Florida football strength coach explains why change the weight room

Florida football unveiled its weight room renovation on May 5, another move intended to bolster UF’s strength and conditioning program under first-year coach Jon Sumrall.

New Florida Gators strength and conditioning coach Rusty Whitt said the changes were made with safety and efficiency in mind.

“It wasn’t just about getting new stuff for new stuff’s sake,” Whitt said. “We wanted to match my philosophy with our equipment, and that’s kind of what we did.”

The changes include full-cage weight racks from Sorinex and replacing the astroturf inside the weight room with rubber flooring. Whitt said the previous double-sided half racks presented a potential safety hazard.

“You drop weight on a double-sided half rack, you’re looking at dropping weight on safety pins and then the outside of the pin is going to go straight down to the ground if you drop it at the wrong angle,” Whitt said. “Inside squat rack with the strap system we have the bar is in trapped in between two vertical pieces of bars so they can’t hit the ground.

“Player safety is paramount, so that was the first thing we wanted to address was to get a full, squat rack cages to get installed in here.”

As for the new flooring, Whitt said, “We use lifting shoes every day; we power clean, we squat, we step up, most of our exercises are in lifting shoes, and lifting shoes and astroturf don’t mix very well, so we got rid of the turf and put in all rubber. It’s easier to keep clean. The turf was kind of a bacteria trap, and so we have a much cleaner look and approach with the rubber. We can walk behind a floor cleaner machine twice a week and keep it looking good and keep the hygiene in the room better.”

Florida football coaches familiar with Sorinex equipment

Whitt said he first did an install with Sorinex equipment as an assistant strength coach Louisville in 1998 and later used the equipment as strength and conditioning coach at Louisiana in 2010.

"We had Sorinex racks at Troy with Coach Sumrall’s first head job, and he liked the results we got there," Whitt said. "The reason that Coach Sumrall and I connected initially was my main philosophy, which starts with, 'Your best ability is availability,' and that comes by being exceptionally strong."