Successful athletes are often the most competitive individuals on your team. They strive to lift the most, run the fastest, or jump the highest. Start rewarding their ambition by putting their name on a strength record board, where everyone can see it. It’s a tremendous feeling knowing you’ve measured yourself against your peers and knowing you’ve come out on top.
Our customers are typically looking for a Strength Record Board to showcase their most outstanding athletes and motivate others to become one of the best. By keeping the tips below in mind, you will be able to push your athletes to get better without crushing their enthusiasm to train.
There are more than just meatheads in the weight room.
The most popular strength records that are kept are Bench Press, Squat and Power Clean. These are great for your mutant big dudes who prefer moving iron plates over fitting into normal-sized clothes. The same group of athletes are going to be leaders in these exercises. Give the other athletes a chance by displaying Chin-Ups, Dips, and Push Ups. These can include some leaner athletes who might be able to lift more pound for pound than others. Continue to expand the exercises to include 40-yard dash, shuttle run, 3-cone test, vertical jump and broad jump to recognize your fast-twitch athletes. This gets the fast and shifty ones represented on the board. Chances are these leaders might be your biggest impact athletes on the field.
Finally, speed and strength aren’t the only things that make up a great team. Recognize other athletes with sections for highest GPA, best attendance and community service hours. Every coach preaches developing athletes into well rounded adults. By including different categories, you can push individuals to become better in specific areas and see the comparison amongst their peers.
Girls can break records too!
The weight room is no longer an extension of the boy’s locker room. With modern athlete training, female athletes are putting in the same long hours as the male athletes. Strength and Conditioning is a year-round sport that requires all athletes to challenge themselves to get better.
Recognize your female athletes that are putting in the work, and double the names on your board to maximize your motivation. Another option is creating sport specific boards, so that no team is left out in the weight room!
Honor current and all-time record holders.
Your record board should serve to gauge how each athlete stacks up against their predecessors. By including a section for all-time record holders, you can recognize the most outstanding athletes in each exercise for your program’s history. This gives the current leaders something to shoot for if their classmates are not enough competition.
Typically, the top 1 – 3 all-time record holders provide some great history on the best of the best. For many current athletes, the all-time list might not be a practical goal. By having a list of the top 3 – 10 current athletes a more practical goal is achieved that still provides the motivation and satisfaction of making it onto the board.
Don’t make it hard on yourself — find a board that is easily updated.
Every sport has an in-season and an off-season. Lifting, conditioning and training never have an off-season. This means that strength records can be broken anytime. Give your athletes the satisfaction of updating the strength and conditioning record board as soon as possible. Typically, we recommend a custom dry erase board for weight rooms and training facilities. Just imagine one of your underclassmen knocking out a deep squat to break some senior’s record.
The celebration that ensues and then the action of wiping away the senior’s name and writing up the new name and record. That kind of scene would get everyone’s attention and you better believe that the senior is going to jump in the rack at their next chance to reclaim their throne. A custom dry erase board can provide instant gratification (or newfound motivation) on the spot.
Find the right board type for your program!
We also have Slide-In Record Board or Laid-Vinyl Record Board options if a custom white board isn’t your style. These record boards offer custom printed records, which is great if you don’t like the idea of writing records by hand. The only drawback to this style of board is that updates for this need to be produced and shipped, so you do not get the instant satisfaction of having records updated in the moment.
The good news is that we have a team of professionals that can help design the perfect weight room record board for your program. You stick to training athletes, and we will make your vision come to life. To get started, give us a call or send us a message that describes the exercises you want to display, the number of athletes you want to recognize per exercise, your school colors and your school logo if you have it. Team Fitz Graphics has hundreds of boards in schools and facilities across the country. If you ask for it, we can deliver.