Fourteen of Georgia Tech’s 17 sports programs work year round in one of the finest strength facilities in the nation. The Hugh Spruill Strength Center is a 10,000-square foot weightlifting facility, located on the ground floor of the William C. Wardlaw Center at the south end of Bobby Dodd Stadium/Grant Field. In addition to the weight room, the facility contains a 3,000-square foot room that Georgia Tech student-athletes use to improve agility, speed, and quickness, as well as a 1,000-square foot covered outdoor area that contains specialized football training equipment.
The Hugh Spruill Strength Center houses some of the most impressive equipment in the country. The facility features 14 custom-built platforms and 10 specialized training pieces, all made by Sorinex. There are eight oversized squat racks, eight benches and six inclines with an array of Eleiko and custom weights totalling over 23,000 pounds. Dumbbell training is an important part of Georgia Tech’s program. There are two sets of dumbbells: Ivanko dumbbells that range from five to 150 pounds, and one of the heaviest sets in the nation, ranging from five to 200 pounds and made by Tri-bar. The facility also features over 40 machines made by BodyMaster, Hammer Strength and Wynmor.
To enhance the Yellow Jackets’ speed and quickness, the facility also provides more than 10 additional speed enhancement devices, designed to increase stride length and improve stride frequency. The Hugh Spruill Strength Center is the first collegiate weight room in the nation to utilize computerized Woodway Treadmills that monitor and provide feedback to the athletes during training sessions.
Core training is a very important part of the Yellow Jackets’ exercise programs. The Hugh Spruill Strength Center provides four glute-ham machines, three landmine twisters, and over 40 medicine balls made by Dynamax and Power Systems.
The Hugh Spruill Strength Center, which was recently remodeled, contains a tribute to the late Dave Pasanella, Tech’s former Director of Player Development and a Rambling Wreck football letterman in 1983-84. The “Strongest Man in the World” and the holder of 14 world weightlifting records, Pasanella died tragically in an automobile accident in 1990.
Our men’s and women’s basketball teams and our volleyball team utilize our newest facility on the Georgia Tech campus, the Zelnak Basketball Center Weight Room. The Zelnak weight room is a 2,000-square foot facility for Men’s and Women’s Basketball. The facility features 4 Power-Lift half racks with platforms and a set of Power Block Dumbbells at each rack. It also contains 1 Hoist Leg Press, 2 Glute ham Benches, 1 Hammer Mid-Row, 2 customized Power-Lift Lat Pull downs with Single Cable Pulley, and 1 Keiser Functional Trainer. There are over 4,000 pounds of customized weights. The cardio area contains 2 Woodway treadmills, 1 Stepmill, 2 Precor bikes, 2 Schwinn Airdynes, and 1 Cybex Strider. The facility also has a nutrition area where Muscle Milk Protein Shakes and Bars are given out.
The main objective of the Georgia Tech Strength and Conditioning Program is to help each athlete achieve their maximal level of performance while reducing the occurrence of injuries through a sport specific program that is designed and administered by a member of the Georgia Tech Strength Staff.
Training programs are designed to increase an athlete’s strength, speed, agility, flexibility, conditioning and explosiveness, all important components in the developing a highly-skilled collegiate athlete.
With the assistance of Georgia Tech’s full-time Director of Sports Nutrition, as well as the bio-mechanics lab, the strength staff is able to individualize each athlete’s workout in order to achieve optimal results. The Georgia Tech program provides workouts with periodization and a wide range of exercises to challenge the athlete in each workout.
The Georgia Tech Strength and Conditioning staff challenges each athlete to bring an attitude of hard work, accountability and total effort to each workout so that the athlete will improve both physically and mentally.
