Whether you’re doing curls or lateral raises, the mirror serves as a useful tool to check your form on any exercise or show off those gains. At Whitney Young’s weight room, we have a large rectangular mirror behind the dumbbell rack for this exact purpose. For most people, that mirror will serve all their self-admiring desires. However, the powerlifting team is not like most people. 

Last year, the powerlifting team were able to win state and bring yet another championship to Whitney Young. Led by senior Joseph Ortega, they showed that they were levels above the competition from schools all across Illinois like New Trier and Lane Tech. In the weeks before the competition, known as the prep phase, most of the team opted not to train at Whitney Young’s weight room. Instead, they went to their own local private gyms, which are far costlier. 

“I felt that the gym was lacking in mirrors for our form checks. It was mentally difficult to cope with the fact that I could have been lifting suboptimally,” a junior powerlifter remarked. Another sophomore powerlifter remarked, “I couldn’t see if I was 7 or 7.1 inches away from the safety bars on my walkout” 

As a result of these concerns, the powerlifting club requested a grant from Friends of Whitney Young for state of the art mirrors to be installed at all locations in the weight room. Their request was just approved and will likely be carried out in the summer of this year. Even the floors and ceiling will have mirrors installed for optimal viewing angles. There have been talks to add 360 degree cameras on the racks to rewatch and analyze sets with maximum fidelity.

The powerlifting team hopes that these new additions can help mentally ease the team to train at Whitney Young’s weight room and relieve them of financial burden. As for the rest of the school, reactions seem to be mixed.

I am not sure how the other mirrors will survive with these powerlifters throwing plates around,” one freshman said. One junior said, “ I don’t know if these changes were really necessary. I feel like the money on these mirrors would have been better spent elsewhere”

Still, the mirrors are still slated to be installed in the summer. Check out the weight room once reopens in the fall after break!