Blyn a Top-Notch Athlete, Top-Notch Coach

In April of 2012, Liane Blyn was hired by then Franklin Athletic Director Brad Sidwell to be the Panther’s new strength and conditioning coach for the football team. Now 4 years later, Blyn is not only helping the football players, but is a mentor to just about every sport at the Franklin High School.
“We wanted to create this position some five or six years ago,” Sidwell said. “We had a vision for our athletes in getting them stronger while staying injury free; Liane has been the best thing to come along – she’s simply amazing.”
Blyn’s original hiring was basically to help the football team, getting the players healthier, stronger and faster, but before the season was even done her talents were becoming known throughout the school by the other athletic teams.
“I was hired to get the football players in shape, but right away I found myself talking to the volleyball coach who really liked the idea,” Blyn said. “From there, it just snowballed and the other teams wanted to participate.”
Her career as a strength coach began for the University of Neva Reno, where she spent three years from 1996 -99 before making her way to Boston College in the same position. Unfortunately, a college strength coach’s salary wasn’t fitting to live in the Chestnut Hill area so she settled in Milford.
Following Boston College, Blyn ventured back West for three years as she worked for the Arizona State Athletic Department, but eventually came back to Massachusetts where she worked in a facility in Andover. Not long after returning, Blyn opened her own shop Athletic Based Training in Holliston and Milford; where she looked to optimize athletic performance.
During the high school’s seasons Blyn is in charge of dealing with the athletes; during the off season she has a program to get the individual athletes ready for their particular sport. The programs are designed to get the athletes where they need to be.
“We do a needs analysis on each team, as well as the athletes themselves,” the Franklin Strength Coach said. “It’s a progress, there is a science behind everything that we do – it’s not just a lot of lifting with no rhyme or reason. It’s tailored to the athletes.”
Blyn’s summer program involves athletes as young as the fifth grade all the way to the high school and has over 500 participants.
When Franklin was designing the new high school, Sidwell wanted Blyn to be a major and vital contributor to the new weight room. According to the past AD, “It’s not your old school weight room.”
“I got to pick out the type of equipment that we got, unfortunately we went from a 3000 square foot room to an 1,800 square foot room,” Blyn said. “Despite that, I was able to get some state of the art equipment that will last.”
Since taking over the program four years ago, the injury rate at Franklin has dropped a remarkable 75%.
“Not only has Liane made our athletes stronger, faster and better, she has reduced injuries of all kinds,” Sidwell said. “The biggest offshoot is, without a doubt, the results she has gotten; especially in our female athletes.”
According to Blyn, too many parents today are pushing their kids to play a particular sport year round to become better at it, but it’s not a good idea.
“Athletes need to take time off and cross train,” she said. “Three-sport athletes are a thing of the past and by specializing in just one sport, they are doing their bodies a disservice. Too many young kids are having Tommy John surgery – it’s just not normal.”
Blyn gets the respect of her athletes, because she is one herself. The Franklin Strength Coach is a USA Power Lifter, where she set the unofficial world record for the deadlift at 501 lbs (227.5 kgs) this past May at the Nationals. She also owns the Masters and open world record in the bench press at 414.5 lbs (188 kgs); the Masters World record for the deadlift at 496 lbs (225 kgs); the Masters world record total (combined squat, bench press and deadlift) at 1435.5 lbs (652.5 kgs) and is the current Masters World Champion at 43 years of age.
This past May she captured her 10th Open National Championship and 4th Masters National Championship. Blyn has set 5 American records including the squat (546 lbs Masters), deadlift (501 lbs Masters and Open) and total (1446.6 lbs Masters and Open). She recently trained for the North American Championships, which was to be held in St Croix on August 18 (around Local Town Pages’ deadline) and the Open Worlds in Orlando Florida in November. Blyn was hoping to qualify for her third World Games, which are held every four years, in Wroclaw Poland in July of 2017.
With all the accolades that have come her way, one can see why it is easy to get just about every Franklin athlete on board with her training program. Blyn is definitely one who practices what she preaches, and the athletes are certainly listening.