By: Olivia Frazier

Weight. This word can have many definitions. It can refer to your body weight, weighing an object down, or in this case, lifting weights. 

Incase you do not know, GlenOak High School has been granted a new weight room after using outdated equipment for the past few years. So far, people’s opinions of the new weight room have been pretty positive. 

“It’s a lot more open. We can fit more personnel people in there at a time, fit in multiple teams at a time, and get the most out of the space. Maximize the ability of all of our athletes,” Football Coach Beau Balderson said. 

Unlike the old weight room, the new one has multi-purpose equipment, a cardio section in the back, a 25-yard long section of turf for running drills, and a section dedicated to physical therapy for injured athletes. Unlike the old one, which had large, one-purpose, outdated equipment, and minimal space for movement. 

“The old weight room had a spacing issue more than anything. The way it was set up, the way some of the machines were put in there. We had large machines that only served one function taking up large space that didn’t give students the option to do a variety of exercises,” athletic trainer and Sports Medicine Teacher Alex Shaheen said. 

     Instead of injured athletes having to leave school to go to physical therapy appointments, they can now have physical therapy at the school. This will help improve the attendance of those with sports injuries. 

     “When patients are going through rehab, they are able to do more in the weightroom, mostly in the later phases of rehab as they return to sport. They are able to sort of challenge themselves in the weight room because of the new equipment and also the cardio equipment,¨ Shaheen said.  

The new weight room might be just what our school needs to help improve the lives and performance of our school’s athletes.