Strength Coach BY: JACOB WILSON

Education  You want to have at least a BA degree with Kinesiology for your ideal major.  Experience might be equally as important as preparation for a career as a conditioning coach.  There is really only one widely respected certification for strength and conditioning coaches.

Skills And Abilities  Strength coaches must be good motivators.  Because of the diversity of their clientele, coaches must be organized in how they administer each conditioning program and be detail oriented in terms of record keeping.  Much like a personal trainer, a conditioning coach must be a good teacher because he will be trying to educate athletes on how to execute weightlifting and other exercises correctly.  Strength coaches must be perceptive.  The strength coach requires above-average interpersonal skills.

Compensation Package  Strength coaches vary on what type of work they are doing.  Generally the salary is in the same range as personal trainers.  Typically in the $40,000 to $60,000 (U.S.) range depending on experience and qualifications.

Setting  In ideal environments, athletic departments hire one conditioning coach for every 10 to 20 athletes who use the conditioning facility.  The University of Notre Dame has 9 full-time coaches who work with about 750 student-athletes.  Iowa State University has 4 full-time coaches for about 450 student-athletes.

Future Outlook  Some strength and conditioning coaches hire assistants who have a good pedigree, meaning they have worked with well-known conditioning coaches in the past.  On the other hand, strength and conditioning expertise is becoming more sought after by performance- enhancement companies and fitness clubs. In a recent survey of worldwide fitness trends, the American College of Sports Medicine found that demand for strength- training experts was one of the top five most promising employment trends over the past few years.