As sports evolve, coaches and athletes are constantly trying to improve their coaching and themselves to receive the best outcome possible. 

Weight training has been receiving lots of popularity recently, due to the benefits that athletes are seeing within their sports. Athletic benefits of weight training have been proven to include: reduced risks of injury, increased strength, better body composition, and faster neuro-muscular activation.

According to Rochester Athletic Club, “Proper strength and conditioning allows an athlete to strengthen supporting muscles, even out muscle imbalances, increase mobility, correct posture, stabilize joints, learn new movement patterns, enhance coordination and peripheral skills, and so much more.”

Even though lifting weights has been showing great results for athletes, it is also important to be lifting correctly. “Sport specialization without proper training is detrimental to the athlete’s physical growth, safety, performance longevity, and athletic ability,” stated Rochester Athletic Club. 

High school coaches and physical education teachers recently started implementing lifting into athletes’ daily life to be able to receive greater results over time.  

At North Polk High School, athletes are required to have an athletic weights class in their schedule or attend early bird lifting before school starts. Since implementing this into athletes’ daily life, coaches have been seeing greater results in and out of the weight room.

North Polk Coach and physical education teacher Ben Zizis weight room numbers within the last four years have skyrocketed. His weight lifting program originally only had about 60 kids when he started teaching here. Zizis now has over 200 kids this semester. Zizis shared a couple benefits which included: “protects your bone and muscle mass, helps you develop good body mechanics, boosts energy levels and improves your mood, and makes you stronger.”

 Personally, I have seen large outcomes in my athletic ability since I started weight lifting my sophomore year.

I have had an increase in ease when I am cheering and stunting with others. It allows different stunts that I participate in to become easier to perform. Thus leading to being able to learn more intense stunts. As a back-base this cheer season, I have to have strong arms and shoulders to be able to lift the flyer up to take some of the weight away from the bases holding her up, which helps the bases significantly by being able to hold the flyer longer and more stable. I have also had my strength show throughout my track season. My personal strength in track is block starts and to be able to be explosive out of the block to have a good start, I have to be able to have the power and strength behind the push which can be strengthened by also being explosive in the weight room. 

Not only has lifting benefited my athletic ability, it has also helped me with confidence throughout the season. It allows me to feel good about myself when I am lifting heavier than before and feeling good about improving gets reflected in my athletics by having a positive mindset. 

Overall, lifting has shown to have benefits within sports by increasing athletic abilities while also increasing confidence in people. Creating a better mindset for athletes and improving their outcomes.