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" below.

Year one
Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism
This module will provide an introduction to the biochemical principles of exercise metabolism and will highlight the importance of nutrition in enhancing athletic performance.

Optimising Exercise and Load: Effective monitoring and management
In order to optimise the performance of an athlete, it is essential to understand the key scientific and practical concepts of biomechanics, athlete monitoring and load considerations to prevent injuries, or optimise rehabilitation of an athlete's return to play. This module will advance the students' ability to observe and collect athlete data, analyse, interpret, act upon and communicate with the athlete and within, or across, multidisciplinary settings. This module draws upon the student's previous knowledge and skills to ensure a multifaceted approach to the development of professional practice in sports and exercise medicine.

Applied Statistics
This module highlights some of the well documented concerns with the traditional approach to inferential statistics and provides the student with a more progressive alternative, namely: magnitude based inference (MBI). Students will get an opportunity to consider several applicable research designs within S&C and more importantly, will collect and analyse data in a manner that conducive to direct application within performance sport.

Programme Design
The module promotes that the strength and conditioning coach must complete a comprehensive needs analysis prior to designing a sport-specific programme. In addition, the training process can be considered a single-subject experiment that requires meticulous documentation and a flexible approach, that reflects the demands of modern sport.

Principles and Practice of Strength and Conditioning
This module will consider many contemporary issues within the ever evolving area of strength and conditioning. Students will get an opportunity to explore the evidence-base that can directly inform current practice. In addition, consideration will be be given to how practice based evidence that is developed, refined, and implemented first in a variety of real-world settings, can also be utilized.

Research Project in Sports and Performance
Carrying out an original, independent piece of research from the formulation of a research question through to reporting findings in accordance with the conventions of the academic area is an important part of the research training provided by Masters level study. This module provides students with an opportunity for students to carry out an original independent piece of research within the area of their own profession, or special interest in sports and performance, and present findings in the form of a journal manuscript and a conference presentation.

Motor Cognition and Performance
Through a series of lectures and tutor-led practical sessions, students will be able to critically reflect on the theoretical and practical importance of motor learning and performance. Students will also develop experience delivering a movement skills programme.

(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.

English Language Requirements
If English is not your first language this course requires
a minimum English level of IELTS (academic) 6.0 with no band
score less than 5.5, or equivalent.

This course is open to international (non-EU) students (full-time only).

For full entry requirements please see "Course Web Page" below.

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

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.