The Top Strength and Conditioning Courses For Personal Trainers

The best personal trainers are committed to continual development. They don’t simply do a L3 course and then settle once their first few clients roll in. Instead, they never stop learning. This is what it takes to be successful and stand out from the crowd. Not only will you be able to provide a better service, but extra qualifications enhance your professional profile in the process too.

One area that you may want to consider advancing your skills in is strength and conditioning. S&C courses give you the knowledge you need to enhance the athletic performance of your clients over time. You will use scientifically-backed training methods to devise effective programs for your clients. This is key to optimizing your clients’ capabilities, so you can improve performance. 

With that being said, below, we will take you through 10 of the best strength and conditioning courses around the world today.

1. ISSA Strength and Conditioning Certification

https://www.issaonline.com/certification/strength-and-conditioning-certification

We’re going to kick off with one of the world’s leading training providers for personal trainers; ISSA. ISSA provides a Strength and Conditioning Certification, which gives you all of the tools needed to help different clients achieve outstanding speed, power, strength, and endurance. 

What you will learn in this course:

• The tools needed to develop personalized fitness plans to increase speed, strength, and endurance
• How to communicate exercise instructions effectively
• An athlete’s anatomy and how body structure and mechanics influence performance and energy levels
• How to apply principles of anatomy, body mechanics, and metabolism to help athletes at any level reach peak performance
• Sports psychology fundamentals 
• How to carry out fitness assessments effectively
• The drawbacks of over-training and how to prevent injuries
• Principles of supplementation and nutrition, and how to implement them

2. NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist

https://www.nsca.com/certification/cscs

The Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists® (CSCS®) course from NSCA will give you the knowledge you need to apply scientific principles so that you can train your clients and help them to achieve their chief objective of enhancing their athletic performance. 

You will learn how to carry out certain assessment sessions, as well as design and implement effective and safe training and conditioning programs and offer guidance in terms of injury prevention and nutrition. 

A Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist will also become adept at knowing when to refer one of their clients to different specialists for further help. 

One thing that is worth noting is that you will need to take your exam for the NSCA CSCS course within 120 days of registering.

3. NCSF Certified Strength Coach

https://www.ncsf.org/examprep/strengthcoach/csc/

The NCSF Certified Strength Coach (CSC) program is designed to help you develop the skills and knowledge needed to improve human performance, no matter whether your clients are pro athletes or children. 

One of the great things about choosing this course over some of the other options available is that it is NCCA accredited. This means that it is recognized by health clubs, colleges, high schools, and other professional organizations, which opens up more possibilities for you when searching for new clients. 

There is a great chapter on comprehensive assessment protocols. This involves in-depth analysis and how to use it so you can evaluate your athletes. You will learn about the latest tools in sport science that can assist with this.

4. CSCCa Strength and Conditioning Coach Certified

https://www.cscca.org/certification

Many consider the CSCCa Strength and Conditioning Coach Certified program to be the most comprehensive of its kind. It is highly regarded and widely recognized, offering you an excellent way of boosting your professional profile in the world of strength and conditioning. 

The examination component of the CSCCa SCCC course contains both practical and written elements. The written exam is made up of 150 questions in multiple-choice format. Interestingly, 25 of these questions do not contribute to your score. However, you won’t be made aware of which of the 150 are not markable. 

There are 24 questions on exercise instruction and training, 41 questions on program design, 24 questions on assessment and evaluation, and 36 questions on exercise science.

You then have a practical exam that involves a hands-on demonstration of a number of strength and conditioning skills and techniques. Plus, there is an oral exam, which involves answering questions related to strength and conditioning in front of of master strength and conditioning coaches.

5. Strength and Conditioning Education (UK) Courses

https://strengthandconditioningeducation.com/

Strength and Conditioning Education provide a number of different courses that you can make the most of, suitable for all levels and covering different elements of strength and conditioning. So, you should have no trouble finding the perfect strength and conditioning course for your needs.

One of the reasons why the courses at Strength and Conditioning Education are thought so highly is because they are devised with your future career in mind. They do not only give you the tools you need to teach your clients to improve their own performance but you are provided with a career path and all of the tools required to achieve great things as a strength and conditioning coach.

6. UKSCA (UK)

https://www.uksca.org.uk/home

If you are based in the UK, or you’re an online personal trainer with UK-based clients, taking a UKSCA course makes a lot of sense. UKSCA is the professional body for strength and conditioning in the United Kingdom. 

Becoming a UKSCA Accredited Strength and Conditioning Coach is an excellent way of boosting your brand and establishing yourself as an expert in the industry. 

There are many different training courses that can help you to achieve formal qualifications and plug any gaps in your knowledge.

7. ASCA (Australia) 

https://www.strengthandconditioning.org/

For personal trainers in Australia, ASCA is an evident place to start. This is the country’s accrediting body for strength and conditioning coaches. 

ASCA provides a number of different accredited strength and conditioning programs for personal trainers of all levels. All of these programs are administered by Sport Australia and registered with the National Coaching Accreditation Scheme. 

Beginners can start off with the Introduction to S&C. For more advanced personal trainers with prior training in this area, you may want to consider the Master L3 or Elite L3 courses.

8. ISSA Performance Enhancement Specialist

https://www.issaonline.com/certification/performance-enhancement

Another ISSA course worth considering is their Performance Enhancement Specialist program. This teaches you about improving coordination, agility, speed, and strength in amateur or professional athletes. 

You will discover exactly how you can help athletes reach their full potential. An ISSA Performance Enhancement Specialist is an experienced professional who will have the credentials and knowledge needed to make individualized plans tailored to every athlete based on their goals, fitness level, and age.

You will be able to work with amateurs at different stages in their careers to identify mental and physical challenges and overcome them. You will also learn tools to assist your clients in injury prevention, supplementation, and nutrition.

9. NASM - Performance Enhancement Specialization

https://www.nasm.org/continuing-education/fitness-specializations/performance-enhancement-specialist

Last but not least, the Performance Enhancement Specialization course from NASM is another worthy contender. This course is designed to help you improve your clients’ performance while boosting your earning potential in the process. It is all about gaining the advanced skills, insight, and knowledge required to help clients reach peak performance levels, no matter their level at present.  

There is some great bonus content as part of this course, including basketball, baseball, and football lecture videos, as well as weight room management and maintenance. The programming toolkit comes with a programming generator, a youth programming manual, and nine sample programs.

10. ISSA Powerlifting Instructor 

https://www.issaonline.com/certification/powerlifting-instructor

Becoming a certified powerlifting instructor is a great way of expanding your services and reaching more clients. 

This ISSA course covers all of the essentials so you can master powerlifting form and movements to effectively and safely teach your clients. Students are also advised on how to instruct clients so that they understand how to perform moves correctly. 

You will also become an expert in assessing and evaluating your clients’ foundation so that you can understand how to best guide them in reaching their objectives. 

Individualized strength program design is another critical component of this course. You will discover how to put together programs that are custom to the client in question, ensuring they have the best chance of achieving their goals in a safe and efficient manner.

Improve your skills with a strength and conditioning course.

So there you have it: 10 of the best strength and conditioning courses for personal trainers. If you are looking to take your skills to new heights and enhance your professional credibility, embarking on one of the training courses mentioned above can help you to do so.