How do the jobs of a personal trainer and strength and conditioning specialist differ?
A personal trainer typically works with the general public whereas the strength and conditioning specialist works with athletes. The personal trainer may be focused on helping their client lose weight, tone certain muscles, and become stronger, but it typically is not specific to a sport. The S&C specialist is focused on functional outcomes such as helping the athlete become stronger, faster, more agile, and optimally conditioned to compete at their sport. These professionals are designing multi-faceted programs to help athletes prevent injuries while developing the athlete to become more skilled in their specific position in their sport. For example, an effective S&C specialist would design a different type of program for an offensive lineman as he would for a quarterback.
Related Questions
- As a strength and conditioning coach to high school and college athletes and the head trainer to St. Petersburg’s famous Men’s Fitness Boot Camp - I had been getting a ton of angry phone calls and e mails from women wondering, why I didn’t have a program specifically designed for ladies?
- How often does a strength and conditioning specialist need to see an athlete?
- What is a strength and conditioning specialist?
