I grew up in sweaty locker rooms and musty weight rooms, so I am very familiar with the fact that there are 100 different ways to get results. Any decent strength coach knows that results only come through effort. My college strength and conditioning coach used to emphasize that muscles didn’t have eyes, so therefor it didn’t matter if you were carrying dumbbells or gallons of milk. I think that was more an excuse to make us push his truck in the snowy parking lot or to run stadium stairs with 45 pound plates. Regardless, we were whooped at the end of the workouts!
Because each program is different, our customers often ask questions about how they can customize a strength record board to best fit their program. Below are six questions you should ask yourself when pursing your own custom weight room record board.
1. What exercises define the program?
The first step is to decide what exercises and strength tests are most important to you. Most boards contain approximately 6 – 10 exercises that best fit the objectives of the program. For middle school programs, the Presidential Youth Fitness Program provides a great outline for exercises that are age appropriate. The most common exercises that are measured include the One Mile Run, BMI Calculations, Crunches, Push-Ups, Sit-and-Reach, and a variety of others. High school exercises are more intense, but still not the highest impact and most commonly include exercies like Bench Press, Leg Press, Pull-Ups, Dips, 40-yard Dash, 2 Mile Run and Vertical Jump. College and professional program exercises are often more intense and full body inclusive. Often included are Squat, Dead Lift, Clean and Jerk, Snatch, Shuttle Run, Broad Jump and other more dynamic exercises. As I mentioned previously, every program is different so the weightlifting record board can and should be fully customized to fit YOUR program.
2. Whose names do you want displayed?
If your goal is to display the absolute strongest athletes, then you have to expect that most of your record holders are going to be the older and bigger football players. If you want to include other athletes and give more kids an opportunity to make the record board, you might want to consider dividing each exercise into categories such as grade-level, age or even divide out between 3-6 weight ranges. By allowing for the opportunity to display more athletes, there is going to be more competition as each athlete has a better chance to have their name displayed. Coaches love competition as typically competition creates better results. It is also our recommendation to be sure to include categories for boys and girls if your program trains both sets of athletes.
3. Should all-time leaders or just current athletes be displayed?
The current athletes are what you are most interested in as a coach. At the same time, the current athletes want to know where they stand compared to the athletes before them. It is very common to include a handful of all-time strength and conditioning leaders along with the current leaders. Recognizing the all-time leaders is also an opportunity to recognize past athletes you are proud of and allow them to serve as role models for developing athletes.
4. What size record board will work best?
Your wall space, number of exercises and the number of athletes you would like to display will all be used in determining the size. The most common size for strength and conditioning record boards is 4’x8’, but we have done a 5’x12’ board for The Ohio State University Wrestling program and smaller boards for other programs with limited wall space. The board size will also determine how large each name slot is and the overall readability of the records.
5. What should the header of my board say?
In order for your record board to be properly titled, you need to determine if the board is for one specific team or if it is a more general recognition board for all the teams within your school. If the board is for your football team, then something like “Football Strength Board” might work well. If you think others need to be included, you could put something more general like “(Mascot Name) Strength.” If you are afraid that “strength” only applies to the big strong kids and you want to include some running or stretching exercises, using the words “Strength and Conditioning” may work for you.
6. What colors, logos, or fonts should be included?
Once the above questions are answered the next thing to address is the overall look of the record board including colors, logos and fonts. It is best to rely on a professional designer to take your ideas and give them some real visual impact. Gone are the days of using an old dry erase board with an electrical-tape grid. All our meticulously-designed graphics are printed sub-surface, so the entire lifting record board can be written on and erased without concern.
The goal of a custom Strength Board is to motivate and show off the accomplishments of your athletes. When they see you spending money and putting in effort on their behalf, they are going to be proud and work their tails off to be at the top of the list. We find having a mix of exercises and multiple groups athletes can be broken into creates the most interest and stir. By including past leaders, the athletes can have a benchmark to compare themselves to the stars they looked up to when younger. For information on getting your own custom Strength Dry Erase Record Board, email us at info@teamfitzgraphics.com or call 855.356.8550. We will help you through the process asking similar questions to those outlined above. For more information and pricing, check out the Strength Record Boards page. Call or email us anytime to ask questions or to discuss further.