Many Sacramento State students enjoy going to The Well, chatting it up with friends and getting in what they consider to be a good, sweat-inducing workout.

But Jared Nessland, Sacramento State’s director of strength and conditioning, believes there is little comparison between what many students do at The Well and what student-athletes endure during one of his strength and conditioning sessions.

“I think to some extent it’s basically apples to oranges,” Nessland said. “In a recreational setting (like The Well) it’s going to be more about fitness, heart health, body composition and things like that.”

Nessland puts his athletes’ abilities to the test on a weekly basis. During a typical offseason regiment, athletes can be expected to put in multiple hours of intense physical conditioning several days a week unlike anything one might experience in a more casual gym setting.

“We’re trying to improve specific physiological aspects,” Nessland said. “We’re trying to develop more power, we’re trying to get stronger, we’re trying to express that strength and power faster.”

He said working out with his athletes will test a person’s all-around fitness and performance levels with methods probably foreign to most of what goes on at The Well.

“(Students) are over there on the cardio pieces doing steady-state conditioning,” Nessland said. “We’re going to do more high-intensity intermittent conditioning. We’re more focused on developing speed, developing change of direction.”

Nessland and his staff said it is not to be taken as a knock on other workouts. They’re extremely pleased to see students who don’t play sports for Sac State putting time in at The Well.

“I think it’s great for an average person who wants to become more active,” said assistant strength and conditioning coach Erin Wick. “I think anything is better than nothing.”

But Nessland’s staff also understands athletes can not compete at the highest level by following some random workout routine they found on YouTube.

“When we bring an athlete in it’s very focused,” Wick said. “They need to be on point the whole time – going 100 percent for every drill and every conditioning.”

Wick said focus of that nature is often what is lacking in more leisurely settings like The Well.

“They just kind of go in,” Wick said. “They’re not thinking about their form; they’re not thinking about how to do things accurately.”

Some of Nessland’s players agreed and said the difference between working out at the Broad Field House and working out at The Well really comes down to one thing: whether you are interested in working your “go” muscles or your “show” muscles.

“People at The Well do it more for looks,” said junior safety Robert Beale. “But what we do with our coach isn’t meant for looks, it’s meant for what you’re going to be doing on the field.”

Senior defensive end Reese Heaslet said there is definitely some truth to that.

“If you take the majority as a whole, there’s a lot more upper body (exercises) and (working on) muscles that you show off during spring break,” Heaslet said.

But Heaslet said he also sees nothing wrong with most of the student body focusing on shaping their spring break body.

“I would do the same thing if I didn’t play football,” Heaslet said.

Megan Schafer, a Sac State alumna and personal trainer who has worked at The Well since it opened in 2010, said statements like these pretty much sum up The Well.

“Over here it becomes more of a social atmosphere,” Schafer said. “There are only a handful of people who are going to do extreme, high-intensity workouts.”

Jojo Rodriguez, is one of those handful of people. He goes to The Well five to six days a week to play basketball and lift weights. Rodriguez, an apparel marketing and design major, said he loves this social dynamic The Well affords. He said he enjoys networking with other students and developing friendships while he gets in a good workout.

But with so many friends on the football team, Rodriguez said he is well aware the same laid back atmosphere probably does not permeate Nessland’s sessions.

“(Student-athletes) always have coaches on top of them, pushing them,” Rodriguez said. “There’s really no room to mess around. You can’t be standing around talking. You’re there to work.”

Nessland said one of the primary reasons he subjects his athletes to such a grueling regiment is so the athletes will be more likely to avoid serious injuries. He and his staff pour a lot of their energy into making sure the athletes understand the how and why of what they are doing.

Heaslet said this is a huge advantage student-athletes enjoy over those who workout elsewhere.

“Coach Nessland does a really good job of teaching us the proper techniques,” Heaslet said. “That’s probably the biggest difference between the Broad Field House and The Well. A lot of people haven’t been trained.”

But Heaslet also said this doesn’t stand for everyone who works out at The Well.

“There’s a lot of people in The Well who know what they’re doing, who aren’t just there to work their biceps,” Heaslet said. “I see a lot of people doing a lot of good exercises.”

Still, freshman linebacker Jordan Matanane said a lot of what goes on at The Well actually has the potential to do more harm than good. He said it is not uncommon to see students performing their exercises in a counterproductive manner.

“I see it all the time in The Well,” Matanane said. “I want to say something because they’re hurting themselves or doing something wrong.”

Schafer said it breaks her heart on a daily basis to see people working out wrong at The Well.

“I see it every day,” Schafer said. “They don’t know the proper techniques. They’re probably going to hurt themselves eventually.”

Schafer said the worst thing about it is The Well is more than ready to help students.

Here we offer a free hour-long personal training session to help them learn how to do exercises more effectively,” Schafer said.

Nessland said working out correctly should not be underestimated. He also said it is not as easy as one might think.

“It’s just like anything else,” Nessland said. “You need to learn how to do it. Either find a coach or really make sure you do some good research of your own so you’re not causing yourself any harm.”

Wick said the methods their staff seeks to incorporate at the Broad are the proven results of years of dedicated study in the field. Still, she also said it can be a monumental victory for a student to just commit to exercising regularly.

“The first step is going into The Well and doing something,” Wick said. “And I think there’s probably a lot of students who still aren’t doing that. Once you get the ball rolling it’s a lot easier.”

David Somers can be reached at [email protected].