Strength and Conditioning BSc (Hons)

The University of Winchester

• Enjoy high-quality teaching in a friendly learning environment
• Gain scientific knowledge, practical expertise and coaching experience
• Excel in your studies and favourite sports at our bespoke sport and exercise facilities
• Follow a programme syllabus aligned to UK Strength and Conditioning Association competency document
• Approved and recognised program with the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA)

This dynamic degree prepares you to flex your physical and intellectual muscles in a career in the fast-growing field of sports and fitness. Our course is a front-runner in its field and equips you with the graduate skills necessary to enter and positively contribute to the sports (strength and conditioning) and fitness (health and fitness) industries through evidence-based practice, as well as producing impactful research into these areas.

Centred around our industry-standard sport and exercise facilities, which include our own stadium complete with an eight-lane athletics track and a large sports hall on-campus, this innovative, science-based programme allows you to focus on the disciplines of whole-body system physical training, biomechanics and research methods within the field.

Expert teaching combined with bespoke amenities such as biomechanics and physiology laboratories ensure you have the knowledge base to critically evaluate and engage with contemporary sport and exercise research and practice.

By the end of this degree, you are able to undertake a comprehensive needs analysis for team sports, individual performers and individual exercisers. Using this information, you can plan and implement training programmes designed to elicit specific physiological adaptations and develop programmes to enhance broader health and wellbeing.

This course comprises three key strands:

Strength, Conditioning and Fitness

This strand develops your understanding of applied practice and your ability to teach a range of specific activities designed to enhance strength, speed, power, mobility, and aerobic fitness. This strand specifically addresses whole-body system integration, and looks at factors such as metabolism, nutrition, trainability and adaptation, as well as hormonal and cardiorespiratory responses.

Sports and Exercise Biomechanics

This strand centres on the mechanical analysis of human movement with a focus on reducing injuries and improving performance within both competitive sporting and recreational exercise settings. You study mechanical principles of motion, kinematic and kinetic concepts, develop anatomical knowledge as well as explore a range of quantitative measurement techniques.

Research Methods

This strand seeks to develop a familiarity with both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies and apply these to various sporting and exercise contexts. The supervised dissertation then provides an opportunity to carry out an independent piece of research in an area you are particularly interested in.

Strength and Conditioning is a booming industry, providing work opportunities not just with elite athletes, but also with sports teams, the army, police force and specialist groups. Graduates work as strength and conditioning practitioners, personal trainers, fitness instructors or sport and exercise scientists. Others enter careers in teaching, leisure, tourism, education, research and health.