Secrets to Success in Strength Training
Bill Gillespie has more than 20 years of experience in collegiate strength and conditioning and two years of experience at the professional level after serving as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the NFL's Seattle Seahawks from 2003 until just prior to his return to Liberty University.
Gillespie got his coaching start at the collegiate level here at Liberty. He served as assistant strength and conditioning coach from 1983-91, while also serving the university as assistant track and field coach in 1983-85 and 1987-91 and head track and field coach in 1986.
After leaving Liberty in 1991, Gillespie spent 11 years as a members of the strength and conditioning staff at Washington. Gillespie joined the staff as assistant strength and conditioning coach in 1991 and was promoted to Director of Strength and Conditioning in 1999.
Gillespie helped the football program make nine bowl appearance during his tenure, including three trips to the Rose Bowl. The Huskies earned a 34-14 victory over Michigan on January 1, 1991, to cap off an undefeated 12-0 season and earn a number two national ranking in the polls.
Gillespie was an assistant at Washington when the department earned Pac-10 Strength and Conditioning of the Year in 1991, while finishing as a finalist for National Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year in 2001.
Before joining the Seattle Seahawks' strength and conditioning staff, Gillespie served as the defensive line and strength coach at Decatur High School in Federal Way, Wash., in 2002.
Gillespie is a world-renowned weightlifter, as he is a 40-time world record holder in the bench press after a lift of 804.5 lbs. at the WABDL World Cup Bench Press and Deadlift Championships in April of 2009. He is also a 19-time world champion in the bench press.
Gillespie, a member of the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association (CSCCa)Master Strength and Conditioning Coach program, received his bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies from Liberty in 1983.
While at Liberty, Gillespie was a four-time All-American and a two-time small college national champion in the shot put and a two-year letterwinner on the football team. Gillespie is the former school record in the shot put with an outdoor mark of 55' 8.5", a mark which stood for 24 years. He was also Liberty's 1983 recipient of the Rock Royer/Mac Rivera aware, given annual to Liberty's top graduating student-athlete.
The native of Tacoma, Wash., and his wife, Anita, have two children - Cameron, who is a former member of the football team, and Rachel. Gillespie and Cameron are the strongest father/son combo in the bench press of all-time in the world.
