Major equipment upgrade to Schipper Fitness Center

PELLA—Already among the region’s top collegiate strength and conditioning facilities, Central College’s Ron Schipper Fitness Center is receiving a $130,000 equipment upgrade.

Schipper Fitness Center

Much of the equipment has arrived and is being installed as part of a revised floor plan intended to provide even greater training opportunities for Central’s athletes in the popular 7,200-square foot facility that opened in 1999.

The new equipment includes 11 power racks, platforms, power bars and competition Olympic barbells, all from Power Lift. That replaces the six platforms and squat racks previously housed in the building. Also added are Uesaka competition bumper plates.

More equipment is slated to arrive during the summer, including two cable pillars, three reverse hypers, two glute/hamstring raises and a belt squat machine, which is useful for athletes recovering from injury.

The fitness center continues to receive heavy use, with significant traffic during early-morning and late-afternoon team workouts. The new equipment will substantially reduce overcrowding.

“This will allow us to serve a lot more athletes at one time and make better use of our facility’s space,” said Central’s strength and conditioning coach Jake Anderson. “Plus this is quality equipment and more durable than what we had. It’s by far the best equipment on the market.”

Training facilities are increasingly popular at colleges and universities nationwide, but Anderson said that with the new equipment, Central remains ahead of the curve.

“We’re definitely leading the way as far as what a top strength and conditioning facility should look like,” Anderson said. “It definitely gives us one of the best NCAA Division III facilities in the country and I think we’re ahead of a lot of Division I facilities as well.”