Strength and Conditioning - Full Time (Taught)

Boost your employability and gain the knowledge and experience to graduate as an effective strength and conditioning coach.

Strength and Conditioning is an exciting topic examining the science behind athletic physical preparation. A strength and conditioning coach helps to meet the individual needs of their clients and the specific needs of sports competition. They help people increasing their physical activity, prepare for the demands of sport, and bridge the gap returning to play when recovering from injury. Strength and conditioning coaches are also skilled practitioners in the research and application of knowledge into practice. A specialist support service in its own right, strength and conditioning coaches typically operate and provide expertise as part of multi-disciplinary team.

This course is ideal for students progressing on from relevant sports undergraduate courses such as Sport and Exercise Science, Sports Coaching, Sports Therapy or Football Studies. In addition, this course would suit practitioners returning to education to update and develop their knowledge and skills, for example, sports coaches, PE teachers, sports therapists and physiotherapists.

The course is taught one day a week for full-time students. This is designed to provide enough time to read extensively, research topics and work on assignments. It will also provide ample time for gaining coaching experiences and apply knowledge into practice. As you progress through the course you will embed technical competency of resistance training and energy systems development within principles and physiology of strength and conditioning.

You will generate a critical understanding of periodisation and programming to plan and progress your client’s goals over the short-term, medium-term and long-term. You will improve your session effectiveness utilising modern coaching science concepts and psychosocial elements. You will also develop an understanding of the analysis of movement patterns, particularly those related to injury prevention and recovery.

This course has been developed in collaboration with governing bodies and professional bodies to ensure it meets the demands of industry. As part of the course you will benefit from practical hands-on lessons and multiple placement opportunities, both within the University and with external links to facilitate your experiential development.

This course is for:
This course is ideally suited to students graduating from an undergraduate degree in sport who want to specialise in the physical preparation of athletes.

You may want to apply the knowledge to a team or sport you already work with, or use the skills and experience gained to align to job descriptions as strength and conditioning coaches at professional sports clubs. Applicants without a suitable undergraduate degree but with considerable industry experience will be considered through interview process.

• Advanced Physiology of Exercise Testing and Training
Strength and Conditioning practitioners must have appropriate insight into applied human physiology and biomechanics. By undertaking this module you will work within the BASES accredited sport science laboratories (Physiology, Biomechanics, and Strength and conditioning) to consider, in depth, the systemic adaptations to an array of training and recovery stimuli.

• Analysing Movement in Exercise and Injury
Strength and Conditioning practitioners should recognise the potential for injury in athletes and their anatomy based on the demands of their sport. By undertaking this module you will perform physiological and biomechanical testing within our BASES accredited sport science laboratories to assess for muscular imbalances, technical incompetency's, and areas of weakness, as well as review training methods to prevent injury and rehabilitate should injury occur.

• Applied Research Methods and Study Design
This module aims to promote your knowledge and understanding of the research process, but also to develop the real-world skills necessary to undertake a successful research project. You will develop these skills by undertaking your own research project.

• Contemporary Topics in Strength and Conditioning
This module will introduce you to a number of contemporary topics, providing you with an insight into highly relevant, advanced and up to date practices, problems and gaps in knowledge or application.

• Developing Effective Coaching Practice
Through this module you will critically evaluate underpinning theory and research and apply them to real-world practice, by planning, delivering and reviewing your coaching skills, including coach-athlete communication, observing and understanding your athletes, adapting the training environment and reflective practice.

• Independent Research Project
This is a student-led module and as such the content is largely determined by you under the guidance of your supervisor. The module provides you with an opportunity to undertake a sustained, intensive and independent investigation into a theme of your choosing and present the work in a peer reviewed journal format. It will provide an opportunity for you to demonstrate your scholarly skills within a unique area of study.

• Principles of Strength and Conditioning
You will be able to reinforce your appreciation for the fundamental topics and benefit from broadening your knowledge base beyond your own experiences and sporting interests. Vital to postgraduate study is the opportunity you will be given when revisiting these central topics to question and critique the evidence behind the underpinning theoretical knowledge and the associated practical skills they serve.

• Programming and Periodisation
This module will allow you to examine and question the design process of athletic training, specifically questioning the sequenced ordering of physical conditioning over several months, an annual calendar and beyond into long-term development.