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Alongside strength training, strength and conditioning can be used to help train your core, improve flexibility, movement, power, speed, fitness, and helps to support injury rehabilitation.

Who is it for?

A common misconception about strength and conditioning exercises is that they are only reserved for high-level athletes, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Anyone who is interested in improving their movement or performance will greatly benefit from the application of a strength and conditioning training programme, including:

• Recreational sport and fitness enthusiasts
• Injury rehabilitation patients
• Youth athletes
• Sport professionals
• People looking to improve health or return to exercise
• Older people looking to improve movement quality

Strength and conditioning benefits

A key benefit of strength and conditioning is that it is used to create specific training plans which are based on the principles of your desires area, your exercise history, injury history, current physical ability along with any current exercise and health goals. It is entirely specific to the individual, and can be regularly reviewed and updated depending on the service required.

Another positive of a good strength and conditioning programme , is that it can be used in addition to other services, such as injury rehabilitation or recreational sports. Strength and conditioning programmes can be created to ensure maximum benefit in strength and conditioning without having any unwanted impact on your preferred sports or external activities.

In addition to improved performance in sport, strength and conditioning can help improve performance in many real-life scenarios such as outdoor hobbies, DIY, gardening and even playing with your children. This is because strength and conditioning works to benefit all areas, even including muscle and bone strength, and heart and cardiovascular health.

There are many benefits to strength training, but the application of a good strength and conditioning training programme will lead to:

• Improved heart, bone, and lung health
• Improved flexibility
• Reduced risk of injury
• Improved body composition
• Improved resting metabolism
• Improved strength

What is included within a strength and conditioning program?

Strength and conditioning training aims to make muscles and bones stronger in specific areas of the body. The routines you undertake within a set programme will be dependent on what you are trying to achieve.

Some of the more common strength and conditioning exercises will focus on:

• Core stability
• Endurance
• Plyometrics
• Speed and agility
• Mobility
• Weight training
• Injury rehabilitation

What’s the difference between a strength and conditioning coach and a personal trainer?

There are many differences between a strength and conditioning coach and a personal trainer, but ultimately the key difference between the two is that a strength and conditioning coach will create tailored and individualised long-term plans, whereas a personal trainer will most likely have more generalised routines for much shorter periods of time.

Another difference between a strength and conditioning coach and a personal trainer, is the level of knowledge offered by each. Strength and conditioning has an intense focus on each goal required, meaning that the coaches can delve much deeper into specific methodology to support you.

Strength and conditioning coaches can liaise with external professionals that you are currently working with such as physiotherapists or nutritionists, and apply advanced methods to improve strength, mobility, core stability and endurance in the areas that you need most.

Blaine Clancy

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