In the midst of a sweltering summer, the Northview Chiefs have not let up on their summer workout schedule hitting the weightroom three days a week for more than three hours.

The Chiefs workout every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday beginning at 7:30 a.m. and push it to the limit until 10:45 a.m. to make sure they get in all the necessary work.

Chiefs Head Coach Sid Wheatley said he has been pleased with what he has seen from his players during the summer.

“Things have gone really good,” Wheatley said. “We have a really good program that my coaches and I feel really good about.”

Things for the Chiefs football program seem to be heading in the right direction after finishing 7-4 in Wheatley’s first season at the helm.

Players have responded to his coaching and the numbers at the workouts continue to show that.

Wheatley said he has been glad to see a high number of players attending the workouts, and added the presence of younger players has been a plus.

“We have had 40 to 44 guys show up to every workout,” Wheatley said. “We’ve been extremely pleased with the attendance and it wasn’t that surprising. The surprising thing though has been the amount of freshman that have been attending the workouts. It’s been nice to see those guys comes out because we will be relying on a lot more freshman and sophomores this season.”

Workouts have been focusing on making sure the work ethic is there for the Chiefs.

Wheatley said the strength and conditioning coach, Ty Wise, has been pushing the players in the right direction.

“Coach Wise is a really good strength and conditioning coach,” Wheatley said. “He has been making sure all summer that each player has been working hard, and it’s paying off.”

A lot of the workout focus for the Chiefs has been on improving quickness and power.

Wheatley said lifts to increase the explosion of his players have been the key.

“Several of our workouts this summer have been keying in on explosion lifts,” Wheatley said. “Right now, we are just trying to improve our explosion, quickness and power.”

Although explosion lifts have been a focus, max out lifts are also getting looks to see where improvements have been made.

Wheatley said at last Thursday’s workout he and his coaches saw better strength from players.

“We did max lifts last Thursday, and saw several players who had improved their strength during workouts,” Wheatley said. “We are going to work into lower reps to focus in on strength to make sure each player is at their max when fall practice gets here.”

Aside from improving strength, Wheatley and his coaches have been working to improve the work that players put in as well as their mental toughness.

Wheatley said improving aspects outside of strength are important to help players go the extra mile.

“Coach Wise and I have also been preaching work ethic and mental toughness,” Wheatley said. “Players need to get to those mental states to make sure they what it takes to push it to the next level.”