Description

Strength and Conditioning Physiology

Description - summary of the module content

Module description

This module seeks to provide you with the physiological knowledge and basic practical skills to make you an informed and competent practitioner of strength, conditioning and athletic training. You will cover the physiological responses to many aspects associated with strength, conditioning and athletic training and in addition cover the role of protein supplementation, the debate surrounding anabolic steroids, the science of SAQ training and overtraining. This module will also teach you the basics of functional assessment, planning and delivering of sports specific testing and Olympic lifting in a safe and suitable way. There are no pre- or co-requisites for this module.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The module content and the practical skills learnt are crucial for those looking towards a career in athletic training or coaching.  In particular you will develop the following graduate attributes

• Perform athlete screening
• Design appropriate SAQ and plyometric sessions
• Coach / perform basic Olympic lifts
• Applied knowledge – understand the science behind strength and conditioning exercise
• People skills – work with others in the gym and field settings
• Health & Safety – meet the professional standards to ensure the safety of the athlete

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Explain the underlying acute and chronic physiological responses to strength and conditioning exercise
• 2. Demonstrate safe and suitable practice when delivering strength, conditioning and athletic training sessions

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Appraise an athlete’s needs, interpret data and construct appropriate training sessions to meet these aims

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Take responsibility for your own learning and development of the key skills of evaluation and prioritisation
• 5. Employ reasoned decision making to shape practice

Syllabus plan

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Anatomical basics and terminology; An introduction to strength and conditioning and athlete needs analysis
• Resistance training programme design; Assessing the foundations – postural screening
• Adaptations to strength/anaerobic training programmes; Fundamental movement patterns and effective coaching techniques
• Endocrine response to resistance training;  Optimising athlete longevity – monitoring athlete status and effective prehab and recovery techniques
• Myofascial release;  Core training considerations and injury hotspots
• SAQ training; Plyometric training
• Plyometric training; Speed, CoD and agility training
• Core stability training; Preparing to coach
• Eccentric training; Olympic weightlifting part 1
• Age and sex related differences in resistance and speed training; Olympic weightlifting part 2
• Overtraining and burnout; Practical revision sessions

Learning and teaching

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Assessment

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Re-assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to sit a further examination. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Resources

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Essentials of strength training and conditioning. Thomas Baechle and Roger Earle. 3^rd edition. Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL.
• Training for Speed, Agility and Quickness. Lee Brown and Lance Ferrigno. 2^nd edition. Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL.
• Strength and conditioning for team sports. Paul Gamble. Routledge, Abingdon UK
• NASM Essentials of Sports Performance Training. Michael Clark and Scott Lucett, Lippincott, Baltimore. 2010.
• Designing Resistance Training Programmes.  Fleck, S., and Kraemer, W. 2014 (4^th Ed).  Human Kinetics.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE page: http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=5013– readings, lecture notes, web-links and follow-up exercises will be posted on the module’s ELE site.

Module has an active ELE page

Key words search

Strength training, SAQ, plyometrics, anabolic steroids, Olympic lifting, functional screening, applied anatomy