I have never been the strongest person. The idea of doing bench press used to be my nightmare. The thought of doing a pull up seemed unattainable. Working out in the gym used to be a nuisance.
That was all before Jonny Wilson became the head strength and conditioning coach at Union.
Never in my life have I met anyone who gets as excited as Wilson does to work out. Last semester, we would have to come in at 6:30 a.m. to start pumping the iron, and Wilson constantly came in pumped with the highest energy, ready to help us get jacked.
As I sat in his office, with the sounds of plates hitting the ground and “Paradise City” by Guns N’ Roses playing in the background, Wilson was pumped to talk about working out.
“When I was a graduate assistant working with men’s basketball, I loved working out,” said Wilson. “I loved doing it so much, I just thought I would want to be a strength coach. I want to help other people do this, and I feel like there’s room for me to do that here at Union.”
Wilson talked about his first run as a strength and conditioning coach for the men’s basketball team. During the first month of Wilson’s program, there were 12 athletes on the roster, and all 12 of them were in rehab. Fast forward a month later, the list of people in rehab went down to three. By the end of the season, not a single player had to be in active rehab.
“That first success with men’s basketball is what lit the fire and I was like ‘I want to do this for the rest of my life,’” said Wilson.
Talking with Wilson about creating different programs for different sports made me realize how much thought goes into each exercise and rep (and just how little I know about the human body). Wilson threw around words like glycolytic and phosphagen-based. It was then I had to remind him that he was talking to a film studies major. Behind these intimidating words was a passion for understanding what every athlete needs.
I asked Wilson how he determines what each sport needs for their strength program, and he responded by taking out a large whiteboard from behind the couch I was sitting on. On the whiteboard were stats, percentages and more intimidating words. He said that on the board is what he calls a needs analysis and key performance indicators. When creating a program, he looks at the needs of the general sport and then goes into each individual position. The large whiteboard he showed me was only a tenth of the total needs analysis for men’s basketball.
There is a direct correlation between the work being put in the weight room and the growth on the court. Wilson gave an example of a basketball player he was able to work with this summer once things started opening up again. The player stuck to Wilson’s program with diligence and gained 15 pounds of muscle.
“Totally changed his body. Then he goes on the court and is dramatically more affective in his position,” said Wilson. “That doesn’t mean he’s better at basketball, he just now has the tools to be better at basketball.”
Wilson said that the basketball player was the only player on the team to not miss a single practice all season long due to an injury, and he was one of the only players to not have a nagging injury keep him out of game play.
“Direct correlation and a testament to consistent training,” said Wilson.
As I was talking with him, I realized that he was wearing a shirt with his own catchphrase that said, “Get yacked- Jonny Wilson.” This is a true testament to his goals for the new strength and conditioning program.
Aside from wanting to grow the program to a point where coaches do not have to train their team unless they want to (Wilson hopes to expand in staff size so each sport will have someone to lead their training), Wilson’s ultimate goal for athletes is to craft them into ultimate athletes based off his athlete development model. He hopes that by the time athletes become seniors, they will be the most jacked they are ever going to be and will be as strong, as lean, as fast and as powerful as they are ever going to be, with flawless lifting techniques.
“That’s the long-term goal, that we develop our freshman and turn them into the senior that teaches the new freshman what the ropes are like at Union,” said Wilson. “We call that the Bulldog Way.”
From just one official year of being Union’s head strength and conditioning coach, Wilson has made major advancements for athletes. He continues his duties as director for campus recreation. With the help of Krista Erlandson, assistant director of campus recreation, and Danny Yurov, graduate assistant for campus recreation, Wilson is able to create programs such as Bulldog Built, an initiative to show general students that they can do what athletes do.
“The biggest thing is he doesn’t drop the ball,” said Yurov. “He does a good job encompassing it all.”
Wilson’s passion and commitment to working out makes going to the wellness center a worthwhile experience. Wilson’s goal with his work out programs is to get you a bit stronger and ‘yacked.’
