Michigan's Other Weight Room Warriors
6/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Richard Retyi, U-M Athletic Media Relations
Director of Strength and Conditioning Mike Barwis and his staff give "Weight Room Warrior of the Week" awards during the year to the hardest working players in the weight room at Schembechler Hall. These are the publicized Weight Room Warriors.
To date, there is no award given to the other Weight Room Warriors, the coaches, equipment staff, administrative assistants or recruiting coordinators of Schembechler Hall who also sweat, grunt and burn in Barwis' playground.
Over 17,600 University of Michigan faculty and staff took part in the University's MFit health screening this school year, sponsored by the University of Michigan Health System. The program was designed to promote active and healthy lifestyles for UMHS patients, U-M employees and the greater Washtenaw County community, and the MFit assessments measured health and fitness levels, offering free information and coaching to foster healthier living for University faculty and staff.
Head coach Rich Rodriguez and his staff have done their best to follow the example set by the university by promoting healthy habits at Schembechler Hall. Coach Rodriguez, already a fitness buff, encourages his assistants and support staff to find time in the day for physical activity to keep them healthy, both mentally and physically.
Rodriguez leads by example and is a fixture in the weight room during the summer months, pounding away on a Stairmaster some afternoons with ear buds in place and reams of printed reading material in front of him.
On a typical afternoon in June, wide receivers coach Tony Dews might be sweating it out on a treadmill, defensive coordinator Greg Robinson and running backs coach Fred Jackson could be working with free weights, and director of equipment operations Jon Falk is probably showing the elliptical who's boss.
Linebackers coach Jay Hopson, offensive line coach Greg Frey, secondary coach Tony Gibson, defensive line coach Bruce Tall half of Schembechler Hall passes through Barwis' playground at one time or another. The MFit message is gospel on State Street.
| Mike Barwis | Jon Falk |
"Sometimes people don't understand the commitment of a football coach or a person who works in this environment," says Barwis. "It's 16- or 17-hour days, 365 days a year. You don't get a lot of free time."
"We're trying to stay one step ahead of the Grim Reaper," says Hopson. "If you've got 30 minutes, you try and squeeze it in."
Some coaches have invested in personal workout equipment like quarterbacks coach Rod Smith, who bought a treadmill for his home and set up an exercise room for himself.
"I used to run and lift a lot, then I took a six year hiatus and now I'm trying to get back into it," says Smith. "I do a 20- or 30-minute run in the morning several days a week and I walk a lot. I get my workout out of the way because sometimes our schedules are all over the place."
Other coaches, like Tall, use Ann Arbor as their exercise room. After running or using an elliptical in the Schembechler weight room, Tall will walk for an hour after work.
"I have a nice route that goes from State to Eisenhower and I loop back around and end up on Packard," says Tall. "It's a good way to unwind."
With work days that can stretch well into the night and ever-changing priorities, it's rarely easy to work up the motivation to hit the gym for 30 minutes when so much else needs to be done. What helps the coaches is the camaraderie that they have established as weight room warriors.
| Fred Jackson | Rich Rodriguez and Mike Barwis |
"A few of our guys are down there a lot in the summer and it's easier to work out as a group," says Hopson. "You have to keep yourself going and we're all pretty good about it."
Any bit of extra motivation or distraction will work.
"My kids put together an iPod playlist for me, but I'll watch TV too, a combination," says Tall. "I have all kinds of music -- rock, gospel -- songs I've never heard of. My son is 15, so I hear new things all the time."
"My exercise room has music and a TV," says Smith. "If I'm going to do it, I need all the help I can get."
"I can't stand running," says Hopson, "but I have to keep the heart going. I'll do a 5K that takes me around campus and back through The Diag, which is a beautiful part of the run and something I look forward to. I don't listen to music. I just take off and start running."
Though not always enjoyable in the moment, these little chunks of time devoted to fitness pay off in the short and long run for the denizens of Schembechler Hall.
"I care a lot about the guys I work with," says Barwis. "It's good to see them work towards a healthier lifestyle so that their families are able to enjoy them longer and I'm able to enjoy their company longer. They set a great example for our kids."
