Like most products, the quality of weight room record boards, varies from provider to provider. With limited time and budget, athletic directors and coaches can’t afford waste their resources on subpar products that don’t meet their needs. If you are considering record board for your weight room, here are four tips to keep in mind as you are choosing the best partner for your program.
Look for a board that is custom designed.
When shopping for a record board for your weight room, look for a company that offers custom design options. Each athletic department, weight room, and team is unique, so don’t limit yourself to a generic design template. A custom design offers the flexibility needed to get the most out of your board.
Custom design should extend beyond simply incorporating your team logo and colors. Make sure you have the ability to include only the exercises and strength tests important to your program. Popular strength records are bench press, power clean and squat. Other popular exercises customers include are push ups, chin-ups, and dips. Beyond that, exercises for fast-twitch athletes like 40-yard dash, 3-cone test, and shuttle run tests can be great for highlighting some of your impact athletes.
Another important consideration when designing a custom strength board is deciding which athletes and teams will be tracked. Is this record board going to be for both boys and girls, just one gender, or for a specific team? You also want to decide if you are going to include just your top current athletes or add some historic context with all-time records. The most popular choice we see is one all-time record along with the top three current records.
Find a strength record board that can be easily updated.
While different options exist, we have found dry erase boards to be the most effective and popular board option for keeping records in the weight room. Unlike some sports that see records change once or twice in a season, strength records are often broken numerous times over the course of a year. Dry erase boards are convenient for the coaching staff because they don’t have to order new records and wait for them to be produced and shipped.
More importantly, a dry erase record board allows the record to be changed instantly. It offers immediate reward to the athletes who break records by seeing their name added in the excitement of the moment. This immediate, positive reinforcement can be a powerful motivator.
Make sure your board is made to last.
There are a few different ways to make a custom dry erase board. Unfortunately, not all methods are created equal. Some companies simply lay cut-vinyl graphics on top of a stock marker board. This method leaves raised areas of vinyl that cannot be written on or erased. These boards should be avoided as they are difficult to clean and typically offer the least flexible design options.
Another method used to produce marker boards is with a dry erase laminate that covers the printed design. This style construction is better because the printed graphics are sub-surface or below the final layer of laminate. This allows the entire surface to be written on. The downfall of this particular method, is the dry erase laminate often fails within a couple years. As the laminate breaks down, these boards often leave behind ghosted images of past writing that cannot be fully erased. This option can be okay as a temporary solution, but not for long-term use.
Finally, there is a printing process known as sublimation. Sublimation is the most effective option for custom dry erase board construction because it allows for brilliant color and unparalleled durability. Designs are permanently embedded below the surface of the board substrate. This gives you the ability to write across the entire board, while providing a glass-smooth surface. A high-gloss coating is then added ensuring the board remains bright white and easy to clean for life. This is the construction method utilized by Team Fitz for all their Weight Room Record Boards. Additionally, Team Fitz wraps every board in a full aluminum frame with accessory tray.
Look for a board that is backed with a Lifetime Guarantee.
Most importantly, choose a company that backs up their product with a good warranty. All Team Fitz dry erase boards are not only made in the USA, they are guaranteed for life. You should see no color fade, ghosting, or defects in materials and workmanship. If you experience any of these issues, we will replace the board.
Give Team Fitz Graphics a call today. One of our sales representatives will be happy to go over the options, answer questions, and provide a custom quote and design mockup for your project.