National Council on Strength & Fitness - NCSF

National Council on Strength & Fitness - NCSF Setting Standards, Developing Professionals, and Serving the Public through Education and Certification
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In most cases, 10–12 minutes of sprint training is more than adequate training stress.That matters for the standard pers...
09/25/2026

In most cases, 10–12 minutes of sprint training is more than adequate training stress.

That matters for the standard personal training schedule: two or three sessions a week, about 60 minutes each. Clients who want weight loss and more muscle mass need conditioning and resistance work inside that window.

Resistance training for hypertrophy is high-volume and time-consuming, and aerobic training requires long durations. Sprint training doesn't.

Two conditions come with it. Sprint work is physiologically more demanding than riding an exercise bike, so it's appropriate for fit clients only. And running form gets taught and practiced before any sprinting starts.

For a working coach running 60-minute sessions, a short sprint block leaves most of the hour for resistance work.

A sample sprint session, built entirely on 30-yard efforts.It opens with three form runs. Speed then climbs in steps: th...
09/24/2026

A sample sprint session, built entirely on 30-yard efforts.

It opens with three form runs. Speed then climbs in steps: three sprints at 50%, three that build from 50% to 75% and back down to 50%, three from 50% to 75%, four from 75% to 100%, and four at full speed. Controlled-pace distance shuttles follow, four sets of 30, 30, 30 yards. The session closes with three minutes of slow, non-stop shuttles at any distance.

The early blocks match the warm-up guidance that goes with the program:
several sprints at gradually increasing pace, so the client is neuromuscularly prepared before any full-speed effort.

Two notes for programming it. Rest between efforts isn't written into the sample. The accompanying guidance is a 1:4 to 1:5 work-to-rest ratio at the start, moving to 1:3 once the client has acclimated. The template is also meant to flex. Changing distances and directions, or adding cone drills, keeps the work interesting and challenging.

Sprint training is appropriate for fit clients, after running form has been taught and practiced.

Sprint training is physiologically more demanding than riding an exercise bike, and it belongs with fit clients only.Scr...
09/23/2026

Sprint training is physiologically more demanding than riding an exercise bike, and it belongs with fit clients only.

Screen before the first session. A client with a known quadriceps/hamstring imbalance shouldn't sprint at all, given the susceptibility to hamstring strain.

For clients who clear that bar, the on-ramp runs in order. Teach and practice running form before any sprint training takes place. Use a specific warm-up: several sprints at gradually increasing pace. Once the client is neuromuscularly prepared, move to repeated work sets at a pace and distance matched to their ability.

Sprint work also demands more exercise tolerance, so rest starts generous. Open at a 1:4 to 1:5 work-to-rest ratio, or as much rest as the client needs, and move toward 1:3 once the acclimation period is complete.

Progress at the client's pace. Too much too fast is detrimental.

Source: NCSF — Benefits of Sprint Training vs. Traditional Aerobic Training

On a suspension trainer, resistance is body weight and intensity is adjusted by changing body angle. That does not alway...
09/21/2026

On a suspension trainer, resistance is body weight and intensity is adjusted by changing body angle. That does not always allow for maximal loading.

It matters when a client's goal is maximizing muscle growth and strength gains, because progressive overload by increasing the weight used is essential there.

Traditional weight training handles it simply: add weight. Free weights also allow more muscle isolation and easy adjustments to hand position and grip.

If you want the load to stay on the suspension trainer, a weighted vest can add resistance. It also introduces additional injury risk if used improperly. Master the bodyweight movement before progressing to added load.

Suspension training excels in functional movement and core engagement.

Weight training enables progressive overload and isolation. Used together, they make a balanced program.

The systematized version of the suspension side is in our Suspension Training Specialist course.

On a suspension trainer, the increased time-under-tension comes from stabilizing the exercise, and that is one of the to...
09/18/2026

On a suspension trainer, the increased time-under-tension comes from stabilizing the exercise, and that is one of the tool's most significant advantages.

Body position relative to the anchor point sets the intensity. The stabilizing demand comes with every rep: the body must remain stable throughout each movement, so the core is constantly activated to support peripheral joint actions, and stabilizing muscles and opposing muscle groups are recruited to maintain balance and control.

Multiple muscle groups are engaged simultaneously, and peripheral-to-central stability paths increase.

That prolonged supportive engagement, across both local and global stability systems, promotes muscle mechanical efficiency with appropriate overload, leading to improved movement proficiency, strength, and overall performance.

For a working coach: on a suspension trainer, the time spent holding position counts toward the stimulus.

A functional testing battery for older adults.Physical testing should be functionally specific. A common battery include...
09/17/2026

A functional testing battery for older adults.

Physical testing should be functionally specific. A common battery includes balance, coordination, mobility, power, and upper- and lower-body functional strength.

Mobility and lower-body power: timed walking speed over 15 feet. Lower-body power and strength: a sit-to-stand from a chair, arms crossed.

Balance: walk a straight line taped to the floor and count steps off the line for dynamic balance. A timed single-leg stance tests static balance and is a predictor of falling risk.

Change of direction: lateral movement is often impaired with age. Time a figure 8 around two cones, or use the Edgren side-step test.

Upper body: wall push-ups, or the Senior Arm Curl test (30 seconds of dumbbell curls) in place of a basic hand grip strength test.

Flexibility: shoulder mobility is often impaired in older adults, so the Apley Back Scratch test is useful. A modified chair sit-and-reach covers lower-body mobility where appropriate.

Aerobic capacity, if desired: the 6-minute walk test or 2-minute Step-in-Place test.

Coordination: devise tests around the ADLs the client wants to improve, or use the Soda Pop Test used by SHAPE America.

Put all possible safety measures in place, including knowledge of all stop-test indicators and close attention to client feedback. Valid data identifies true capability and guides activity progressions.

Among the components of physical fitness, the ones tied into the neuromuscular system appear to be the most correlated w...
09/14/2026

Among the components of physical fitness, the ones tied into the neuromuscular system appear to be the most correlated with being able to perform activities of daily living.

ADLs are the everyday tasks older adults want to keep doing on their own: getting dressed, bathing, getting out of a favorite chair, getting around town. Once those tasks can't be done on one's own, quality of life often begins to drastically fall.

Cardiorespiratory capacity is still important, both for functional capacity and for combating disease. Maintaining muscular strength, power and endurance, along with balance, flexibility and coordination, is crucial to staying independent.

For the working coach: a common older-adult assessment battery includes balance, coordination, mobility, power, and upper- and lower-body functional strength, with aerobic testing added if desired.

A previously sedentary sixty-year-old who starts training is working on two different timelines. Total arterial compli...
09/10/2026

A previously sedentary sixty-year-old who starts training is working on two
different timelines.

Total arterial compliance, blood pressure, and cardiac afterload improved with even a modest lifelong dose of two to three sessions a week. Similar improvements were reported after one year of endurance training in previously sedentary seniors. The functional components of arterial compliance are more readily influenced by exercise training.

Aortic structure runs slower. One year of training at over two hundred minutes a week of moderate and high-intensity work did not substantially improve biological aortic age in previously sedentary seniors. Age-related changes in large elastic vessel structure are not reversible by exercise training alone when initiated later in life. One theory is that lifelong vigorous endurance exercise inhibits the remodeling of the aorta toward stiffness, and that the effect accrues across a lifetime of training — which is why one year has little impact.

How much weekly exercise it takes to keep an artery compliant depends on the size of the artery.A cross-sectional study ...
09/08/2026

How much weekly exercise it takes to keep an artery compliant depends on the size of the artery.

A cross-sectional study of 102 seniors with more than twenty-five years of consistent exercise history sorted them by weekly frequency: sedentary (fewer than two sessions), casual (two to three), committed (four to five), and Masters athletes (six to seven plus regular competition).

At the casual dose, carotid stiffness, left ventricular afterload, and central blood pressures were lower than in the sedentary group. Central arterial stiffness was not. Biological aortic age and central pulse wave velocity only differed from sedentary at the committed dose and above - four to five sessions a week, each longer than thirty minutes.

Peripheral arterial stiffness showed no significant difference at any dose. This is cross-sectional data on lifelong exercise histories, not a training trial.

Sources: NCSF — What Does Science Reveal About Heart Health and Exercise Frequency — NCSF Blog, 2018. Shibata, S., et al. — The Effect of Lifelong Exercise Frequency on Arterial Stiffness — The Journal of Physiology, 2018

When a client starts a GLP-1, the resistance training floor moves. Programs should emphasize hypertrophy and strength t...
09/02/2026

When a client starts a GLP-1, the resistance training floor moves.

Programs should emphasize hypertrophy and strength training matched to the individual's capabilities. Higher loads and higher volumes are what demonstrate effective lean mass maintenance, and they should be applied consistently alongside the pharmaceutical therapy.

Strength training volume should exceed the Guidelines for Americans, at least three days a week.

Nutrition is the other half of it. These drugs significantly lower food intake, which is why protein and micronutrient sufficiency has to be checked rather than assumed.

One caveat worth stating plainly. Most of the research on GLP-1 receptor agonists and exercise has looked at aerobic training, and less is known about how GLP-1 signaling affects skeletal muscle adaptations to resistance exercise. The figures for supervised resistance training past ten weeks - roughly 3 kg of lean mass and 25% strength, in both men and women - come from the resistance training literature generally, not from trials in patients on these drugs.

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