Pratt Community College held a ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate the completion and opening of the newly renovated and revitalized Sports Performance and Fitness Center. The weight room at PCC has had a few different floor plans here on the current campus. The lower level of the Riney Student Center has always been its home, but it has spent time in both the north and south rooms of Riney. Those who used the equipment housed in the room, would have described it as sufficient to get basic strength training done, but it had definitely seen better days. There was also a genuine concern about improving the cardio equipment. Discussions have been ongoing for several years to design and implement plans to upgrade and add the kind of equipment which could be used by student-athletes, the general student population, faculty and staff.
The Sports Performance and Fitness Center boasts the utilization of both the north and south rooms in the lower level of the Riney Student Center. Advanced Exercise helped put together the plans and choose the equipment to outfit both rooms.
Pratt Community College President Dr. Michael Calvert said, "We are very excited to make necessary upgrades to our fitness center. This newly remodeled facility will certainly aid in the training of student-athletes at PCC and should make positive impacts in the recruitment of new students to PCC. The best part is that all students and PCC faculty and staff can use the new equipment. We are appreciative of the PCC Board of Trustees for their support and approval of the use of student fees to fund this much-needed project".
The focus of the north room is the cardio equipment. It houses four treadmills, a stair climber, two ellipticals and both a recumbent and upright stationary bike. These items will allow our students, faculty and staff to have a place to improve their fitness and general wellness, in addition to decreasing stress. The room also houses a multifunctional fitness piece called the Synrgy 360T. It has multiple chin up bar alignments, a land mine station, a set of TRX bands, an adjustable height step up platform, and an adjustable height dip handle. This set of stations allows users to be more creative with their workouts and execute some of the current fitness trend exercises. For those who prefer using dumbbells for their training, it holds a set of dumbbells ranging from 5lbs to 30lbs.
The south room is geared more towards strength and conditioning and the Olympic style lifting programs utilized by several of our athletic teams. This room houses six half racks which hold two Olympic power bars to allow two users to be at work at once on one rack. Each rack is outfitted with weight plates and bumper plates ranging from 2.5lbs to 45lbs, a multi-adjustable bench, a set of power blocks that range from 12.5lbs to 125lbs, a multi-height plyo box, a landmine attachment, a set of med balls, and a set of strength bands. The room also holds a dual-functional trainer with two cable pulley stations and a multi-adjustable bench allowing for a variety of functional training exercises. Additionally, there are two TV's installed for instruction, visual aids, and athletic training program use.
Student workers will be on staff from 9am-9pm Monday through Friday while classes are in session. They will be able to help people learn to operate the equipment and give some general descriptions for use. PCC offers a variety courses geared towards health and fitness including yoga, beginning and advance weightlifting, and exercise techniques. With the expansion of this facility there is a possibility of more courses being offered in the future. If you would like help putting together a personalized training program, please see Carmen Forest or Coach Ken Kepley.
