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AFM Magazine


Putting New Muscle in the Weight Room

by: Jeff Reinardy
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The world of technology is now entering the weight room. Yes, it's true. As much as strength and conditioning coaches may want to stay far away from anything remotely resembling technology, the fact is that it can help enhance the performance of your athletes.

At Winona State, technology has become an essential part of both our academic and football programs. The university was one of the first to initiate the Laptop University concept. This means that every student is provided with computer access, including service, support, software updates, and network capabilities. This advancement paved the way for technology to make its way into our strength and conditioning programs.

In August 2000, WSU was in the process of designing a new fitness facility that would accommodate the general student population as well as athletic teams. To achieve this, we looked for a company that could provide us highly usable, space efficient equipment, and a floor plan that showed us exactly how the equipment would fit into the weight room. With this computer-generated floor plan we were able to conceptualize how the equipment would fit our budget and still accomplish the larger goals of meeting our training needs. As the design committee went through the floor plan, any changes that were made were easily edited into the initial scheme and the updated design was redistributed to committee members. The use of this technology made the transition from conceptual floor design to reality an easy one that contained few unpleasant surprises.

Once the equipment was installed, we faced the challenge of effectively managing strength programs for 16 varsity sports, that involve about 350 student-athletes, and accommodating the demands of 600 students who use our facility on a daily basis. In the years I have been in the strength and conditioning field, I have seen several implementation methods used, such as posted grease boards, copied percentage sheets, verbal instructions, and personalized programs. Although each can be effective, I prefer a program that is individualized for each athlete.

To make it easier to prepare individualized programs for each athlete, we use Strength Pro software designed by Safe USA. This computer program has given our athletes the greatest opportunity to excel. It eliminates the guesswork because each person is able work out off his or her own individualized workout sheet and they know what they should accomplish each time they enter the weight room.

My experience has shown me that having clear expectations is the most critical aspect of a workout. While it sounds easy, when it comes to instructing people in the weight room, what is clear to strength coaches is often not so clear to the athlete. Whether working with a Division I, II, III or Olympic athletes, I repeatedly see students struggling with the same uncertainties about what they are expected to accomplish in the weight room.

The problem begins with a strength coach either verbally instructing, or writing on a grease board such directions as, "2x6 @ 80%." The athlete knows what 80% is, but often cannot figure out what is 80% of his/her 1 rep max is from the last time we tested or what he/she perceives their current 1 rep max to be. For instance, their perception of what their current 1 rep max should be changes if they feel great on a particular day. Further, as a strength coach, it's impossible for me to know the max level for 350 athletes in my program. Therefore, if I don't know and they're not sure, how can I tell if each person is doing the workout that is expected of them? Simply put, there's just too many variables left to chance.

Using Strength Pro, we have the ability to design any number of programs for each individual athlete. For each movement we type in a performed "max" in numerical value. There are various ways of testing for max value.

A common way is the repetition max test. With this test, you use the weight an athlete can do for three or more reps and then use a table to predict his or her maximum level. While this can be effective to a degree, if an athlete does numerous repetitions, it's easy to inflate the max. The problem will only compound itself when an overestimated max is entered into any formula or percentage. The danger of overestimating their max is that the athlete will fail or become frustrated at an early point in the program.

Another way to determine an athlete's max level, is the single max test. However, this puts athletes in a make or break situation. They will either make the single repetition or they will miss. If you are use this method you should take into consideration such things as: Is the athlete prepared to perform a single rep? Has he had an opportunity within the training cycle to prepare himself for a single rep? Have you, as his coach, been monitoring his progress, and do you have an idea of what he can handle safely? Have the spotters been properly trained for this situation?

Once you have decided what method to use, you use the max rate in the workout program you are designing with Strength Pro. The program will then give you a workout with individualized weight for each set or rep. With Strength Pro we are able to numerically and graphically chart the progress of each of our athletes over time. The software can also produce a list of the top 20 athletes. Providing this information to the athlete gives them their performance expectations for each workout, a chart of their progress, shows them where they rank among their peers, and sets a tone of achievement-based training.

Technology can also help strength training through the use of videos. Long used to improve on-field performance, we now use them to help athletes in the weight room as well. Whenever we introduce a new movement, time is set aside to be sure that everyone has been instructed properly in every aspect of the technique. This is not a problem when dealing with a few athletes. But when dealing with 120 football players, it can be very time consuming, and as a result it can take weeks before any real progress can be charted.

By using videos, we can significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to teach football players new movements. Often athletes who are struggling with the same aspect of a movement know what you are telling them, but do not understand what they must do kinesthetically to do it properly. Once they see themselves on video, they can better understand what they are doing wrong and make adjustments accordingly.

Technology can have a very positive role in the weight room. As a coach or the person who has been assigned to become the weight room coach, the use of technology can and will enhance you and your athlete's ability to achieve a common goal - success!





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