IllustrateD volume 24, issue 4 39
f
f o o t b a l l : w i n t e r o f f s e a s o n p r o g r a m
BY STACY CLARDIE
SClardie@GoldandBlack.com
T
he hip hop music is blaring, bass pumping through
the weight room at Mollenkopf Athletic Center,
each beat fueling another rep, another push, another
lunge.
A different kind of boom is frequent, too, as power
cleans are completed, bars and weights simply being
dropped to the ground.
Grunts, either from guys psyching themselves up for
heavy lifts or during them, reverberate.
Clangs from heavy-duty chains, hooked onto some
bench press lifts, are mixed into the symphony of Pur-
due's winter offseason football training sessions.
Then, a bell rings out.
And, finally, the noise is unified: Shouts, encouraging
and affirming of accomplishment.
Each Boilermaker who completes a personal best
heads over to the super-sized bell attached to a wall in
Mollenkopf, grabs the rope dangling from it, and yanks.
And yanks again, usually, side to side a couple times,
with force fueled by excitement and achievement.
"It just means progress," said junior tight end Dola-
po Macarthy, one of four Purdue players to ring the bell
during the first day of testing in mid-February that fol-
lowed a four-week offseason program. "We all get really
excited — that's why that bell is in there so everyone
can know when someone surpasses something they did
in the past. Everybody can know that's something to cel-
ebrate about and be happy about.
"We are getting better. We are getting stronger. When
you see that success and you see taking those strides, it
makes you want to go further and further."
Macarthy's bell-ringing came courtesy of a PR in one-
rep bench press max. He said he increased his max by
15 pounds — in only this specific four-week offseason
stretch after players returned from winter break until
before 6 a.m. workouts began Feb. 18.
Macarthy's progress is indicative of results by players
across the board, said Purdue's director of sports perfor-
mance Duane Carlisle, who developed the comprehen-
sive program with senior associate director of sports
'PR After PR'
Players build strength and more in offseason program
Tom Campbell
