Norfolk State University Athletics

The NSU Strength and Conditioning Department is overseen by Randall Moore, NSU Director of Strength and Conditioning. Moore was hired in the summer of 2021 after spending three years as the student-athlete health and wellness coordinator at Mississippi Valley State, two years as the director of strength and conditioning at Shorter University, a year at Allegheny College as the director of peak performance and fitness, and a year and a half as an assistant coach/weight and conditioning coordinator at Gallaudet University.

The goal of the department is to assist and support each student-athlete, as well as coaches, to develop and maximize the athletic potential and athletic experience of each student-athlete. NSU Strength and Conditioning wants each student-athlete to achieve their goals, both on and off the field or court of play, and in and out the weight room. In addition, strength and conditioning will be used as a tool to develop and prepare young men and women for life after college.

The philosophy of the NSU Strength & Conditioning Program is to mitigate the risk of athletic injury and reduce the chance of injury to a status of less severe or serious. NSU S&C uses up-to-date methods of training that are supported by scientific research and practice to help achieve that main goal. The philosophy also includes the following: (1) develop the force potential (max amount of force you can push/pull, and power), or rate of force production, with each athlete through ground based movement training, (2) enhance specific movement patterns related to their sport, (3) and address the energy needs for each varsity sports team.

NSU's philosophy is based on different training principles:
1. Ground Based Movements
2. Multi-Joint Movements, Bi-Lateral Movements (squat, deadlift, db military press and bench press), and Uni-Lateral Movements (lunges, step ups, one arm curl, one arm press)
3. Flexibility and Full Range of Motion (student-athletes need to understand that movements, not muscle, = athleticism). NSU will train the kinetic chain to move together through a full range of motion
4. Conditioning (match energy need for sport), Speed, Agility and Change of Direction
5. Stability, Balance and Core Training

The mission of the NSU Strength & Conditioning Program is to serve each team and athlete and provide them with the tools and necessary skills to meet, and exceed, the demands of NCAA Division I collegiate athletics. Student-athletes need to be physically, mentally, and emotionally ready to compete at a high level each time they step onto the court, track, lane or field. The strength and conditioning staff encourages a family environment and strives to build relationships in order to maximize each student athlete’s athletic potential and success.

Each athlete will have access to a nutrition and sports performance guide which includes information about hydration, sleep, eating habits, weight loss/gain/maintenance, caloric intake and more.

Sessions are conducted in the new NSU athletics weight room, a facility located on the first floor of Gill Gymnasium that houses the equipment and accessories needed to develop championship-level NCAA Division I student-athletes. The weight room opened in the spring of 2017 after being housed previously on the second floor of Gill Gym. The new weight room includes all brand new equipment from Hammer Strength.

The weight room is centered around 10 power racks, which allow athletes to perform free weight and/or ground-based compound movements designed to build the complete athlete. Specialized machines are located throughout the weight room as well to target specific weaknesses within an athlete. Exercises in the weight room revolve around the primary movement patterns every athlete needs: lateral/lineal movement, hinge, push, pull, squat, rotation and anti-rotation.

5 lifts are used within NSU Strength and Conditioning 
1. Olympic Lift/Plyos - (classification of athlete)
2. Squats – Single Leg, Back, Front, DB, KB, Overhead
3. Press/Push – Overhead, DB, Barbell, Body Weight (vertical and horizontal presses and pushes)
4. Posterior Chain/Pulls – RDL, Good Morning, Bridges, Step Ups, Glute Ham Hypers (most athletes are quad/anteriorly dominant)
5. Rows – pull downs, barbell, db, kb

With the five lifts, every muscle and joint in the body has been trained. Presses hit the chest, shoulders, and triceps; rows hit the back and biceps; pulls hit the glutes, lower back, hamstrings; squats hit just about every muscle from the core down; the Olympic lifts train everything; and every exercise mentioned trains the core to some extent. The entire body has been trained with those five exercises.

The Strength & Conditioning Program also uses the Athletics Department’s game and practice fields and courts for movement training.