The “five Ss” of trainability and performance are critical periods of development that all youth strength and conditioning coaches should consider when creating a training program. Coaches should take advantage of each window to maximize a youth athlete’s potential and help ensure a long athletic career.

This article provides some practical applications to minimize the negative effects associated with a long intensive ice hockey season on ice hockey athletes.

Learn how to use sprinting as a means of screening athletes for power, strength, range of motion, and coordination. In this session from the NSCA’s 2018 National Conference, Derek Hansen also identifies appropriate sprinting and running mechanics for optimizing performance and minimizing injury, and outlines a process for using sprinting as a return-to-play modality for soft-tissue and joint injuries.

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 aim of the get up and go drill for rugby players is to develop the ability to accelerate from a low body position, which is especially important when accelerating into a potential contact situation.

This article details the rationale for making the eight main movements the foundation of tactical strength and conditioning.

Ground-based free weight lifts, especially the explosive Olympic-style lifts, are highly recommended for athletic conditioning for the core muscles. They can provide a moderately unstable stimulus to augment activation of the core and limb muscles, while still providing maximal or near maximal strength, velocity, and power output.

Much in the same way that a single movement or a single workout does not make or break a training cycle, the same holds true for mental skills. The challenge is that the strength and conditioning coach will likely need to reach out to another professional trained in sport psychology to help establish the plan and construct the appropriate interventions.

The steps on this page will help you select the right certification that fits your career goals.

This excerpt from Developing Speed aims to develop athletes’ ability to accelerate quickly through stride modification.