In the not-so-distant past, college weight rooms were cavernous spaces filled with clanging iron, sweaty athletes and coaches armed with clipboards and stopwatches. Fast forward to today, and you’ll find a dramatically different scene: high-tech hubs where computerized vision equipment tracks every rep, force plates measure explosive power and nutrition stations fuel athletes for optimal performance. The modern college weight room has undergone a remarkable transformation, driven by advances in technology, a deeper understanding of sports science and the ever-present desire to gain a competitive edge.
Along with technology, designers of modern weight rooms and training facilities have taken a more holistic approach that mirrors the “wellness” concept seen in college recreation centers, treating the athlete as a whole rather than compartmentalizing their training at the expense of their recovery and nutritional requirements. Workouts are no longer a one-size-fits-all affair, but rather individualized plans tailored to each athlete’s needs.
Technology takes center stage
At the heart of this evolution in weight room design is the integration of cutting-edge technology. “I think there are four uses for technology in weight rooms,” explains Michael Hessert, architect at PBK who has worked on a number of NCAA Division I strength training facilities. “One is to assess the effectiveness of training programs. Two is to assess the condition and performance of the athlete. Three is to monitor the athlete’s progress and development, and four is to track their performance over time, so you can know whether they’re achieving goals or not.”
Jacob Rothman, co-founder of Perch, a company that develops AI-powered weight training technology, saw an opportunity to address all four of those criteria with one product. “Around 2016, we noticed a gap in the market. When we started the company in 2016, wearables started becoming very popular. The Apple Watch was released in 2015, and a lot of the technology was geared toward measuring aerobic activity — steps, heart rate, calories,” explains Rothman, who at the time of the company’s founding was majoring in mechanical engineering at MIT and playing varsity baseball there. “What we noticed during that time was that there wasn’t really any technology to quantify strength training, so we set out to solve that problem.”
Perch’s solution involves a small 3D camera that attaches to weight racks, giving them “a set of eyes and a brain,” as Rothman puts it. The system uses computer vision and machine learning to track reps and sets, and to calculate metrics such as power output and explosiveness. This data is then displayed on a tablet in real time and can be stored for later analysis.
Rothman says the kind of data generated by the Perch system actually makes strength training safer and more effective. “We were really trying to make strength training more efficient, even safer, as well as a little bit more predictive in an effort to prevent injury in the weight room,” he says. “You know, can we help people with the proper form? Can you help them train smarter to ideally prevent an injury from happening?”
With all this technology comes a wealth of data, and coaches are leveraging it to make more informed decisions about training and recovery. Rothman explains how Perch’s velocity-based training can help coaches optimize workouts in real time. “If an athlete is having a really good day and lifting the prescribed weight too fast, it means they can actually add some weight to optimize their session. Conversely, if they’re moving the weight too slowly, it might indicate fatigue, and the coach can adjust accordingly.”
This data-driven approach extends beyond individual sessions. Perch’s analytics dashboard allows coaches to track athlete progress over time, even predicting one-rep max values based on daily performance without the need for frequent max-out attempts.
Kevin Wagner, a designer for Substance Architecture who worked on Iowa State University’s Olympic sports weight room, notes that modern facilities are being wired to support technologies such as Perch.
“In the Olympic sports facility at Iowa State, we included power to the racks for things like retractable hooks,” Wagner explains. “There’s Wi-Fi throughout, so coaches can use iPads and monitoring software. It’s really about creating a space that can adapt to current and future technologies.”
Rothman echoes this sentiment. “At Baylor’s recent install, power was actually built into the weight racks. Some new facilities will have Ethernet built into the floor next to the rack. In the next five to 10 years, I don’t think there will be a weight room without this kind of infrastructure.”
Photo by Corey Gaffer courtesy of Substance Architecture
Beyond pumping iron
The modern weight room isn’t just about lifting. These spaces are increasingly incorporating recovery and nutrition elements. Hessert points out the inclusion in weight rooms, or nearby spaces, of rehab and recovery tools such as hydrotherapy, cryotherapy and even hypoxic chambers to simulate training at altitude.
Hessert says today’s college athletic programs are all about treating the whole athlete at a granular level, ensuring that they get exactly what they need based on their sport, position, body type, even injury susceptibility. That means creating a facility where all fitness and rehab modalities work together.
“In the model where everybody’s kind of in their own silo, separated, that’s not a good thing,” says Hessert, referencing a college strength and conditioning facility he worked on where the client demanded the exact opposite — synergy amongst different departments. “They were pulling together strength and conditioning. They were pulling together sports medicine. They were pulling together recovery and nutrition in one facility where the teams would come through, and all of those folks would see them. If you needed to go see a sports medicine doctor or a physical therapist or the masseuse, or you had an injury, you went to that one place. And while you were there, you could get specific guidance — ‘Hey, you need to do these types of stretches or exercises.’ ‘Hey, let’s go out here on the open floor and see how that looks, and see how that feels and how you react to it.’ ”
Nutrition, too, has become a core component. “We’re seeing nutrition as an ever-increasing part of the weight room and training facility design,” Hessert says. “Smoothie bars, hydration stations — it’s all part of the holistic approach to athlete development.”
In the competitive world of college athletics, every advantage counts‚ including in the recruitment of top talent, and a state-of-the-art weight room definitely serves as sign-on incentive.
“It’s not just about NIL deals,” Rothman notes. “The modern athlete is really looking for schools that invest in their health and longevity. They want to get to the next level, and they have to be healthy to do that.”
Wagner describes how this factors into facility design. “At Iowa State, we designed a recruiting path. You come into the impressive lobby with the trophies, come up the stairs, and immediately there’s a full view of this massive weight room with athletes working out. At the end of the weight room, there’s floor-to-ceiling glass looking out to the indoor training facility. It’s all about creating that ‘wow’ factor.”
As technology continues to advance, and philosophies around developing athletes continue to evolve, college weight rooms and training facilities will follow suit. Artificial intelligence and machine learning will likely play an even larger role, offering even deeper predictive insights into injury risk and performance optimization.
Virtual and augmented reality could find their way into weight rooms, offering new ways to engage athletes and visualize performance data. As the understanding of sports science deepens, athlete development centers will continue to see more integration of disciplines, creating truly comprehensive athlete training and wellness.
Today’s college weight room is a sophisticated blend of iron and algorithms, sweat and science, all aimed at helping athletes reach their full potential. As we look to the future, one can only imagine what innovations lie ahead in the ever-evolving world of strength and conditioning. “I think the days of just going in and pushing plates, pushing iron, those are long gone,” says Hessert. “In the good old days, that used to get you far enough, but everybody is so much more sophisticated nowadays. Everybody’s looking for that little edge. It’s not big gains now, it’s little gains. And the more gains like that you can put together, the more effective you’re going to be.”
