Trainer weighs in on student athletes

Perspiration and effort fill the room with a distinct winningsmell. The grunts and sounds echoing throughout the room induce acontagious atmosphere.

Some of the phrases overheard are: “Push it!””Come on lets go.” “You can do it — only 20more seconds.”

The hustle and bustle in this place far surpasses any otheractivity going on across campus. Outside the night lurks with thesun waiting in the shadows.

It’s Friday at 6 a.m. and the only students up are theinebriated first-year students stumbling back to their residencehalls.

However, in the weight room, approximately 80 athletes ofvarious sports are intensely pushing their body to the limit.

The Vic Salvino Strength and Conditioning Center, also known asthe weight room, is where all the SMU athletes do their strengthand conditioning training.

Located in the basement of the Lloyd All Sports Center, it holds14 Olympic platforms with Olympic bumper plates, 21 free-weightstations and has over 13,000 total pounds of equipmentavailable.

An SMU athletes’ training schedule is extremely intenseand time consuming. Out of their total practice time, anywhere fromsix to 20 hours per week of their training is spent in the SalvinoCenter. The reason that so much time is spent here shows the greatimportance of the strength and conditioning aspect of athletictraining.

Strength and conditioning programs address flexibility,strength, power and aerobic/anaerobic conditioning.

All of these things are essential to an athlete, especially atthe collegiate level.

An expert staff educated in and determined to render the mostup-to-date and effective strength and conditioning procedures forSMU student-athletes is provided. These strength and conditioningcoaches focus on one or more sports to develop programs for andmonitor athletes on a daily basis.

Will Lawrence, strength and conditioning coach to seven SMUsports, sees his position as strength coach as the equivalent of anassistant coach, which signifies his importance.

“[Strength coaches] are very important in the athletestraining,” Lawrence said.

Men’s Assistant Coach Brent Erwin agrees that theirstrength coach, Lawrence, is a true assistant soccer coach who”takes our overall team goals and fits his goals withinthem.”

When discussing the strength and conditioning of athletes, thereis a broad spectrum for types of programs.

The men’s soccer program and women’s rowing are thetwo ends.

Aerobic fitness and being physically prepared for competitionare the focal points of the men’s soccer program thatLawrence orchestrates.

On the other hand, the rowing team’s program spotlightsinjury prevention and overall strength that will convert onto thewater.

The overall strength and conditioning program of the athletes isfor the entire year, and is broken up into different parts for theseasons.

The soccer team has its year broken down into four parts.

During the season, speed, agility and explosion are the focusesof the program that Lawrence directs. Then in the spring, the teamfocuses on strength training and fitness.

When late spring comes, their program spotlights flexibility,technique and fitness.

The program during the summer works mainly on developing leanmuscle and maintaining strength because the overall goal, accordingto Erwin, is “core strength,” which will carry theplayers into the start of their season.

The rowing season is unique because there are two seasons ofcompetition, the fall and spring. Although the same sport, theseasons offer completely different races, and require differentstrength and conditioning training.

Kim Carter, an SMU rower, said, “They want us to buildmuscle to resist injury.”

During the fall season, which is the long-distance racing, theprogram that Lawrence puts them on focuses mostly on injuryprevention and strength maintenance.

Winter training usually begins around November and ends mid tolate February. This season is when Lawrence must “bulkup” the rowers with muscle mass and explosive power.

Once the spring or sprint races begin, the program changes tocardiovascular training with low weights and high repetitions.

This cardio training and circuit type work continues after thespring season ends and through the summer months.

Lawrence, and the other strength and conditioning coaches,design each team’s program so that the athletes are at theirphysical peak during their main competition season.

“Strength training has become a huge factor in sportstoday, far superior than it used to be. Every edge that we can getis crucial, even the very little things,” he said.