Suzanne Hesse

As Suzanne Hesse stares out a window into her reflection, she cannot help but smile. She has been on the elliptical machine for 18 minutes, planning to finish at 20, but she is nowhere close to finishing her workout. The bike is her next destination, where she will pedal for 4.4 miles on a virtual track. As she crosses the finish line, Hesse jumps out of her seat and jogs over to the nearest coach to ask, “Is it time for 8-Minute Abs?” They knew that question was on the way: the DVD was already ready to play. Most of the kids around Hesse moan as they hit the middle of the video, some will roll over and others will just quit, but she finishes with the same smile she started with.

“I think she has a smile on her face all the time,” Julia Goodmann, Hesse’s former varsity volleyball head coach, said. “I can always see that she’s having fun with whatever she’s doing.”

At the end of every school day, Hesse makes her way to the weight room, equipped with a head band, ponytail, t-shirt, volleyball shorts, high Nike socks, tennis shoes and a positive attitude.

“She’s not like most of the girls you’d see in that weight room,” Goodmann said. “She’s all business when she gets in there, not looking to make friends with someone or flirt around.”

During the summer, Hesse, senior worked out at the high school almost every day for off-season volleyball. The workouts Goodmann put her players through were more agility and vertical movement based. They prepared her more for what she would be dealing with in her upcoming senior season. Due to her hard work and focus, Hesse evolved from a player with very little playing time as a junior to a hard swinging, high intensity starting star as a senior.

“She pushed herself, I can’t emphasize that enough,” Goodmann said. “Her improvement from junior to senior year is an inspiration for anyone to understand that they can be that star if they work for it. You just [have] to want it as bad as she did.”

As for now, Hesse is still in the weight room after school, just working out in a different way, for a different reason. Now that the season is over, Hesse does not need to worry about her vertical leap or the strength behind her swing, so she does what she can to stay in shape.

“I eat so dang much, I’d be like a million pounds if I didn’t work out,” Hesse said. “I’d be the size of my pinky if I didn’t eat and worked out like I do.”

James McMichael

It is 2:40 p.m. and James McMichael, senior, could not be more excited to walk out of Jackie Butler’s Psychology class. , McMichael has become filled up to his broad shoulders with stress, after a long day filled with classes that pertain to nothing concerning physical activity. As he makes his way down to the weight room, he already has his four-day workout memorized. He has been looking forward to this since he woke up.

“Whatever the frustration may be, whenever you put it into a press, a squat or a pull, it relieves your stress,” McMichael said.

For McMichael, staying fit is a yearlong commitment, not only to his sports but himself. During the summer, McMichael, an offensive linemen, hit the weight room for football workouts, and during the winter McMichael followed a special workout designed by throwing coach, Edward Bielik. Whatever the time of year, McMichael is getting stronger and he knows it.

“The reason why I’m strong is because of what [Bielik] taught me,” McMichael said. “The fact that I know I’m getting stronger is just a feel-good feeling.”

The workout Bielik has configured for his throwers is no slouch. In fact, one of Bielik’s workouts takes two days to complete. This workout consists of five sets of squats, seven sets of bench presses, five clean and jerks, three sets of incline dumbbell presses, three sets of calf raises, three sets of lateral pulls, and a super set of 10 leg presses and 25 more calf raises. Along with this grueling muscular stress circuit, McMichael also runs two miles on the treadmill or around his subdivision, following his lifting. Head football coach Matt Irvin is highly supportive of his former offensive lineman not only due to his contributions during the season but his effort as a self motivated-individual.

“He walks into the weight room with the same approach every day. He’s a self-starter,” Irvin said. “It’s so unique to find a kid like him these days. Twenty years from now, he’ll be in great shape and not on The Biggest Loser like his coach.”

As he reaches the end of his workout, fatigue sets in as sweat beads drip down the side of McMichael’s face onto his fresh white wife beater. As he extends his shaking legs on his final leg press, McMichael releases a scream of relief that he has now set a new personal record. He steps off the leg press and bobs his head to the music pulsating from his iPod, satisfied with himself and his workout. He will go home without dread tonight, stronger than he was the day before.

“Anyone who knows they’re going into the weight room with a hard workout knows it’s going to suck,” McMichael said, “but coming out, finished, will be an incredibly satisfying feeling.”