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Heavy Lifting
Building a better student-athlete
Go on, call them muscle heads. But today’s student-athletes are embracing concepts of smart strength conditioning that are helping them build both brain and brawn.
 Modern approaches to intercollegiate athletics incorporate weight training as an essential part of an overall fitness regimen. The goal is to build not just muscle but power and explosiveness.
“We’re here to build better athletes, not better bodybuilders,” says Director of Strength and Conditioning Gary Uribe, who joined the Hornet athletics program this summer from the perpetual sports powerhouse University of Southern California. “I don’t call the plays, I don’t diagram the offense or defense. But I can make them better athletes.”
Athletes who are strong and fit are more likely to be better competitors and less likely to get injured, he says. And keeping athletes from getting injured can be as important to their success in the classroom as it is on playing field, court or track.
“Injury prevention is the primary goal of strength training because an injury can inhibit a student-athlete’s ability to continue to practice and play at a high level,” says Professor Harry Theodorides, who works with graduate students in the strength and conditioning option through the Kinesiology and Health Science Department.
Strength and conditioning is not an old profession compared to other facets of coaching, Uribe says. “As in any sport, there’s a psychology to it and no ‘one size fits all.’ Athletes come in a plethora of personalities and it’s important to learn how individual athletes respond. It’s one thing to train the body. We want to work the mind as well.”
Sac State subscribes to a movementbased program, which incorporates free weights and non-weighted activities to improve athleticism. The idea, Uribe says, is to go for overall strength and fitness and then become more sports-specific, working on functionality for each athlete’s position in his or her sport. It’s important to duplicate the movements of the position the athlete will play— standing on one leg, twisting, pushing.
“The old school of strength and conditioning was weightlifting alone, with a focus on ‘big,’” Uribe says. “That’s not enough within competitive sports that are multidirectional. You have to be able to do more than one move, because if after one move you’re done, and the other guy can do two or three moves, you’re not going to be successful.”
Uribe actually starts by working outside the weight room on foot speed and agility.
“All collegiate strength and conditioning programs do the same thing as we do— the same squats, the same bench presses,” he says. “But we also focus on spending as much time on movement outside.”
Those movements may include agility drills such as the speed ladder, after which the athletes come inside and use weights.
Other drills work on change of direction and speed. The athletes also do strength and power moves that don’t use weights, focusing on the “core,” the area around the trunk and pelvis.
“We place a premium on training the athlete’s core, because a stronger core enables the athlete to move more effi- ciently,” Uribe says. Theodorides adds that a strong body and core may help the student-athlete perform better and limit injuries.
But if an athlete does get injured, Uribe says it’s important he or she keeps up with conditioning so that when the athlete is ready to return, there is not a lot of catching up to do.
How the training staff deals with injury depends on the program and the type of injury, of course. But Theodorides says it typically involves a team approach that could include the athletic trainer, physical therapist, team doctor and sports psychologist.
Uribe says that as a strength coach, he needs to know how the athlete is limited by injury so that he is able to address that in conditioning. For example, a “throwing” athlete such as a pitcher or a quarterback might need to back off on shoulder exercises if an injury occurs. But the student can still can do alternative exercises to work the same muscle group. A player with a torn labrum would have a hard time doing overhead lifts such as a shoulder press but could do shoulder-shrugs.
“For most the part there’s an alternative as long as it’s a temporary injury,” Uribe says.
Both Uribe and Theodorides see a huge upside for student- athletes in the new athletic facilities being built on campus. Uribe says the larger space and advanced equipment will allow them to be functional for all team sports. Today, athletes have to come to the weight room in shifts to lift. Beginning at 6 a.m. most mornings until well into the evening, each of the campus’ 20 sports teams take turns coming in for workouts at two separate facilities. And large sports teams such as the 85-person-strong football and track teams can’t all be in at once and have to split up even further.
When the new Broad Athletic Facility opens it will be double the size of the current setup, Uribe says, large enough to house all the teams under one roof.
Theodorides sees the weight room as a learning lab, where students in the kinesiology program learn about the value of strength and conditioning programs as they learn to be strength and conditioning coaches. “The students will get the opportunity to work with the head strength coach, student-athletes and latest equipment at the collegiate level in the new Broad facility.”
And it will help the ultimate goal—more competitive student-athletes.
“We’re here to help the teams get better,” Uribe says. “Then we get to sit back and watch them compete. It’s the best thing about being a strength coach. Your reward is seeing athletes go out and be successful.”
Support Student Athletes
Sacramento State is building a sleek new field house to house its intercollegiate teams. The Broad Athletic Facility features a state-ofthe- art strength and conditioning complex, sports medicine rooms, team offices, locker rooms and more. Currently under construction, the facility opens in late winter 2008.
 Make your mark on Hornet Athletics with a generous gift toward the Broad facility. Naming opportunities exist at all giving levels for rooms, benches and equipment.
For more information on supporting Hornet student-athletes, please contact University Development at (916) 278-6989 or e-mail development@csus.edu
www.SpanosSportsComplex.com
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