From professional coaching to supporting medical rehabilitation, clients want to feel confident theyre getting the best results for their efforts. As a strength and conditioning expert, youll help them achieve their goals while safeguarding them from the pain and frustration of injury along the way. We've developed our MSc Strength and Conditioning degree in line with UK professional governing body standards (UKSCA), the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA). This ensures that you leave us with the skill set, confidence and specialist knowledge to excel in the field, and that youre industry ready and prepared for accreditation.  Designed for graduates and current practitioners, its a masters course with plenty of variety. Youll gain both practical and laboratory experience, as well as research skills and a strong grounding in the scientific and coaching theories that underpin successful training methods. This includes the multidisciplinary considerations for the enhancement of athletic performance, as well as the mitigation of injury risk across diverse populations.  Youll be taught by experts in their field at the world-class Institute of Sport, with outstanding facilities in the heart of Manchester a city world renowned for its sporting achievements.  Here, youll be part of a large and diverse sporting community with access to academics and sport professionals with a wide variety of interests and specialisms.  Boosting your CV with real-world experience, you also have the opportunity to complete a work placement in an area of your choosing.  This could be in one of the citys outstanding gyms or sports tech companies, or maybe with one of the leading clubs or national sporting bodies we have ties with. This includes England Para Football, Manchester City FC Academy, British Swimming and professional rugby union club Sale Sharks.

Career prospects

Sport and exercise science is a dynamic and evolving sector, becoming increasingly specialised. This means there is more demand from employers for high calibre, well-qualified candidates with specialist skills and expertise. Our course has been designed in partnership with industry-active professionals and academics, ensuring you graduate ready for the strength and conditioning industry of tomorrow.

If you want to become an accredited strength and conditioning coach, this course meets professional governing body standards that will get you ready for accreditation.

Career options for strength and conditioning coaches are varied and include working for professional sports clubs, in private gyms, for universities and colleges, with para-athletes or in schools or sport academies. Coaches work beyond sport too, branching out into healthcare settings to support health, rehabilitation and recovery.   

Then theres the fast-growing digital e-sport sector, with sport technology companies developing new strength and conditioning products every day. Theres also scientific research and the need to test new products, methods and theories.  

Whatever your ambition, this course will give you the skills and confidence to launch the career of your dreams, or to take the next step into further study and research.