One of the most difficult parts of the spring for all college athletes was staying in shape at home. The Hawkeyes had the rest of their season called off in March, so a little break was to be expected.

But in order to stay in shape for coming back in the summer, the team had to take action to help support the players.

That’s where Iowa strength and conditioning coach Lindsay Alexander comes in. The Illinois State graduate was tasked with coming up with unique plans to help athletes succeed at home.

“It was a challenge to get creative with training them,” Alexander said. “That’s where we had to get creative in what we can do to give them the training they need, keep them active and stay connected with them not just physically, but mentally.”

Part of that challenge was being able to come up with workouts knowing that the athletes would have a limited range of equipment because of gyms and other fitness centers closed to the public across the country to mitigate spreading the virus.

College athletics have always been a big part of Alexander’s life. She and her sibling have both been around sports their whole life, as her sibling is now the manager for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. She started off as a swimmer for Illinois State, before becoming a graduate strength and conditioning coach for the team.

Alexander had a stop at Purdue where she helped a variety of teams, before coming to Iowa in 2012. Being around the college game is something Alexander could not imagine being without.

“I honestly don’t know what I would do if I was not in college athletics,” Alexander said. “I love being around competitiveness and just getting to know the athletes.”

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Alexander also helps with the women’s tennis and women’s gymnastics teams at Iowa, but a lot of her time is spent with women’s basketball. She travels everywhere with the team and spends lots of time analyzing and working out the team each week.

Over the summer, the team gets split time between the coaching staff and in the weight room, so Alexander is just as prominent a figure for the team then as anyone else on staff.

“She has the respect of the team, and she is a motivator without being a jerk,” women’s basketball head coach Lisa Bluder said. “They respect her because she is really good at her job, and secondly they understand the value she brings to our team.”

Alexander has two sides to her game, being extremely personable and open to the players off the court but pushing them to their limits in the weight room.

“She’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever met, pushing us to be better athletes,” junior forward/center Monika Czinano said. “Out of the weight room, she’s an amazing person we can all talk and rely on, so it’s the best of both worlds.”

With the season just around the corner, the team feels it’s ahead of schedule fitness-wise and may that as an advantage over other teams.