October/November 2020 - 37

Industry Pioneers
Dr. Andrews have allowed pitches to come back stronger,
often adding a few miles per hour on their fastballs.
Dr. Andrews graduated from Louisiana State University
(LSU) in 1963, and was even a decorated indoor and
outdoor collegiate pole vaulter. He completed LSU School
of Medicine in 1967, and he completed his orthopaedic
residency at Tulane Medical School in 1972. He had
surgical fellowships in sports medicine at the University
of Virginia Medical School in early 1972 with Dr. Frank
McCue, III. And at the University of Lyon in Lyon, France in
late 1972, with the late professor Albert Trillat, M.D., who
was known as the Father of European Knee Surgery.
He has since served on multiple professional and
NCAA collegiate sports teams, from the Tampa Bay Rays
to Auburn University to the LPGA to the University of
Alabama to the United States Olympic Committee. And
his reach has gone far beyond the lines of competition.
Dr. Andrews has mentored more than 450 orthopedic
sports medicine fellows and more than 90 primary care
sports medicine fellows. Additionally, he has held major
presentations on every continent while authoring a number
of scientific articles and books.
Dr. Andrews opened the Andrews Institute in 2007 in
Pensacola, making northwest Florida a central hub for
musculoskeletal treatments and research. Since the initial
opening there are now 16 locations in the area that offer
patient care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and
speech therapy.
POWER RACKS
While the first power rack resides in the Lutcher Stark
Museum at the University of Texas in Austin, the one used
by virtually every athletic program, fitness center, and
weight room across the country was birthed two states
north in Nebraska.
Developed by former University of Nebraska head
strength and conditioning coach Boyd Epley, Nebraska's
first power rack had humble beginnings - made from
street posts after a nearby campus road was relocated. It
lived in a 416 square foot room in Shulte Fieldhouse under
the North Stadium.
Before Epley stepped in, the York Power Rack doubled as
an Isometric Rack and a rack for Olympic lifting, however
it was hard to squat because the posts were too close
together. Flash forward to 1995 and the Husker Power
Rack was developed by Epley and the Wynmor equipment
company, who's owner's brother played on the Cornhuskers
football team at the time. The multi-purpose rack not only
littered the weight room at Nebraska but all over the country
as well with other companies adopting the style.
Following the success of the Husker Power Rack, Epley
teamed up with Wynmor again to create the Half Rack,
which uses two bars and a platform with bumper plates
that can be set at different heights.
" We preferred hang cleans to power cleans and the half
rack was a great rack for it, " Epley said. " We couldn't think
of a better name, so we went with Half Rack because it
had half the posts of a Power Rack. "
Over time, Epley developed endorsement deals for
his products with Hammer Strength, Life Fitness, and,
eventually, Power Lift, which enhanced the Half Rack to
be more compact and portable - the Power Lift Tri-X
Half Rack.
Despite the success and mass adoption of the advanced
power rack, Epley wasn't satisfied with the results. He
continued to test the boundaries - just like he always
asked his football players to do in the weight room. To
usher in the new millennium, Epley went back to work. In
2000, he developed a custom 12-foot tall power rack for
Nebraska's national shot put champion, Carl Myerscough.
At 6-foot-10, 340-pounds, Myerscough could squat 810
pounds, but he wanted to be more explosive.
" This unit allowed the bar to be thrown overhead in
a Snatch motion, then float down safely controlled by a
hydraulic valve, " Epley said.
In 2002, continuing to redefine how athletes build speed,
power, and strength, Epley developed the Transformer, a
machine that allows athletes that train with free weights to
have unprecedented safety while doing it. These electric
machines also allow for the best environment for teaching
proper lifting techniques for both explosive Olympic moves
and the slower strength lifts, according to Epley. The
enhancement did come at a cost, and an expensive one at
that - $30,000 a transformer. But you can't put a cost on
player safety.
" We asked the [Nebraska] athletes to name this machine
and, at first, they called it 'Megasoreass,' but the head coach
said no, " Epley said. " We ended up calling it the Transformer
because it transforms from a squat unit to a hang clean unit
or a push-press unit with the touch of a button. "
Continuing to push the limits - both in developing
strength equipment and future NFL players.
training-conditioning.com | 35
http://www.training-conditioning.com
October/November 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October/November 2020
