USU’s new strength and conditioning center nearing completion

LOGAN – Utah State’s new strength and conditioning facility is nearing completion and athletes are expected to begin training sessions June 22.

The 26,000-square-foot, three floor building will be the largest in the Mountain West in terms of size, with approximately 17,000 square feet of space for strength and conditioning. The other 9,000 square feet will house a new ticket office, retail space and offices for staff.

Gary Stevens, Project Manager with Spindler Construction, said the building was designed with an objective to impress future recruits.  

“You’re talking about a building at least four times the size of what they have been doing,” Stevens said. “The coaches can’t wait to show their recruits this and feel it will pay huge dividends both as far as building the players they already have that they recruit and attracting new players.”

Iron cutouts have been implemented into the railings on the stairs, featuring the Aggie Bull and the words “Utah State.”  There will also be a large Bull on the outside of the building along with banners promoting past Aggie greats, all with recruiting in mind.

A video board made up of 18 65” televisions will show Aggie highlights, play other broadcasts and will be synched with a $100,000 sound system.

The televisions can be synchronized in one giant screen or individually show separate programs, training videos, or even player-specific messages. 

“The purpose of that, one is recruiting,” Stevens said. “To have team’s highlights as you walk a recruit through there. This is Utah State, this is our identity. They’re going to utilize that. It can be tailored for each sport.”

One of the more unique aspects of the building is an inclined, turf-covered ramp that goes from the second floor to the third floor. Athletes will use the ramp to increase leg strength, with one exercise involving pushing sleds up to increase explosiveness.

“One of the things you see on treadmills is incline training,” Stevens said. “One of the new things in college strength training is having ramps that the athletes can run up, push sleds up; it’s supposed to really help develop the muscles that are involved in running and acceleration.”

The third floor will be entirely covered in turf so athletes can do specific training and field simulations without having to leave the building. A training sandpit has also been installed in the back of the building as another means of resistance training.

While the proposed budget for the new facility was $4.9 million, actual costs for the building will be around $6.4 million. Stevens said 90% of the project has been done using local contractors, many of them donating portions of their time or resources to the project. He also indicated a local donor will provide much of the strength training equipment used in the new facility.

“Every project is unique,” Stevens said. “But with this being one big large open area so that all the activities can be on one floor, it has a tremendous amount of glass to emphasize the views of the valley, both the Wellsville and the Logan range on each side of the building. It really sets this apart from the other buildings we’ve done on campus.”

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