Football player always in the weight room
Imagine one man putting 665 pounds behind his head and squatting down to the ground. If that feat sounds impossible, you haven’t been inside the Dal Ward weight room while CU defensive tackle George Hypolite is working out.
Last Friday, while prepping for the start of spring football practice, Hypolite and the rest of the CU football team were maxing out in the gym. In weight lifting, a person’s maximum is the most weight they can lift for a single repetition. While Hypolite’s previous team high of 650 pounds in the back squat was certainly impressive, he recently improved his mark by 15 pounds and appears to be a big proponent of the gym. Hypolite stands at 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs in at 285 pounds.
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“I am pretty addicted to the weight room,” Hypolite said. “It’s like a necessary evil, in the sense that I have to go and get things done.”
As a member of the Buffs football team, the season hardly ends after the last game of the fall. In the off-season, the guys lift four days a week and run twice a week up until the start of spring ball. Once spring practices wrap up, the players pick up the intensity by running three days per week.
“We hit it hard all year, and we really never back off,” Hypolite said. “We don’t work out any harder in any one part of the year.”
Hypolite also does other physical activities to stay in football shape.
“Aside from running a lot, I play basketball a couple of times a week,” Hypolite said. “I also try to walk places instead of taking the car.”
In college football, games are not only won on the field but during the offseason as well. The college game is much quicker and more physical than high school football, and Hypolite said everything happens a second faster at the Division I level.
Under strength and conditioning coach Jeff Pitman, who came to the university with Dan Hawkins last year, the team has taken working out to a new level. After last season’s disappointing 2-10 record, each player is hitting the weight room with a renewed vigor.
“I wouldn’t say there is one standout tough guy,” Hypolite said. “There are a lot of really strong, nasty guys on this team. We have gotten a lot stronger as a unit, and I can’t point out one guy who is tougher then the rest.”
Coach Pitman’s motto is to commit or quit, and there are a number of signs posted throughout the weight room reminding the players that they are here with a purpose.
The team isn’t just concerned about their muscles, however, as they are also conscientious of their diet. The Buffs football team eats meals together at something called training tables. These are coordinated meals the staff puts together to ensure the players eat what they need to succeed.
“Some guys have a specific diet, but I don’t,” Hypolite said. “I know what I need to do. I don’t eat fast food at 3 o’clock in the morning. I like to make home-cooked meals, and I try to stay away from the heavily starched foods.”
While the entire team is dedicated to working out and getting better on the football field, Hypolite is not only the strongest man on the team, but one of the most dedicated as well.
“Everyone would call me a gym rat because I am always in the weight room,” Hypolite said. “I don’t love it, but it has to happen.”
Contact Campus Press staff writer Ben Dignan at Benjamin.Dignan@thecampuspress.com.
