The NSU Strength and Conditioning Program is administered by
Reese Bridgman, who has 26 years of coaching experience in athletics at the high school, college and professional levels. His resume includes a seven-year stint as head strength and conditioning coach at Central Florida, where he worked with future professionals such as Daunte Culpepper, Asante Samuel and Brandon Marshall of the NFL and Mike Maroth of Major League Baseball.
The NSU Strength and Conditioning Program exists to provide all 280+ NSU student-athletes with scientifically-sound performance-enhancement programs in the areas of strength, speed, explosive power and sports nutrition. Programs are conducted in the NSU athletics weight room, a 2,000-square foot facility in Gill Gymnasium that houses the equipment and accessories needed to develop championship-level NCAA Division I athletes. The strength and conditioning program also uses the NSU athletics department’s game and practice fields.
The program develops athletes by means of functional strength training for strength and power utilizing Olympic lifts, power lifts, plyometric drills and additional supplementary lifts, particularly dumbbell exercises. The program trains speed in both linear and change-of-direction movement. Athletes are taught recovery by developing good eating habits that are appropriate for athletes training at the Division I level and by emphasizing the correct amount of rest.
Athletes are trained in a team setting as a part of a year-round program. Athletes train two times per week in season and three to four times per week during the remainder of the year with a break between semesters and at the end of their sport’s season. Their annual plan consists of in-season, off-season, preseason and holiday programs. All training schedules are administered within NCAA guidelines for contact time with athletes in both required programs and voluntary programs.
Part of the emphasis within the NSU Strength and Conditioning Program is on the athlete developing lifetime character qualities of teamwork, discipline, dedication, determination, respect for others and respect for hard work. Athletes are also expected to develop an interest in lifetime fitness.
“The Strength and Conditioning Program at NSU tries to remember that our athletes came to us to participate in and excel in their given sport, not to become weight lifters or body builders,” Bridgman says. “For this reason, we approach strength and conditioning as a means to an end, and we encourage our athletes to learn from and enjoy the journey.”