About thirty well-built guys are rolling on the floor, using Flex bands to do stretches that look like they belong in a yoga studio rather than the cold cement basement of Lamkin Arena.

Welcome to strength and conditioning — Joe Quinlin style.

Bob Boerigter, Athletic Director for Northwest Missouri State, recently hired Quinlin as strength and conditioning coach for the Bearcats. It's a full-time position that before now never existed at Northwest. In previous years, someone connected to the football team was usually saddled as the weight-lifting coach. Having a full-time strength and conditioning coach is something Northwest has wanted for years.

"By moving someone in here that's not affiliated with a sport, they're here all the time supervising all the graduate assistants, the interns and everybody else that could be working with all those athletes," Boerigter said. "This provides for a much better, cohesive, organized program for all sports."

As Quinlin walks the group of guys, all football players, through the warmups he literally walks around making sure everyone is getting the stretching down. It's not an easy thing to master and some players are struggling. Quinlin said they'll get it down in a few weeks, then he'll step up its intensity.

"It'll take about three weeks usually," Quinlin said. "A lot of them have done it before either with injuries or who have done camps with me before. We'll get more and more dynamic and ballistic where we're kicking a little bit harder. It takes a little time."

Previously Quinlin was a personal trainer at the Maryville Community Center. He also happens to be a professional bodybuilder after mopping up in a competition this summer and earning his pro card.

Giving up the private practice wasn't that difficult of a choice for Quinlin, a former Bearcat football player himself.

"It's just been my goal to always work with athletes," Quinlin said. "Also, I played here from 1996-2000. I just wanted to get back over here and help out."

So, how's he adjusting from working with one person at a time to dozens? He's getting used to it. Fortunately, he doesn't have all his athletes right now. He's just working with the football team during the summer as he gets into the flow of things.

"I just have about 80 football guys I'm working with right now," Quinlin said. "I'm slowly getting into the routine and getting used to what I have to do."

Still, there are some athletes that need more personal attention than others. Quinlin’s got those guys covered.

"I've been in here for less than a week and I already know who I don't have to get on and I don't have to watch too much," Quinlin said. "I put a couple of them with a couple of people who aren't as enthusiastic about the weight room."

Quinlin was selected as the new weight coach out of what Boerigter called a "very talented pool." So, what set him apart?

"I think the fact that he's really staying on the cutting edge of what's happening in strength and conditioning ... we were really impressed with that," Boerigter said.

Boerigter said he was also impressed with the way Quinlin could take things learned at conferences and meetings and adapt them to the elite athletes he'll now deal with on a daily basis. Quinlin's diversity and vast knowledge of weight training will help him tackle any situation that may arise.

"I'm all about form and range of motion rather than weight," Quinlin said. "It's speed of movement, explosive movements for athletics that you're going to get into. You can squat 700-lbs, bench press 500-lbs but that slow movement isn't getting you ready for athletics.

"With my background in body building I know how to hit different muscles in different ways. With different injuries I can incorporate different exercises for a lot of these guys that have a pre-existing injury."

Quinlin's experience with the Flex bands should help prevent many of those injuries from happening.

While regular or "static" stretching gets the blood pumping and the muscles loosened, it doesn't offer the same type of resistance the muscles will experience during the game Quinlin said. The Flex bands provide more of a "ballistic" stretching. This helps a player's muscles narrow the gap between relaxed and game-ready as much as possible and decreases the chances of pulled muscles during a game.