Strength and Conditioning MSc

at Coventry University

Why you should study this course

This course is designed to equip you with the advanced knowledge, understanding and skills to become a professional strength and conditioning coach, who should be able to use exercise training to enhance human performance across a range of domains – sport, occupational and health. 
 

• Upon success completion, you will be equipped with the skills and knowledge to apply for accreditation with the United Kingdom Strength and Conditioning Association (UKSCA), as well as certification with the USA based National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) upon graduation (additional fees are payable to UKSCA and NCSA for accreditation/certification).
• Expert guest lecturers (subject to availability), which in the past have included sports medicine, health and wellness, sport psychology and sport performance complement staff expertise.
• The current staff team teaching this course include people who provide strength and conditioning support to professional sporting organisations and/or hold positions within UKSCA and British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES).
• This course has a strong practice-based element; you will have the opportunity to engage in practical application of strength and conditioning in individual and team sport settings.
   

What you'll study

Core subject areas covered in the course include: performance physiology, biomechanics, sports injuries, corrective exercises, recovery strategies, and strength and conditioning practice.

Through the course of your year’s study, you will be provided with the opportunity to develop several key skills you will need to be an effective strength and conditioning practitioner. This will include the ability to be an effective communicator. In addition, you will be encouraged to take an analytical and flexible approach to problem-solving.
 

Modules
 

• Profiling and Needs Analysis - 15 credits

  This module will enable you to gain the knowledge and techniques needed to develop an understanding of the needs of a client based on knowledge of physiology, biomechanics, psychology and nutrition. The module takes an interdisciplinary approach to client profiling and needs analysis as applied to strength and conditioning and sport science practitioners.

  Compulsory
   

• Foundation Practice in Strength and Conditioning - 20 credits

  This module focuses on those key areas of physiology, psychology, nutrition and biomechanics delivered at undergraduate level which are most relevant to the strength and conditioning practitioner. It is designed to provide you with a body of knowledge and experiences that aim to prepare you for advanced strength and conditioning practices in sport performance. The main emphasis is placed on applied physiology and biomechanics for the exercising human. The module will provide you with the theoretical knowledge and practical competencies required to work with a variety of populations within the field of strength and conditioning. You will develop the skills and abilities required to perform, teach and prescribe fundamental strength and conditioning activities.

  Compulsory
   

• Needs Analysis and Programme Design - 10 credits

  This is an assessment only module. It will encourage you to develop multi-disciplinary practice and an integrated approach to learning. You will integrate knowledge and skills from the Foundation Practices in Strength and Conditioning and Profiling and Needs Analysis modules to develop a strength and conditioning programme for a defined client.

  Compulsory
   

• Project Proposal - 20 credits

  This module aims to provide a detailed understanding of the complex processes necessary to formulate, develop and test a scientific/clinical hypothesis. You will be given the opportunity to apply these to the design of your own research study with due regard to health and safety and ethical requirements. It is designed to enable you to become a critical consumer of information in the context of developing evidence-based practice. You will be supported by project review meetings with your nominated supervisor who will also fulfil the role of academic personal tutor.

  Compulsory
   

• Advanced Practice in Strength and Conditioning - 20 credits

  This module builds on key areas of those developed in the foundations of strength and conditioning practice. The module will develop advanced skills in programming for strength, speed and power development to meet the performance needs of the elite performer.

  Compulsory
   

• Professional Practice within a Multi-disciplinary Team - 20 credits

  The emphasis of this module is on the planning, delivery and effective review of strength and conditioning coaching within a multi-disciplinary team. The module considers the roles of the strength and conditioning coach, technical sport coach, physiologist, physiotherapist, biomechanist, nutritionist, and psychologist when developing a rehabilitation programme for return to performance.
   

  You will gain the theoretical knowledge and practical competencies required to work with a variety of populations within the field of strength and conditioning.
   

  This module content will also contribute, along with Advanced Practive in Strength and Conditioning, to an integrated course-based assessment. You will be able to apply principles of programme design learnt here to a novel scenario in a problem-based learning approach.

  Compulsory
   

• Critical Review of Research Project - 10 credits

  The aim of this module is to allow you to reflect upon and refine your research project proposal prior to the data collection phase. You will have the opportunity to practice and develop competency in key methods to be used in the investigation, and to receive support for any other project related concerns. You will be able to meet regularly with your project supervisor to refine the research proposal ideas with the aim to support you to articulate these clearly.

  Compulsory
   

• Strength and Conditioning for the Injured Athlete - 20 credits

  This is an assessment-only module, combining learnings from two modules - Professional Practice within a Multi-disciplinary Team and Advanced Practice in Strength and Conditioning. It encourages you to develop multi-disciplinary practice and an integrated approach to learning. You will apply your knowledge and understanding from the two modules to a bespoke case study of an injured individual.

  Compulsory
   

• Entrepreneurship (CMI module) - 10 credits

  The aim of this module is to give you an opportunity to assess the relationship between entrepreneurship and other domains of management, such as strategy and leadership. Upon successful completion of this module, you will gain an understanding of how entrepreneurial thinking can enhance organisational performance and leadership through the application of a more enterprising mind-set.
   

  Entrepreneurs may work for themselves (as entrepreneurs) or be entrepreneurial in working for others (intrapreneurs). By drawing on a wide range of scenarios, tasks and debates, this module will explore a range of entrepreneurial archetypes to help you explore your own entrepreneurial profile and potential. Upon successful completion of the module you should gain an appreciation of entrepreneurship from multiple perspectives and subject areas, and you will be taught how to adopt or adapt solutions from other fields of study to find opportunities or solve problems.
   

  Successful completion of this module will enable you to complete the academic requirements for a Level 7 certificate in Strategic Leadership and Management from the CMI (CMI registration is subject to additional costs). Please see the Accreditation and Professional Recognition section.

  Compulsory
   

• Professional Placement in Strength and Conditioning - 20 credits

  In this module, you will report and reflect on a period of relevant work experience. You are required to undertake a minimum of 100 hours of appropriate experience in a strength and conditioning role. This may be accumulated through the duration of the course, and a log of work experience must be maintained. You are supported to source appropriate placements through the established course team or your own contacts. Reflection on the work experience should encourage you to recognise your developing competencies, mapped to the accrediting body (UKSCA).

  Compulsory
   

• Independent Project - 50 credits

  In this module you will have the opportunity to put into practice and report your research proposal. You will implement your project design, collect, analyse and interpret data and critically evaluate your findings with reference to published literature.
   

  You will be supported through the process via supervisory meetings, but you should be able to demonstrate an ability to work independently without close supervision. This module gives you the opportunity to develop high levels of organisational skills, practical ability, interaction with other students, engagement with supervisory meetings and professional behaviour to participants or clients.

  Compulsory

Applicants should hold the equivalent of a 2:2 undergraduate degree in Sport and Exercise Science. Modules of study must include Exercise Physiology and/or Biomechanics in Year 3 of an undergraduate degree.

Applicants with a degree in an area cognate with Strength and Conditioning such as Human/Exercise Physiology, Coaching, Engineering (with a focus on Biomechanics), Health and Exercise will also be considered.
 

English language requirements

• IELTS: 6.5 overall, with at least 5.5 in each component area

International Fees
£16,950 per year
 

International Pathways 2022 Scholarship
You could enjoy a £3,000 reduction in tuition fees.

Our high-quality foundation, international year one and pre-masters courses are for international students who do not meet the requirements for direct entry to their preferred Coventry University undergraduate or postgraduate course. We can support you to achieve the academic and/or English grades you need and help you gain the personal and professional skills required to study at university.

We want to encourage ambitious international students like you to study at Coventry University, so we’ve secured extra financial support for you worth £3,000, to help with the cost of tuition fees, living expenses and accommodation.
 

The scholarship application deadline is:
September 2022 intake: 31 July 2022

This course aims to equip you with knowledge and professionalism for a variety of health and fitness related careers such as: Strength and Conditioning Coach, Fitness Manager for sports teams, Performance Manager, Exercise/physical activity referral officer, Health and fitness industry and Health Promotion.

On successful completion, you will be able to:
 

• Demonstrate a comprehensive and critical understanding of strength and conditioning as a profession, including its theoretical scientific underpinning and limitations.
• Design, deliver, and continuously evaluate strength and conditioning programmes to enable a broad range of individuals to achieve their performance-orientated goal.
• Critically apply evidenced-based practice to ‘real world’ questions, different multi-disciplinary situations, and global contexts.
• Understand the current professional context, ethical issues, and impact of diversity, as they affect current practice within the strength and conditioning industry.
• Employ evidence-based reasoning to examine practical, theoretical, and ethical issues associated with strength and conditioning.
• Find, critically analyse and present scientific information to both expert and non-expert recipients.