Nutrition plays a crucial role in athletic performance. The purpose of this article is to discuss the landscape of nutrition in collegiate and professional football. It will address the following areas: 1) the current landscape, 2) current practices, 3) opportunities, and 4) challenges faced in collegiate and professional football.

Position statements are official statements of the NSCA on topics related to strength and conditioning and exercise science. All NSCA Position Statements are published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research® and free to the public.

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.

After almost leaving the profession entirely, Ashley Kowalewski landed her role as an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at the prestigious Louisiana State University. Listen as she recounts the strength and conditioning coach who inspired her as a high-level athlete at Oklahoma State University, diverting her path away from pursuing a physical therapy career. Explore how her early experience as an NSCA intern and working with adaptive sports under the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee expanded her network and strengthened her coaching. Discover where to tap into access points that can build mentors in your corner and the importance of being relationship-oriented in a field where collaboration is key. Kowalewski also speaks about checking her ego after a difficult career experience and the challenge of starting again at the intern level. Learn her guiding principle of providing over proving and how high-quality leadership can elevate a program’s impact and staff longevity. Connect with Ashley on Instagram at: @ashleykowalewski or by email: ashk@lsu.edu | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs

Molly Galbraith, Woman-in-Charge at Girls Gone Strong, talks to the former NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about the history of bringing Girls Gone Strong to fruition and filling the void of fitness information geared towards women. Topics under discussion include getting involved with the fitness industry and the NSCA, how to better coach women in a fitness setting, and creating educational content to support those who want to learn more. Find Molly on Instagram: @themollygalbraith or @thegirlsgonestrong

Research shows that the appropriate integration of resistance training into the endurance athlete’s training can result in significantly better performance when compared to classic endurance training plans that focus only on aerobic endurance.

Joel Raether, owner of Authentic Performance in Denver, CO, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about how to get started and then progress as a strength and conditioning professional. Early on, it takes plenty of long hard hours to get to a high level in this profession, but as you find your way, you must find a balance between work and life. Developing relationships is the biggest part of moving forward and being successful with high level athletes.