☕️ S&C Daily — Routine at This Point

October 6, 2026

A new review in Scientific Reports pooled 14 randomized trials and 693 athletes to find which hamstring strain rehab gets athletes back fastest. The clearest answer was lengthening-focused exercise, which loads the hamstring at long muscle lengths.

In two trials of elite soccer players and elite sprinters and jumpers, that approach returned athletes about 28 days sooner than conventional rehab. Re-injuries were 0 of 65 with lengthening and 3 of 66 with conventional rehab, a difference that wasn’t statistically significant. The authors rated the return-to-play evidence moderate certainty.

Two other findings: adding agility and trunk stabilization work didn’t speed up return, and rehab that allowed some pain (up to 4 out of 10) didn’t delay return and left athletes stronger. Most of the remaining evidence, including PRP, was rated low or very low certainty.

According to a new Goal.com story, Leslie Bonci, the Chiefs’ lead dietitian, would leave a packet of tart cherry juice on each player’s pillow every night. Drinking it was mandatory. Players joked about cutting the taste with vodka. She wasn’t having it.

It isn’t just the Chiefs. The Steelers have used it, FC Cincinnati has it on the menu right after matches, and Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz was seen drinking it after a match in August. Tart cherries have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and are a natural source of melatonin and tryptophan. “It’s routine at this point,” said Ally Maher, FC Cincinnati’s director of sports nutrition.

The whole Boston Celtics roster did a group yoga session as part of this year’s camp routine, Payton Pritchard said via CLNS Media. The team used the hotel weight room. “It was a nice little 15 minutes, right off the plane,” he said, adding that it will probably become part of the routine.

It wasn’t mandatory before, so many players skipped it, including Pritchard. Yoga isn’t new to the franchise, though. Hall of Famer Robert Parish pioneered it in the NBA, and he has recalled being embarrassed at his first class when weekend athletes were touching their toes while he struggled to grab his shins.

At Colorado Academy, the weight room isn’t just for athletes. Director of Sports Performance Isaiah Castilleja helped recruit fellow Elly Smith, who has a sports performance degree and music training, and she now works with the school’s performing arts teachers on fitness for singers, theater performers and dancers. Middle schoolers were also invited in for the first time this year.

Iowa named James Malechek assistant athletic performance coach for men’s wrestling. He spent six years as head performance coach and dryland trainer for the China National Swimming Team, whose athletes won three Olympic golds in that span, and was a Division II All-American wrestler at Wisconsin-Parkside.

The Edmonton Oil Kings promoted assistant Mason Kenny to head strength and conditioning coach. He replaces Melissa Lowe, who is leaving for a new opportunity after eight years with the club.

Oklahoma baseball will name its new training facility the Toby Keith Family Performance Center after a major gift from the Oklahoma musician’s family, longtime supporters of Sooner baseball. It is part of a $49 million renovation of Kimrey Family Stadium.

Ellison High School in Killeen, Texas, earned the NSCA’s School of Distinction after a three-year process led by head strength and conditioning coach Walter Prater. The designation runs through 2028.

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