Strength & Conditioning

As a profession, strength and conditioning has seen substantial growth in the past 40 years. Strength and conditioning coaches, in collaboration with athletic trainers, physiotherapists, nutritionists, sport scientists, and other allied professions, are now commonly part of a team that provide support services to athletes.

The knowledge base that is utilised by strength and conditioning coaches cuts across anatomy, exercise physiology, biomechanics, nutrition, and sport psychology. Developed to reflect the guidelines published by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), key stakeholders from industry have also been consulted to help formulate a needs-led curriculum. You will cover topics including principles and practice of strength and conditioning, nutrition and exercise metabolism, optimising exercise, programme design, motor cognition and performance, and applied statistics. You will also conduct a research project.

Employment opportunities for aspiring strength and conditioning coaches exist in government-funded organisations such as schools, colleges, universities, national/state institutes of sport, and privately funded professional organisations or individual athletes.

For further course details please see "Course Web Page".

Modules
Semester 1.
a. Principles and Practice of S&C (30 Credits)
b. Programme Design (15 Credits)
c. Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism (15 Credits)

Semester 2.
d. Optimizing Exercise and Load (30 Credits)
e. Applied Statistics (15 Credits)
f. Motor Cognition (15 Credits)

Semester 3.
g. Research Project

For further information on modules, please contact the Course Director.

Standard entry conditions
We recognise a range of qualifications for admission to our courses. In addition to the specific entry conditions for this course you must also meet the University’s General Entrance Requirements.

(i) a second class honours degree or better in sports science or cognate area from a university of the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland, or from a recognised national awarding body, or from an institution of another country which has been recognised as being of an equivalent standard; or

(ii) an equivalent standard (normally 50%) in a Graduate Diploma, Graduate Certificate, Postgraduate Certificate or Postgraduate Diploma or an approved alternative qualification; and

(b) provide evidence of competence in written and spoken English (GCSE grade C or equivalent);

In exceptional circumstances, as an alternative to (a) (i) or (a) (ii) and/or (b) and/or (c), where an individual has substantial and significant experiential learning, a portfolio of written evidence demonstrating the meeting of graduate qualities (including subject-specific outcomes, as determined by the Course Committee) may be considered as an alternative entrance route. Evidence used to demonstrate graduate qualities may not be used for exemption against modules within the programme.

For further course details please see "Course Web Page"

Your Application
Application is through the University's online application system (see "Application Weblink").

Students may wish to complete the programme in 1 year full-time or part-time mode over 3 academic years, typically taking 30 credits per semester.

Start Date: September 2024

Career options
Employment opportunities for aspiring strength and conditioning coaches thus exist in government-funded organizations such as schools, colleges, universities, national/state institutes of sport, and privately funded professional organizations and individual athletes.