hurdles.” She suggests that sport scientists with strength and conditioning backgrounds, like herself, are uniquely equipped to excel due to their communication skills. Farmer and McMahon also discuss avoiding “analysis paralysis” and how to incorporate data to elevate the student-athlete experience — an unignorable factor as athletes bring an element of “self” in the age of name, image and likeness (NIL). Reach out to Heather by email at: heather.farmer@unlv.edu | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs

This article aims to share practical application strategies that strength and conditioning coaches can use in fostering a positive change in their athlete’s performance by understanding intrinsic and extrinsic performance motivation and how to adopt an autonomy-supportive coaching style.