The purpose of this article is to help disseminate information on the thermal environment during track meets, risk management, and thermal reducing approaches coaches, athletes, and sports medicine personnel can employ for improved athletic performance in a hot environment.

The use of exercise interventions to maximize athletes’ performance is a common practice in competitions. This systematic review aimed to compile research that explored the effectiveness of priming strategies to maximize physical performance in track and field. The literature search was conducted from PubMed and Scopus. One hundred eighty-two studies were assessed against the inclusion criteria: (a) minimum 1-year participation/competition experience; (b) randomized controlled trials with pre-post intervention outcomes; and (c) studies involving exercise interventions applied #6 hours before outcome measures were collected. Fifteen studies satisfied the criteria and were categorized according to the exercise interventions used (i.e., resistance training, plyometric/ ballistic training, resisted sprints, and modified warm-ups). Heavy-loaded resistance training (i.e., .85% 1 repetition maximum) and resisted sprints increased subsequent sprint performance. Plyometrics/ballistic training also positively impacted subsequent jumping (i.e., long jump) and throwing performance (i.e., shot put). Modified warm-ups (i.e., high-intensity sprints and heavier throwing implements) also improved subsequent running and throwing performance. Overall, exercise interventions performed at high intensity and low volume augment subsequent physical performance as close to 4 minutes before the event. However, a sufficient recovery interval must be considered for a positive performance response.

Ultra-endurance performance is likely determined by quality of physical preparation, effective nutritional management, ability to cope with the environmental stressors, psychological resilience, and recovery capacity.

Athletes in field and court sports require reactive agility—they must accelerate, decelerate, and change direction in a constantly changing environment. These requirements result in technical differences between sprinting in a field or court sport and sprinting the 100-m.

This article is part of a continuing series of tactical strength and conditioning (TSAC) research reviews. It is designed to bring awareness to new research findings of relevance to tactical strength and conditioning communities.

This three-part series shows how personal trainers can create a physically literate cradle-to-grave culture for all, with LTAD as the framework.

Endurance sports are typically not thought of as highly technical endeavors, but proper movement during training and competition for endurance sports can affect both performance and health.

Acceleration and maximum speed are terms used in speed development programs, and when developing a program, it is vital to differentiate between the two. This allows coaches to target their training to the capacity most important in their own sport.

The purpose of this article is to provide an introduction to contrast training, including how it is defined, what variables are utilized, and examples of how to use it in training.

This article is part of a continuing series of tactical strength and conditioning (TSAC) research reviews. It is designed to bring awareness to new research findings of relevance to tactical strength and conditioning communities.