Overhaulin: weight room edition

Recently, I have put in an order for some very valuable equipment to be used for the team. Being able to choose between an ever expanding market for variations of bars, bands, and however many other gadgets that get put out anymore you would think it would be a daunting task. It was actually quite simple. Here are a few of the things I received and why I chose them.

Trap Bar

Why: When you perform this exercise it serves as one of the most basic forms of hip extension you can perform. This is important because teaching hip extension, under load, cannot be simpler then sitting your hips back and lifting something heavy. Ok...it's not that simple but you get the point. This exercise allows you to easily adjust height, via rising with plates, that you can attain neutral spine alignment from the start of the movement. And of course, this dead lift variation when dealing with a multitude of athletes saves time devoted for teaching a conventional so you can begin loading it much sooner.

Elite FTS Pro Short Mini Bands

Why: These are a spin on something that has been around for a while. Although they are short bands they can still serve good use for many different dynamic effort works, and they will be a pivotal part of our warm up protocol. The added benefit of size is that there is not more doubling up when applying straps to bar and this makes band tension easier to evenly distribute. This is also one of the most versatile tools as you can use them for a variety of activation, pull apart, stretching, and strengthening. I think we will easily get plenty of use out of these.

Blast Straps

Why: Again, these are a very versatile piece of equipment. The amount of rowing, core, and many other strengthening exercises that are options made this an easy buy. Also one of the biggest benefits is the ability to rotate the handle which allows your shoulders to move freely as opposed to a bar forcing them in a specific position. You can also form many progressions with these straps alone especially for the core (Holds, Rollouts, flutters, etc…) So again, another tool that can get a lot of use.

We also had various other tools such as dowels, foam rollers, and LAX/Tennis balls. The best part was that they were free. We made them! Simple things like dowels can be found anywhere. Maintenance always has various woods, PVC and a variety of rope that they are sometimes glad to get rid of. I’m not saying it would be wise to go make your own bench press or blasts straps but just to utilize your resources. Make sure if you make a big purchase that it is equipment that is needed, and hopefully not a uni-tasker.