What is a Strength and Conditioning Coach?
A challenge I find is people not knowing what Strength and Conditioning (S&C) is, how it differs from personal training and how it can help with their long term physical goals. To me it boils down to 3 main things;
Education (Formal and Informal)
Experience
Expertise
Firstly the educational boundaries to being a S&C coach are much higher than that of being a personal trainer. Personal training qualifications can be obtained in a matter of weeks, whilst the barrier to entry in professional sport is a MSc, which is four years of training. Whilst there is an abumndance of educational material online for free, it is a safer bet choosing someone who has undergone formal education and proved their knowledge base.
I think S&C coaches in the past have been snobs, looking down on those without the formal qualifications to do the job, as without the title having chartered status, it is fairly easy to obtain a level 3/4 in S&C by numerous private businesses offering this. That is not to say that these have no merit however, a combination of this with a lot of experience working under other great coaches will make for a very good coach, so be sure to check out what the practitioner has done in order to excel in their learning.
Secondly experience matters, another barrier to entry in professional sports is having obtained a large amount of experience (Usually 3-5 years minimum). You can get a job on a gym floor without this, but you can be confident that someone who has or currently works in professional sport has a vast amount of experience in developing physical qualities. This experience may also come with youth training, which S&C coaches are much better suited in delivering than a personal trainer, but I will talk about this more in the next section. Generally though S&C coaches have experience delivering a large amount of differing training due to the demands of sport such as, weight loss, strength and hypertrophy training, rehabilitation, speed training, on pitch/court delivery, cardiovascular development and much more.
Finally expertise, developed during studies, those being formal or informal, an S&C coach would find themselves learning in detail about different populations and ways in which physical development can enhance performance (be it athletic performance, or general life enhancement). I can say that during my time teaching at a university I taught on subjects or learnt about topics such as youth training, the adaptive athlete (Para Sport), masters athletes (35+), specific challenges to females (Such as REDS) and rehabilitation from injury. All of these combined with a standard sports science curriculum containing Biomechanics, Physiology and Phsychology. When we compare this to the learning within personal training courses which contain low level science of training, programming and how to train the average joe, there is clear light and day between the two professions.
I must emphasise that this blog is in no way a dig at personal trainers, I have met some fantastic coaches that are PT qualified. It is more so you can make an informed decision about who to work with. Personal trainers can do a fantastic job with weight loss, general strength and hypertrophy and lifestyle changes. But when it comes to maximising your time in the gym, and more complex training such as rehab, training pre or post surgery, training with a specific sport in mind or any other category mentioned above I would advice seeking a suitably qualified professional.
