THROWING HIS WEIGHT AROUND; GILLERT TO COMPETE IN STRONG-MAN COMPETITION.Byline: Rizza Yap Daily News Staff Writer Blame it on the World Wrestling Federation. When a young Mike Gillert began following the WWF See Windows Workflow Foundation. on TV, a fascination brewed. The wrestlers See
Gillert later realized that TV wrestling may not be in his future. But becoming larger-than-life? Well, that's another story. ``I wanted to be big, lift the weight that no one can,'' Gillert said thoughtfully between sips of a 420-calorie carbo car·bo n. pl. car·bos Informal A carbohydrate. drink before an evening workout Workout Informal repayment or loan forgiveness arrangement between a borrower and creditors. workout 1. The process of a debtor's meeting a loan commitment by satisfying altered repayment terms. at Body Focus, a Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. gym. ``I figured no, I don't want to be a wrestler. I just to want to be big.'' As a sophomore at Newbury Park High, Gillert, who was born in Westlake, began following a modest weightlifting regimen. After graduating, he joined Body Focus and worked on naturally beefing up his 165-pound frame. At 24, he now is 100 pounds heavier. His neck, almost as thick as his thighs, measures nearly 20 inches around, as do his fully pumped biceps. In fact in late June, he visited a local JC Penney to purchase a jacket and discovered his shoulders could no longer fit in a size 50. Gillert - who said he still thinks himself too small - eats two to three protein shakes plus four meals a day, including pancakes and milk just before bedtime bedtime Sleep disorders The time when one attempts to fall asleep–as distinguished from the time when one gets into bed , a lot of chicken and turkey, eggs, oatmeal and the occasional fast food. He trains five days a week, twice a day, about 45 minutes in the morning and two hours in the evening. He can bench press 550 pounds and dead lift 650. Plus, his gym time is devoted completely to lifting, since his job as a mover mover /mov·er/ (moo´ver) that which produces motion. prime mover a muscle that acts directly to bring about a desired movement. takes care of the cardiovascular training. ``When you're doing a moving job in a two-story house, well, that's your Stairmaster right there,'' he said, smiling. His efforts are geared to prepare him for this fall, when Gillert is set to compete in the Strongest Man Alive contest to be held in St. Charles, Mo. He will face 99 other heavyweights in pursuit of a $6,000 first-place purse and is seeking the chance to turn some heads as the new kid on the strongman block. ``I want to go out and prove to myself and to these other guys that I've got what it takes, that I can do (the stunts),'' said Gillert, who in recent years has competed in a couple of bench-press contests. The contest is patterned after the World's Strongest Man competition aired on ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network . The stunt list includes an incline bench press Noun 1. incline bench press - a bench press performed on an inclined bench bench press - a weightlift in which you lie on your back on a bench and press weights upward with a 240-pound weight, pushing a 650-pound wheelbarrow with 600 pounds of rocks on a 75-feet course and flipping a 550-pound tire on a 70-foot course length. And that's only in the qualifying heat. Should Gillert advance to the final round, he'll be required to perform more eye-popping feats of strength Feats of Strength are acts strongmen exhibit to showcase their great strength. They often require immense hand and finger strength, as well as core musculature. Modern feats of strength are usually performed strongman competitions, fitness exhibitions, evangelical presentations, , like shouldering mavrocks of up to 360 pounds. Then there's pulling two train cabooses - carrying a 4,000-pound passenger load - with a harness for 60 feet. The event, originally scheduled for August, has been postponed until late October. Gillert is using the extra time to train a little harder and, perhaps, more accurately. On July 4, for example, Gillert made arrangements with an area car dealership This article is about car dealerships. For the indie pop band, see Dealership (band). A car dealership or vehicle local distribution is a business that sells new cars and/or used cars at the retail level, based on a dealership contract with an automaker or to perform one of the contest's final-round stunts - an arm-over-arm pull of two Humvees attached to a rope. With an audience of about 25 cheering him on, Gillert pulled the vehicles for 80 feet in 1 minute, 30 seconds. The stunt stunned stun tr.v. stunned, stun·ning, stuns 1. To daze or render senseless, by or as if by a blow. 2. To overwhelm or daze with a loud noise. 3. even Alvin Egerer, Gillert's training partner of five months. ``When you're around someone a lot, you get used to the kinds of things he can do. When Mike and I work out, the concentration is so high that I forget the sheer weight he pushes turns a lot of heads,'' Egerer said. ``But every once in a while, he still does things that make me think, `Wow.' I guess any time you see somebody pulling two Humvees, it's got to be impressive.'' Gillert took on his Independence Day task well-prepared. The day before, he and a friend took his moving truck to a mall parking lot, where Gillert pulled the 18-footer about 20 feet on an uphill incline. Next on his agenda, Gillert will try to find a construction site that will allow him to practice the 550-pound tire flip. CAPTION(S): 3 Photos PHOTO (1-3) Newbury Park High graduate Mike Gillert, set to compete in a strong-man competition, practices by pulling two Humvees, above and top left, and pumping iron, above left. Gillert has bench pressed 550 pounds. David Sprague/Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion