Trading barbells for broomsticks, Hoban athletes get strong at home

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Hoban High School in Akron has a top-of-the-line weight room. Just like the rest of the school, it is closed. That means the student-athletes cannot get to the weights and strength building machines. Strength coach Mike Winkler does not care. “Find a way. Figure it out."

Hoban, like a lot of schools, are posting workouts online for athletes to do at home. But Winkler’s are workouts built around common household items- buckets, brooms, a case of water bottles, and most importantly- sand. “Go buy some bags of sand, it’s very cheap. Get some buckets. Fill the buckets up with the sand. You can manipulate the weight. If you need more weight, pour more sand in. It’s the simplest way.” The sand “weights” are an integral part of his workouts, but they are not the only thing kids can use. Loaded backpacks, brooms, and water bottles have all been used for resistance.

Winkler oversees 800+ athletes from 26 sports and activities. Football players, golfers, cheerleaders and every other type of athlete at Hoban is under Winkler’s guidance. That is a wide range of athletes with a wide range of needs. “There are different needs per sport," said Winkler. “That’s what’s challenging about making this home workout, because there are different types of athletes out there. Making a workout program that fits everyone’s needs is a little challenging, but I think we’ve been successful at doing it.”

The kids are loving it. They are doing the workouts and posting them on Twitter, where Winkler’s Hoban Strength account encourages and retweets them.

“They took to it. I encourage them to post videos because I’m so used to watching them work out, and I miss that. They are helping me out by showing me their videos and inspiring others to work out hard too.”

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