LUconn wrote:haha, medic. That's exactly why I took that picture. I was like who is barking out all of these stretches? And then I saw him and thought holy crap, that dude could probably pickup and toss any one of our players 20+ yards.
Bill Gillespie, an LU graduate, formerly worked as a strength coach/director at the University of Washington and a couple of seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. He also holds several USA Powerlifting records.
FROM ESPN (awhile ago):
'Hawks beef up
Mike Holmgren's answer to the Seahawks' defense finishing last against the run was to sign middle linebacker Randall Godfrey and make his defensive tackles beefier. Under a new weight-lifting program, Chad Eaton has gone from 295 to 320 pounds and Rocky Bernard is bench pressing 450 pounds. The Seahawks hired strength coach Bill Gillespie from the University of Washington, who recently set a world record of 700 pounds in the bench press. Gillespie's program features strong rubber bands added to weights to develop explosive power lifts.
TAKEN FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH ANOTHER POWERLIFTER
Q: When did you start lifting weights, and at what point did it graduate from a recreational to a competitive pastime?
Vice: I started out lifting weights to get in shape. Believe it or not, I use to be slightly heavy after high school. My health was in pretty bad shape and once I started caring for myself with exercise & a diet / lifestyle change, my energy levels were through the roof! I realized that if I can overcome sickness and being overweight that anyone could. That is what lead me to this wonderful health profession.
What got me interested in powerlifting was where I was training at in Seattle, WA. I was training at the Eastside Gym, a well-know local powerlifting gym. I just saw all these strong men and women lifting huge amounts of weight. Many times I would just go to the gym to watch these guys train. It was so motivating to me. Then one afternoon, Mike & Jeff Magruder (Powerlifting Coaches), came up to me and said that I have great genetics to be a somewhat decent deadlifter. They inviting me to train with their team and the rest was history. Since then I have been fortunate enough to have trained with some of the best in the game including my good friend, World Champion Bench Press phenomena and Strength Coach for the Seattle Seahawks, Bill Gillespie.
FROM THE A SEAHAWKS FORUM SITE:
Pro Football Weekly
The Way We Hear It
To say the Seahawks are taking the efforts of new strength and conditioning coach Bill Gillespie lightly is a major mistake. This is especially the case with veteran DT Chad Eaton, who, with his long hair and biker persona, was quite an imposing-looking dude before Gillespie took him under his wing. Anticipating a spirited battle for playing time with newcomer Norman Hand, Eaton — whose playing weight has always been around 300 pounds — has bulked up to 325 pounds after taking part in Gillespie’s accelerated weight-training regimen and switching to a high-protein diet heavy on carbohydrates. According to one well-placed source, Eaton’s “arms now look like legs.” However, the ninth-year pro didn’t participate in the team’s minicamp because of his tender knees, and it remains to be seen how Eaton’s added poundage will affect those knees. Gillespie, meanwhile, is said to have had an extremely positive effect on a defensive line that is expected to rotate as many as five tackles — Hand, Eaton, pass-rushing specialist John Randle, Rocky Bernard and Cedric Woodard — on a regular basis. An imposing specimen in his own right, the 45-year-old Gillespie can bench-press 700 pounds.
Posted by Squidly at 09:10 AM · Link · Comments (2)
OTHER
-This contest was another finely organized contest put on by Gus Rethwisch and there were amazing lifting feats by nearly every lifter--but the most amazing event was Seattle Seahawks coach Bill Gillespie ( in the plus 40 masters class) bench a world record breaking 749 lbs and got within 2 inches of locking out a mind boggling 800 pounds !!!
-Workout camp ended Wednesday, but that's not the sound of crickets coming from the weight room. The doors were open at 7:30 Thursday morning and the facility was packed with players pumping iron as part of their off season training program. Strength & Conditioning Coach Mike Clark and assistants Bill Gillespie and Darren Krein are putting the players through their paces Monday through Friday in the weeks leading up to the next mini camp in June.
Group lifting is the norm each day, with individual specialty training on Fridays and team running twice a week. All workout sessions begin with group warm ups, which improve the quality of the workout and reduce the chances for injury.
....I wonder if it's due to not accepting cookies from this site or something?
- By Dalegarz1
- By Purple Haize