In This Issue:
FEATURED INSTALLATION: Ronan High School - Ronan, MT
FEATURED ARTICLE: Plates, Plates, Plates - From Rubber to Steel
FEATURED INSTALLATION
Ronan High School - Ronan, Montana
Nestled within the Rocky Mountains of Western Montana sits Ronan High School. The high school is part of the Ronan School District on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Ronan High School serves a diverse student population, all of which are valued for their individual talents. The school encourages students to do their best academically, and to be active in extracurricular activities so they can be empowered for life.
Brian Labbe, head track coach and 5th grade math teacher, explained that they had talked for a while about needing to upgrade their weight room equipment. “So I said, ‘Let’s do something about it and I went online.’”
When he found Dynamic Fitness & Strength’s website, his attention was immediately grabbed by the customization options offered. Brian saw how Ronan High Schools brand and logo could be proudly displayed.
Ronan High School’s new weight room wouldn’t have been possible without the support of their amazing community. “Several individuals and businesses in the great community of Ronan, along with the Ronan School District, supported this project from the start,” Brian explained, “and they have helped jump-start our students' enthusiasm about lifting. Our student-athletes also did a lot of fundraising to help finance this project, and they can take pride in this and know that this new weight room is now theirs.”
When it came time to start working on the room, Ronan’s main need was not just the functionality of the equipment itself, but maintaining additional functionality for the room. Whenever they had larger events, they would have to move their equipment. By going with Dynamics’s integrated racks and storage systems, they could have all the functionality of a full weight room in one area, while still having room when additional space was needed for events.
You see us call out More Strength Per Square Foot® all the time. Ronan High School got it!
“Our experience with Dynamic Fitness has been fantastic,” Brian said. “From the beginning to the end of this process they were easy to work with and were always there to answer our questions. They also made some amazing equipment that our student-athletes are ecstatic about and can't wait to get to work on it, and they also had a great team-building experience when we assembled all the equipment.”
2021 CSCCa National Conference Recap
It was amazing to once again engage in person with so many great coaches, athletic directors and industry peers at last week's CSCCa National Conference. The event was a massive success. Each morning, we hosted a crowd for their morning workout. Throughout the day, we had a great flow of visitors to show off our racks, stand-alone machines and storage.
On Wednesday night, we hosted a Dynamic Kickoff Social at T&P Tavern and were joined by around 60 guests who enjoyed a drink and socializing on us. On Thursday, our own Joe Kenn, VP of performance education, gave a special presentation called, "Lessons Learned By a Veteran Strength Coach." We received a lot of feedback that he did a terrific job (and you can catch some of what he talked about if you join the Dynamic Discussions on Wednesday, May 12th).
As Dynamic Fitness & Strength continues to grow, we thank all those who have helped us get to this point--our incredible Dynamic Team, all the incredible schools, teams and training centers who chose us for their facilities, and our dealer networks.
Upcoming Events
Tis the season for conferences and clinics! We're geared up and ready to head out for these awesome upcoming events. Click the links to learn more about each one. Let us know if we'll be seeing you at any of these events!
Dynamic Discussions - Wed, May 12
Joe Kenn returns from the 2021 CSCCa National Conference to once again apply his unique expertise and experience to the science, art and business of strength coaching. This time, Joe shares lessons he's learned as a veteran strength coach. Have a question for Joe? Submit it and join the discussion!
WFCA Summer Clinic, Middleton, WI - June 3 - 5
It’s probably no surprise that we’re a top sponsor of our state’s Football Coaches Association. The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Summer Clinic is LIVE this year and we’ll be there where they have a great line-up of speakers, exhibitors and activities. Our own Coach Joe LaBuda, a legend of Wisconsin high school coaches, will be there representing Dynamic.
Campus Rec Leadership Summit, Scottsdale, AZ - June 16-18 The Campus Rec Leadership Summit is an exclusive peer collaboration event that brings together 40 top campus rec executives for two days of roundtable discussions, networking and unique experiences. We'll be there to bring customized solutions to these campuses.
NHSSCA National Conference, Plymouth, MN - June 24-26 In late June, this conference will be hosted in our neighbor state of Minnesota! We’re a proud sponsor, so check out our area. We can’t wait to meet up with all the high school strength coaches!
THSCA Conference, San Antonio, TX - July 18-20 You bet we’ll be at the July Texas High School Strength Coaches Association conference. Among our team will be our very own Coach Kevin “Yox” Yoxall, so make sure to stop by and meet the legend!
FEATURED ARTICLE
Plates, Plates, Plates
From Rubber to Steel
By Joe Kenn
Vice President of Performance Education
There once was a time when you could walk into a team’s strength training facility and hear the sound of steel clanking together as athletes loaded 45’s onto the barbell. As coaches began to realize there was a more efficient floor plan to training athletes in large groups and team settings, plate choices became a popular discussion in facility design.
As an athlete who grew up in the 80’s the sound of steel was the only thing I knew in weight rooms. Boy, was that a sweet sound. Still is! I don’t even remember the first time I saw a rubber bumper plate. Let’s take a brief look how the sound of steel has disappeared from the training facilities we see athletes training in today.
In the early age of strength programs, the on-campus athlete weight room was set up much different than the mini warehouses we see today. Taking the cue of the commercial gym settings, athletic weight rooms were set up in pods or areas of specific training goals.
In a typical setting, you would see a leg area, with squat racks and ancillary equipment, and a platform area for Olympic movements. The upper body area consisted of standalone bench presses, incline presses, and possibly seated shoulder press benches. The rest of the room was made up of an auxiliary area for upper body resistance machines. Because the room was set up in pods, the need for a tremendous amount of plates was necessary. On top of that, the history of training tended to lead to squats, benches, and the like being done with steel plates and platform lifts were done with rubber bumpers.
As the rooms of yester year evolved and the age of multi-purpose stations became the norm, this made the decision to go to all rubber bumpers an easy transition. In the early ages of the multi-purpose station, coaches still utilized both steel and bumpers at each station. At this point, I believe we were still acting in line of tradition. Steel for squats and benches and rubber bumpers for the platform. In this set up, there was a tremendous amount of plates utilized for one station. There could be up to 12 pairs of 45-pound plates which would equate to 24 combined steel and rubber plates at a station. Add in 25,10,5,2.5 steel and bumpers in the same weight range, and you can see how quantity would be extremely high. When looking at the finances per pound, per station, the large majority of the facility budget was going to plates.
The other concern with this many plates was storage. In the above scenario, the steel plates were stored on the racks (vertical storage) and the rubber bumpers were stored on each side of the platform in ground-based storage. With the spacing of the platforms being around three feet and the ground-based storage being placed in between, there was little access to walk between platforms. This is obviously a safety concern when large groups are training together.
Budgetary concerns, safety concerns, and getting smarter, someone finally realized, why not use bumper plates for all movements. Olympic weightlifters have always done it so why not use this same philosophy in athletic facilities. In the multi-purpose station scenario, you are still performing one movement at a time, so there was no need to have excess plates. By going all rubber, we were able to remove the ground-based storage, and reduce the quantity of plates needed to efficiently train the athletes. The rubber only option became the obvious choice because these plates are made to be dropped from various heights to the ground without the aid of the athlete.
There you have it! How the sound of steel disappeared from athletic based training facilities around the world. As much as it makes perfect sense, I miss the days of old.
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