Upgrading and Updating

Elite Form computer systems — among other upgrades — were installed in East’s weight room on February 16th, after gym coaches Mark Simoneau and Shawn Hair put together an upgrade funding proposal to send to the East Fund.

The Elite Form computer system attaches to the top the weightlifting racks, containing numerous cameras and a touch screen, which can be controlled by teachers and athletes. Tracking velocity of lifts and other various movements.

According to Hair, the first step in obtaining the funds was persuading the physical education department to support and fund the renovation project.

“The biggest thing is that we had to convince the East Fund and the East community that we were going to use this program for every kid, not just football, not just basketball, not just baseball. Every kid,” Hair said.

After going back and forth with the East fund, the fund finally accepted the request to install an Elite Form system to every single rack in the weight room. 

From there, the district worked out the logistics with Elite Form and a date was set to have the two-day installation process begin. Simoneau and Hair both scheduled activities for their classes those days to be out of the weight room so the construction in the weight room could occur.

The rest of the upgrades to the weight room were much more minor than the Elite Form but will still make a very large impact on the room.They’ve repainted some of the walls black to make a cleaner aesthetic and they also removed the dumbbell racks and set them against the wall on the side of the weight room. This makes a very large open space in the middle of the room for stretching and other activities that involve lots of movement.

Seventh hour Girls Weights was the first class able to use the new technology. With the new tech-upgrade, each individual user makes a personal account within the system, adding their  name and a picture of their face. Once the account is made, students can then sign in their accounts every time they work out and track their goals, such as velocity on a lift. 

Simoneau first heard of Elite Form from his old strength coach when he played football in college. His coach had just one computer system but allowed Simoneau to use it, allowing him to realize the unique benefits athletes and weight trainers could get from using this system, such as Elite Form.  

“It has made a huge difference for me in the weight room being able to track the velocity of my lifts and see how I did on every lift right away,” junior Ethan Curran said.

The athletes are not the only ones benefiting from the new technology — it’s also been a huge help to the coaching staff.

“The best part is I am able to make adjustments in training without having to ever max out, ” Simoneau said. “Instead of every eight weeks evaluating and changing things, it is more of an ongoing process day by day.” 

As the head basketball coach, freshman football coach and weights teacher, Shawn Hair says that he wants the school to pride itself on the athletic program and a huge part of that starts in the weight room. 

Coach Hair is optimistic that the Elite Form system can make a huge impact on the athletic programs at East making it way more efficient to train in the weight room. 

“The instant feedback is the biggest part that is going to help the kids,” Hair said. “For example, if they have a three rep set and you mess up the first rep it will give you a red telling the brain to focus more on the next rep. That will just be able to make our athletes way more efficient when lifting.”