From 24-26 September 2020, the Sport and Training department took part in the 13th International Conference and Strength Training in Freiburg in the form of Sarah Schulte, Jessica Bopp and Dirk Büsch.

Over three days, experts from all over the world came together to talk about strength training and its (positive) consequences for health and performance.

The programme included a total of eight keynote speeches, which dealt with general adaptations through strength training, the combination of strength and endurance training (concurrent training), strength training in old age and in cancer patients, gender-specific aspects and effects on the potential risk of injury.

In addition, there were around thirty presentations on the topic of strength training in six working groups. In the "Strength training and performance" working group, Sarah Schulte gave a presentation on "Examining the link between core strength, core stability, and athletic performance". In her lecture, she presented the latest results of her doctoral project, which she also discussed with other experts outside of the working group. Jessica Bopp presented current data from her project "Shoulder stability and physical load" in the "Biomechanics & performance testing" working group. The subsequent discussion centred on definition issues, test procedures and future ideas. Both speakers were very satisfied with the presentations, received positive re-registering students and are now looking forward to putting their ideas into practice in the coming months.

In addition to poster presentations, an exhibition by the sponsors and various workshops, the conference concluded with a panel discussion. The discussion emphasised once again that science should not just follow the latest hype, but should also occasionally look at what has worked in the past. We can only agree with this.

The most important conclusion of the conference, however, is that strength training consistently brings benefits in all situations and at all ages. So: GET STRONGER!