St Mary's University Twickenham, London
MSc Strength and Conditioning (Distance Learning)
Twickenham, United Kingdom
MSc
DURATION
5 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2027
TUITION FEES
GBP 11,070 / per year
STUDY FORMAT
Distance Learning
Key Summary
About: St Mary's MSc Strength and Conditioning (distance learning) develops outstanding strength and conditioning (S&C) coaches through applied coaching and sports science. The programme was the UK's first part‑time distance S&C Master's and emphasizes coaching skills. It's taught by experienced coaches and sports scientists and offers access to a £250,000 Performance Education Centre.
Career Outcomes: The MSc aligns with competencies for UKSCA and NSCA accreditation and supports career paths as a strength coach, conditioning coach, performance coach, athletic development specialist, or performance analyst. Employers value practical experience; applicants must arrange S&C placements before entry. The programme also suits clinicians using it as CPD.
This Master's degree is designed to support students in developing into outstanding Strength and Conditioning coaches.
- St Mary's MSc in S&C was the first distance learning course of its kind in the UK
- The course is distinct from many others in the sector in emphasising the development of coaching skills
- Be taught in a state of the art, £250,000 Performance Education Centre
Why St Mary's?
We're widely recognised as an international leader in strength and conditioning education. We were the first UK institution to offer an undergraduate degree in strength and conditioning, and this Master's programme was the first part-time, distance-learning strength and conditioning course in the UK.
In recent years the University has invested £250,000 in a state of the art Performance Education Centre, which is unrivalled as a facility for strength and conditioning education.
Our staff includes both highly experienced coaches and expert sports scientists. All of the course material is designed specifically for the strength and conditioning degree, ensuring that the practical relevance of the scientific evidence to the strength and conditioning coach is always fully explored.
The distance learning nature of this course has several advantages for professionals. Principal among these is the opportunity to combine study with practical work experience, allowing the translation of science into practice. In addition, you can organise your study around your own personal schedule. You can download lectures and watch them at times that suit you.
Modules
- Practical Strengths in Strength and Conditioning
- Research Methods and Evidence-Based Practice
- Biomechanics and Skill Acquisition in Strength and Conditioning
- Physiology of Training
- Programme Design, Planning and Monitoring
- Topical Issues in Strength and Conditioning Science
- Independent Project
Why study Strength and Conditioning (Distance Learning)?
To be an excellent strength and conditioning coach requires a wide knowledge across several domains and a number of different skill sets. These include:
- An extensive "toolbox" of training exercises and interventions
- An understanding of movement and the ability to teach movement
- An understanding of how the body adapts to training and how to organise training to maximise desirable adaptations
- An ability to coach
- The ability to understand various sources of evidence (including scientific evidence) and use it to inform your practice
Our Master's degree in Strength and Conditioning has been designed with these demands in mind and aims to support students in developing as excellent strength and conditioning coaches.
Funding
Government-funded loans of over £11,000 are available to many Home postgraduate students.
Home and International students may also be eligible for external sources of funding.
International Students should check their eligibility for our International Scholarship.
Alumni discount
A 20% tuition fee discount is available for our alumni (undergraduate and PGCE) planning to study for this Master's degree.
In today’s marketplace, employers are seeking to employ staff who are suitably qualified to undertake their roles and responsibilities. As such, there is an increased need for postgraduate programmes to be vocationally orientated, with an emphasis on training students in the theoretical underpinnings and relevant practice areas to work in the sports industry.
The MSc / PG Diploma programme focuses on disciplines pertinent to the field of strength and conditioning. The programme has been designed to reflect the competencies required for professional accreditation with the UKSCA and NSCA.
It is necessary for applicants to understand that the most important quality valued by employers is experience. It's therefore, a condition of entry to the course that students arrange experience opportunities in strength and conditioning prior to entry. For those using the course as CPD for another career pathway (e.g. physiotherapists), this condition does not apply.