Dexter Lillmars is a busy guy. The freshman at Fruiport High School is a basketball and baseball phenom who still finds time to strength train year-round through his packed schedule.

Dexter plays AAU basketball for the Grand Rapids Storm and travel baseball for Diamonds. The sports often overlap, but even during his busiest in the summer, Dexter is still prioritizing his training at PowerStrength to work on his strength, speed, and confidence.

“It’s just about consistency, how often you’re coming in, how hard you’re working when you come in,” Dexter said about the importance of training even when in-season. “If you stop doing it for a long period, you’re gonna start to kind of go backward I think from what you already gained.” 

Dexter trains year-round, attending 3 sessions per week in the off-season and 2 sessions per week during a sports season.

“The consistency matters,” PowerStrength Athlete Coordinator Caleb Houck said. “Doing the little things well matters.”

He understands the impact that strength training has on his performance and embraces the grind every day.

“It’s fun. It pushes you,” Dexter said. “(PowerStrength) does a good job of mixing things up. So it’s not like the same every single time.” 

The coaches are not only experts in the field of performance training and nutrition but are invested in everyone who walks through the doors.

“The coaches are great. They make it interactive,” he said. “They talk with you and stuff. It’s not something where you’re just coming in, obviously, you’re still working hard, but it’s a fun environment.” 

SETTING THE TONE

He started in the ‘Little Beast’ program designed for 5th-8th graders to learn the fundamentals of strength training and build the base for a strong work ethic.

The program focuses on fundamental movements to allow the athletes to gain the confidence and knowledge necessary to provide optimal results in the future.

“I mean, super important,” Dexter said about his early days at PSTS. “I feel like, especially for younger kids, the body weight stuff is really important before even getting into the weights.”

BIGGER, FASTER, STRONGER

Dexter has goals similar to many others that train at PowerStrength: “Just get overall, bigger, faster, stronger, all that stuff.” 

He claims that he has seen consistent development in those areas from the start with an extra boost in about the last year.

“Just athletically, first step, I mean everything from speed to jumping to lateral movement,” Dexter said. “All the turning and flexibility is a big thing that I try to work on.”

Getting bigger, stronger, and faster entails much more than just what happens inside the PowerStrength walls. To really transform your body and ability as an athlete – nutrition, hydration, and recovery are essential.

This is an area that Dexter is excelling in thanks to the individualized attention he receives from the coaches in each session.

“That’s been a huge thing for me. I feel like it’s super important, probably more important than the lifting itself, just because, especially me, I’ve always had a faster metabolism, so it’s hard to put on weight just making sure I eat enough, and that’s super important,” he said. “Also, hydration is something that’s talked about a lot, that’s super important for obviously, when you’re out there, you got to be hydrated.” 

“Over the last year and a half, he’s put on about 15-pounds to his frame which has helped him be bigger, be stronger, be faster, be more explosive, and be able to do the things on the court and the baseball field that he wants to do, and do them well,” Houck said.

He boasts an all-around game on the basketball court with the ability to dribble, shoot, and pass at a high level. One area that he has worked hard on and continues to is his jumping ability.

“Vertical has always been a challenge for me,” he said. “I’m not someone who naturally jumps high. I would say that’s something I’m starting to really focus on and try to get better at.” 

The results are strong, Dexter has increased his vertical jump from 22.5 inches to 28.5 inches since starting in the High School Athlete Program at PowerStrength. He is very close to being able to dunk a basketball, and he hopes to be able to do that by the time the season begins.

“It’s gone up 6 inches in just over a year which is extremely impressive,” Houck added.

BIG GOALS

Dexter is focused on being a dual sport athlete and wants to play at least one in college. Before he gets there, he has 4 years of high school ahead of him, he hopes to play varsity as a freshman this year. That means competing against people older than he is. Something PowerStrength is helping him prepare for.

“A ton,” he said about how PowerStrength has helped him on the court. “I mean, you’re going up against a lot of big, strong athletes that are getting to the rim, rebounding, defense, you just need to be strong.” 

Dexter is ranked by MI Hoops Finest as the #1 player in Michigan in the class of 2028.

He already has two Division I offers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

He feels like he has taken his game to another level since starting at PowerStrength.

“I’ve always been pretty good for my age, but I think especially recently, in the past couple of years, I’ve been putting in a lot of work,” he said. “I think just confidence-wise, knowing that you’re working on getting more athletic in those areas that other people might not be doing.” 

GET STARTED AT POWERSTRENGTH 

5th-12th grade athletes of all sports and abilities can sign up at PowerStrength at any time while spots remain. Choose the PowerStrength location most convenient for you – Alpine, Kentwood, Jenison, and Plainfield – with a 5th facility in Holland opening in November 2024!

Visit https://powerstrengthpro.com/athlete/contact/ to learn more or click below to schedule your assessment and get started.