Marble Falls athletic department adds Concept 2 machines

CAPTION: The three Concept 2 StrengthERG machines at Marble Falls High School. Courtesy photo

Helping athletes rehab completely to get them back on the playing field ready to compete is among the goals of athletic trainers everywhere and Marble Falls High School is no different. 

The department added three Concept 2 StrengthERG machines. Most know the company for its rowers, Marble Falls Independent School District strength and conditioning coordinator Karl “Beef” Bielfeldt said. 

But the department chose the StrengthERG because it meets specific needs for specific athletes.

“So essentially (they) allow us to do leg press rows and bench press all on one sitting,” Bielfeldt said. “It’s a rehab tool. So if I have somebody whose shoulders hurt, and we want to do some work on the legs, I’m going to stick them on that.” 

But the machines also allow athletes to work on their upperbodies if their lower bodies need rest. 

“I can do chest press with it,” the coordinator said. “I can row with it, I can leg press with it. If we have kids who have lower body injuries, then we can get them on those. And we can do basically some aerobic endurance work and keep our cardio up that way. It’s the same concept of the old hand bikes in the training room that all athletes used to love – sitting there for 20 minutes, just arms going over like you’re riding a bike with your hands. And so it can be set up to be done in the same way.”

Bielfeldt co-authored the request with athletic trainer Mendy Wyatt, who resigned at the end of the school year to move closer to family.

The additions were covered from a $5,000 grant from the Marble Falls Education Foundation. 

CAPTION: Former Marble Falls High School athletic trainer Mendy Wyatt co-authored a grant request to the Marble Falls Education Foundation to add a couple of machines designed to help injured athletes keep their gains. Staff photos by Jennifer Fierro

It’s no secret that the coordinator and the head coaches of each sport have been doing their parts to increase the strength of each athlete by creating workouts that physically challenge them with the aim of being at their absolute best in every sport they play. 

At one time, athletes who couldn’t participate in workouts because of injuries may have sat on the sidelines cheering their teammates on or did other tasks to help their teammates stay hydrated or locked in. In today’s sports world, fewer of those days exist.

Exercise machines have been invented to help athletes address specific parts of their bodies while allowing other parts that need time to heal do just that. That way not all is lost for athletes who have worked tirelessly to get bodies stronger, faster and more flexible. 

“It’s a way to keep athletes that may be limited for a little bit, instead of them sitting in the training room the whole time well, I can put them over here,” Bielfeldt said.  

He sees plenty of options on how the machines will benefit athletes, especially football players. Bielfeldt, who also serves as the defensive line coach for the football team, noted those the machines can help with some movements crucial to that position.

“I’m going to use them for our linemen, who are working on their repetitive punch rate of force development,” he said. “The big thing here is that machine does not have the eccentric resistance to it. It is straight concentric. If you’re doing a bench press, instead of feeling all the weight as you lower the bar down your chest, there is no weight there – all the weight is when you push. And so all the resistance is when you push, so we can sit there and push as hard as you can and pull it back and do it again as fast as you can.”

CAPTION: Strength-and-conditioning coordinator and defensive line coach Karl “Beef” Bielfeldt noted the many ways the Concept 2 StrengthERG will help the Mustangs and Lady Mustangs.