New equipment is now more adaptive to meet the needs of all students.
The weight room at Ottumwa High School received a facelift a December, thanks to support from the Ottumwa Regional Legacy Foundation and the Ottumwa Athletic Club.
Funding from the Legacy Foundation and A Club was combined with district funds to support the project. “Our space is now better utilized, which is vital considering the high number of students in the room at a time,” said Scott Maas, Athletic Director.
OHS last updated their weight room in 2002 when state-of-the-art elevated platforms were installed. The updated facility now features zones with different colored flooring, allowing three students to use each weight rack zone simultaneously.
Many new features allow for better use of the space, including storage attachments on the weight machines. The weight room is the most highly utilized space in the school. A physical conditioning course is offered seven periods each day. The room is also used after school and throughout the summer. This past summer, 165 students signed up to participate in summer weight lifting.
The upgrades to the space include:
• New flooring to replace the old platforms
• 45 pound bars (7)
• Bumper plates (28-45s, 28-25s, and 28-10s)
• Dumbbells and dumbbell racks (5 lbs to 125 lbs)
• Four Ham-Glute machines
• Two Lat Pulldown machines
• Combo stack pulley machine
• Storage attachments for bars, chains, belts and bands
• Bar rotation attachments (7)
• Reverse bar hook attachments (7)
• Hex bars (7)
The district moved the older dumbbells into the OHS fitness center. The weight room flooring went to Evans Middle School to enhance their existing fitness space in the gym balcony.
“The room looks great and is much more user friendly,” said Maas.
