Student athletes find that time in the recently remodeled weight room can lower scores, quicken times and improve general performance.
Spring sports teams including golf, track, baseball, swimming, softball and lacrosse use the recently remodeled weight room to boost strength and avert injury.
“The two main things I’m going for is to obviously improve performance, so to help them excel at their sport, and to prevent injury,” athletic trainer Tim Harkins said.
Harkins writes weight room workouts for sports teams and works individually with others, such as men’s golf and soccer.
“We teach the safest and proper way to use the equipment,” said weight room coordinator and assistant football coach James Holan. “Safety always comes first.”
When Harkins works with sports teams in the weight room, he looks at all the demands of the body, following a principle called Specific Adaptations for Imposed Demand (SAID). This means that he tries to make the workouts as specific to the sport as possible.
“The best thing to do to prevent injury is to fix any flaws in the biomechanics,” Harkins said. “The exercises should be very specific to the sport, so hopefully by improving mechanics in the weight room, we are improving mechanics on the field.”
Harkins has also found that work in the weight room adds team comradery especially in more individual sports such as golf.
“It helps us bond every week waking up early and working in the weight room,” said junior Liam Bonacum, member of the varsity golf team.
Sports teams use the weight room one to four times a week, both before and after school. Since the weight room has been redone, use of the room has increased, with softball and baseball making a larger commitment to in season weight room use. Both lacrosse programs and swimming have also begun.
The weight room was redesigned, a year ago, to create a more streamlined room which removed the machines. “[The redesign] allows me to really focus on technique we are doing opposed to keeping track of what kids are supposed to be doing what lift,” Holan said.
