Your First Strength & Conditioning Course: What to Expect (Ireland and Northern Ireland)

Quick answer: A first S&C course is three days of mixed lecture and practical work, usually Friday to Sunday, running roughly 08:30 to 16:30 each day. You will screen movement, test athletes, coach sprinting and Olympic lifting, and learn to write a training block. No prior S&C qualification is needed.

Booking a first course is easier when you know what the weekend actually looks like. This is a walk through a typical three-day beginner course, what to bring, and what happens afterwards.

Who beginner S&C courses are for

Most people on a first course fall into one of four groups: personal trainers moving into athletic work, club and school coaches who have started running gym sessions, physiotherapists who want to build return-to-play programming, and former players moving into coaching.

What they have in common is practical exposure without a structure. The course is less about introducing new ideas than about organising what you already half-know into a system you can apply deliberately.

What happens over three days

EPI publishes its course timetable, so the structure below is the actual shape of its Phase 1 course rather than a generic description. Days run from 08:30 to around 16:30 with breaks and lunch.

Day 1: screening and testing

The first day starts with registration, then the coaching philosophy and training system that the rest of the course is built on. From there it is straight into practical work: fitness testing and profiling, movement screening, and corrective exercise prescription – so you finish the day able to assess an athlete and identify what is limiting them.

Day 2: speed and Olympic weightlifting

Day two covers acceleration speed – how to construct a warm-up, improve sprint mechanics and develop acceleration – and then the Clean & Jerk, taught as a coaching model. The emphasis is on how to teach and correct the lift, not simply on performing it.

Day 3: programme design and energy systems

The final day pulls it together: programme design fundamentals, plyometric work, ATP-CP energy system development and linear periodisation, so you leave understanding how the pieces fit into a plan. The day finishes with course certification.

What to bring and how to prepare

• Training kit and indoor trainers. You will be lifting, sprinting and jumping, not sitting in a lecture theatre all day.
• Something to write with. Most people take notes during lecture sessions even when materials are provided.
• Food and water. Long practical days need more fuel than a normal working day.
• A fresh body. Ease off heavy training in the days before.
• Questions from your own coaching. The most useful thing you can bring is a real problem from a real athlete – tutors can usually address it directly.

If you are travelling, a Friday morning start often means arriving the night before. Confirm venue details and timings with the provider when you book.

What level of fitness you need

You do not need to be in athletic shape. You do need to be able to take part in practical sessions across three consecutive days. Most participants find day three the hardest, which is a reason to arrive rested rather than to train through the week beforehand.

If you have an injury or a limitation, tell the provider in advance. Practical sessions can usually be adapted so you still get the coaching experience without aggravating anything.

What surprises people most

Three things come up repeatedly from people on their first course.

How much time is spent on the basics. Coaches often arrive expecting advanced methods and find the first day is screening and testing. That is deliberate – most programming errors trace back to not knowing what the athlete in front of you can actually do.

How hard coaching a lift is. Performing a clean reasonably well and teaching one to someone else are different skills, and the gap between them catches most people out.

How useful the other participants are. A room of coaches from different sports and settings produces conversations you cannot get from a textbook, and those contacts often outlast the certificate.

What happens after your first course

With EPI, Phase 1 stands alone as a qualification and also counts as the first half of the National Certificate in Strength & Conditioning. If you continue, Phase 2 covers advanced programming, conjugate periodisation, max velocity speed, agility and the Snatch.

The NCSC exam is taken online after Phase 2, with four weeks to complete it, and combines a multiple-choice paper with a practical assessment submitted on video.

More importantly, use the material quickly. Screen a few athletes in the first fortnight and write one training block while it is fresh. Coaching skills fade fast if the weekend is followed by three months of doing nothing with it.

Starting in Ireland or Northern Ireland

EPI runs beginner courses in both Dublin and Belfast. The next Phase 1 course in Belfast runs 4–6 December 2026, and the next Phase 1 course in Dublin runs 29–31 January 2027. Both are Friday to Sunday, and both feed into the full NCSC. All current dates are on the course dates page.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need any experience before my first S&C course?

EPI’s Phase 1 course has no formal entry requirement and no prior S&C qualification is needed. It does assume some practical coaching or training background, so you are comfortable in a gym environment and with basic exercise terminology. Complete beginners to training generally get more from building that base first.

How fit do I need to be to take part?

You do not need to be an athlete, but three consecutive days of practical work – lifting, sprinting, plyometrics – is a real physical load. You will get more out of it if you arrive fresh, so ease off your own heavy training in the days beforehand rather than turning up already fatigued.

Is there an exam at the end of the course?

Not on the course itself. EPI’s Phase 1 finishes with course certification rather than a test. The full NCSC exam is taken online after Phase 2, and participants have four weeks to complete it. It combines a multiple-choice paper with a practical assessment submitted on video.