Bodybuilding and physique sports are often clouded by myths and misconceptions about training, nutrition, and supplements. This article examines some of the myths in the fitness community, including periodization for muscle growth, the belief that training to failure is required, and the idea that cardiovascular training impairs hypertrophy. In addition, this article covers misconceptions about nutritional strategies, such as the need for restrictive diets, the effectiveness of fasted cardiovascular training, and the importance of meal timing. The fear that women will become bulky from resistance training and the misclassification of creatine as a steroid are also addressed. Drawing on current scientific evidence, we demonstrate that progressive overload, intensity management, and flexible dieting are more effective and sustainable than other methods. Cardiovascular training, when properly integrated, does not hinder muscle growth, and women benefit from resistance training without developing excessive muscle mass. Creatine supplementation is validated as a safe and effective ergogenic aid and is distinct from anabolic steroids. By debunking and contextualizing these myths, this article provides bodybuilders and physique athletes with evidence-based training and nutrition strategies to optimize performance, support long-term health, and maximize results safely and efficiently.
ABSTRACT The halftime interval in team sports provides an important opportunity for coaching feedback, recovery, hydration, nutritional intake, and medical care. However, when athletes remain passive for most of this period, muscle temperature and neuromuscular readiness may decline, potentially impairing sprinting, jumping, change-of-direction ability, and early second-half performance. For strength and conditioning professionals, the challenge is not only to identify effective re–warm-up strategies but also to apply them within the practical constraints of the dressing-room environment. This article reviews the physiological rationale for halftime re–warm-up and provides practical recommendations for team-sport settings. Active strategies such as short plyometric circuits, shuttle-based activity, small-sided games, elastic-band activation, and integrated sport-specific drills may help preserve explosive performance after halftime. Passive heat-maintenance methods may be useful when movement space is restricted, whereas cooling strategies may be more appropriate in hot environments. Because halftime routines are shaped by coaching priorities, available time, space, player fatigue, environmental conditions, and field access, no single protocol is universally optimal. Strength and conditioning coaches should, therefore, prepare flexible, context-specific options. Brief, familiar, and consistently implemented protocols are likely to provide greater applied value than longer or more complex strategies that cannot be delivered reliably during competition.
ABSTRACT Adding heat stress to resistance exercise or heated resistance exercise (HRE) was historically believed to be counterproductive as the additional thermal strain would induce excessive physiologic strain hindering training quality and the overall adaptive impulse. Emerging data from cell, animal, and now human models indicate that heat stress synergistically stimulates several molecular processes that favor skeletal muscle protein synthesis and muscular performance prompting reconsideration of the relationship between heat stress and resistance exercise. While mechanistic targets are becoming clearer, implementation of HRE remains ambiguous as there is a lack of discussion regarding the recommendations to promote adaptations and muscular performance enhancements. Resistance exercise with heat stress is not without risk. Within this brief review, we discuss the risks and rewards of HRE and highlight the preparatory and exercise programming aspects of this novel training approach.
ABSTRACT The purpose of this review is to provide practitioners with knowledge for developing an athlete assessment system and to help inform coaches and researchers about the research process, should they choose to publish assessment data. Information related to evidence-based practice methods will help readers formulate a critical approach to research for enhancing performance outcomes. Precursors to data collection involve pretesting certifications, laboratory set up, data collection, and testing protocols. This includes medical clearance and considerations for how the testing session will run. Other considerations include the following: where the data will get collected (laboratory vs. field), assessment selection, and ensuring the athletes are adequately prepared and familiarized with the protocol. Approaching data collection involves addressing factors related to assessments, athletes, and additional considerations. Factors related to assessments cover the quantity and quality of the staff collecting the data, cost and selection of equipment, time, the environment, and data management. Factors related to athletes include the fatigue accumulated from previous tests or training, the athlete's knowledge of the assessment, and their ability to give maximal effort and remain motivated throughout data collection. Additional considerations cover aspects of assessment, validity, and reliability.
ABSTRACT Mixed martial arts is a complex sport in which more than 80% of victories result from striking, either directly through knockout or technical knockout, or indirectly through judge decisions. Research remains limited on the multifactorial demands and trainability of distinct striking strategies. This narrative review introduces the concepts of critical striking, referring to high-impact, fight-altering blows, and cumulative striking, which involves strategic, high-volume techniques that accumulate damage over multiple rounds. A semi-systematic search of PubMed, SPORTDiscus, Scopus, and Google Scholar was conducted, supplemented by backward and forward citation tracking and selected grey literature. In addition, 6146 UFC bouts (2012–2025) were analyzed descriptively using official fight statistics to characterize striking patterns and outcomes across sex and weight classes. This open-source data in combination with peer-reviewed research gives insight on how the fighting strategies vary by weight class and sex, and what the underlying physiological traits associated with each might be. Lighter male and female athletes typically use cumulative striking strategies, whereas heavier males favor critical strikes. Although speculative, critical striking seems to depend on rapid force development and neuromuscular power, whereas cumulative striking relies more on aerobic capacity and motor control. Practical guidelines are provided, including movement-specific drills and weight- and sex-specific programming.
