ISU Athletics Strength and Conditioning Program

The success of Indiana State athletics is not only credited to the faculty in each sport, but also to the program that expands the core of each athlete's robustness, stamina and character: strength and conditioning.

The Indiana State Strength and Conditioning program is headed by David McMannus, who will be entering his eighth year at ISU and fourth year as the director. McMannus is aided by four graduate assistants: Daniel Millington, Matthew Seliger, Devin DuBose and Daniel Watson.

McMannus was previously a graduate assistant for the Sycamores, and has earned a bachelor's degree in exercise science and a master's degree in physical education from ISU. In addition to his experience here, he also worked with the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts strength and conditioning programs.

Each graduate assistant must meet high qualifications prior to hire, including a background in exercise science or related field, prior experience with athletes or athletics, and a completion of an internship. Additionally, they must undergo a professional interview with the strength and conditioning staff.

McMannus is the main program designer and oversees the assistants as they expand his basic outline to their own creative program for their assigned sport.

Each program incorporates a similar root and obeys a main structure.

"The philosophy includes a lot of the main strength lifts, a hammer on core, and Olympic lifts," McMannus said. "Almost every team will experience those."

In addition to the basic structure, each sport has a branch of lifts that emphasize on strengthening necessary skills.

"You get as specific as you can without being ridiculous," McMannus said. "Some programs are taking sport specific lifting and going overboard."

The structure depends mainly on three factors: the sport, how many times a week they train and weather they are in season or not. Football and track are the only two sports that incorporate peaking in season. McMannus partially credits the Bears coach for teaching him aspects of this philosophy.

Supplementing the design of each program, the strength and conditioning staff must manage over 300 student athletes, while properly meshing facility space, time and each sport's practice schedule.

The busiest hours in the weight room are between 6 and 8 a.m., and 2 and 6 p.m. While a bystander may observe the weight room as chaos during these hours, the coaches have intricately planned for the swarm of athletes.

"Every group has a coach assigned, and there is a certain flow to every workout. It generally is a nice, smooth structure," McMannus said. "But of course, there are days when we get backed up. We try to avoid group conflict and other problems. Because then the efficiency of the lift is gone."

In addition to the weight lifting program, McMannus offers student athletes a nutrition evaluation and a diet formed to specific needs.

"To me, nutrition and recovery are just as important as training. It goes hand and hand. Every athlete should think of eating and recovery as a way of life," McMannus said.

The strength and conditioning program offers services such as the Bod Pod, which measures body fat and lean mass, and a fuctional movement screen, which is used to look at flexibility, mobility and imbalance issues.

"Once somebody goes through a screen, you can see where their weaknesses are, and individualize exercises even more," McMannus said.

By interacting and coaching student athletes as their career, ISU's strength and conditioning coaches witness the dedication it takes to balance academics and athletics, and they value hard work in and out of the weight room.

Having played Sycamore football as an undergraduate, McMannus is able to relate to his athletes at a more personal level.

"I definitely think that [being a student athlete] teaches a lot more responsibility and discipline," McMannus said. "The lifestyle, in general, enforces you to be more responsible and disciplined. Whether it's forced or in you, you can't just say ‘I don't feel like going today.'"

While the life of an ISU student athlete is centralized around practice, competition, and school, the strides the strength and conditioning program take should not be overlooked. The program that is designed to improve performance is demanding and encounters unmentioned pressures.

Just like every other position in ISU athletics, the strength and conditioning coaches strive to build champions.