Brad Gillingham
Born: April 26, 1966
Height: 196 cm / 6’5’’
Bodyweight: About 145 kg / 320 lbs (during most of his career)
Active: 1989 to 2020
Brad Gillingham is an institution in modern strength sports. With three Open World Championships in powerlifting, appearances at two Arnold Classic strongman contests, and an unbelievable 102 competition deadlifts of 800 lbs or more, he has left a lasting mark on the sport. He is also largely responsible for popularizing the hook grip in powerlifting.
The Gillingham Family
Brad Gillingham comes from an extraordinary strength family. His father, Gale Gillingham, played in the Brad Gillingham comes from an extraordinary strength family. His father, Gale Gillingham, played in the NFL from 1966 to 1976 and was known as a powerhouse. His brothers Karl and Wade were also serious strength athletes. Karl had a long and successful career in strongman and powerlifting, competing at the World’s Strongest Man and winning America’s Strongest Man. Wade specialized in grip strength. He also competed in strongman and powerlifting like his brothers, although with less success.
The Hook Grip
The hook grip has always been standard in Olympic weightlifting. It locks the bar so it does not rotate in the hands. Most deadlifters discover at some point that a normal double overhand grip eventually fails once the weights climb high enough. To handle heavier weights, lifters traditionally use a mixed grip or straps.
Brad struggled with grip strength for years. On max attempts he often lost the bar as it reached his thighs. At the 1999 Battle of the Giants in Örebro he saw the little-known powerhouse Maxim Podtynnyy pull 387.5 kg / 854 lbs hook grip conventional. Maxim was a physical phenomenon. That same day he squatted 400 kg / 882 lbs in what many still call the easiest looking 400 kg squat they have ever seen. Maxim later pulled 412.5 kg / 909 lbs hook grip conventional.
For Brad, it was a revelation that hook grip could work in the deadlift. He talked with Maxim and immediately began practicing it.
From that point on Brad became a lifter you could never count out in the total or the deadlift. In 1999 he finished fourth at Worlds, and over the next two years he won the World Championship largely thanks to the stability the hook grip gave him. In 2000 he used it to defeat Žydrūnas Savickas.
Even though hook grip remained rare in the 2000s and 2010s, the seeds of its growth in powerlifting were planted at that 1999 meeting between Brad and Maxim.
The Deadlift
Brad is best known for his deadlift. He has pulled 800 lbs or 363 kg / 800 lbs more times in competition than anyone else with a total of 102 such lifts. He also exceeded 400 kg / 882 lbs more than once. People might assume the deadlift came easily to him, but the truth is the opposite. He trained for many years before reaching elite numbers. When he started competing in the late 1980s he could not even pull 300 kg / 661 lbs. It was only after his junior years that he reached those numbers. This was despite coming from a strength sports family.
Brad first pulled 300 kg / 661 lbs in 1990. It took him until 2009 to finally break the legendary 400 kg / 882 lbs barrier. His story is one of patience and relentless hard work.
His leverages for deadlifting were not great. His arms were slightly short and he locked out just below the hips. Deadlifting for Brad was about building brutal strength and creating the right positions. The hook grip helped him achieve better leverages and stronger grip. He also focused heavily on maintaining position and finding the correct bar path for his proportions: long legs, shorter arms, and a longer torso. His hips started relatively high and his legs were straighter than average.
Brad trained deadlift reps up to eight, along with many singles both from the floor and from elevated positions in the power rack. In his published programs only singles appear, but he often referenced higher rep training and there are videos confirming it. He also used hip thrusts long before they became popular.
The Bench Press
Even though Brad is best known for his deadlift, it was the bench press that truly separated him from his competitors in the total. Between 1997 and 2001 none of his opponents benched more than him at the Powerlifting World Championships. Bench shirts were not very developed at this time, so most lifters, especially those with less favorable benching mechanics, gained only 10 to 20 kg / 22 to 44 lbs from the equipment. During those years Brad was not necessarily the top deadlifter either. At the 1998 World Championships he finished fifth in the deadlift with 367.5 kg / 810 lbs.
If classic powerlifting had existed in its current form back then, Brad might never have been fully recognized for the bench presser he truly was. When bench shirt designs improved in the early 2000s, Brad’s bench numbers stalled because the new shirts did not benefit long armed lifters as much. As Brad lost a bit of raw bench strength over the years, the improved shirts of the 2010s gave him more support which allowed him to stay close to his all time best equipped numbers.
If classic lifting had been the standard during the late 1990s and early 2000s when Brad was at his peak, he would likely be known today as both a bench presser and a deadlifter. He probably would have delivered raw bench presses around 260 kg / 573 lbs in competition along with deadlifts around 390 kg / 859 lbs. A combination that is extremely rare.
The Squat
Even though Brad’s leverage disadvantages in the bench press held him back in the bench shirt, his legs were an even greater Achilles heel in the squat. Standing 196 cm / 6 ft 5 in and weighing 145 to 150 kg / 320 to 331 lbs on long legs did not make squatting any easier. He had a long range of motion with very little body mass to shorten the leverages. Many of his competitors were 10 to 20 cm / 4 to 8 in shorter while weighing the same or even more.
What Brad did gain from squatting was probably a stronger and more efficient deadlift. His squat relied heavily on hips, back, and posterior chain, something that likely helped him in the deadlift.
The same was true with equipment. Brad was among those who got the least out of squat suits and knee wraps due to his style and proportions. His equipped 395 kg / 871 lbs squat could very well have been around 350 kg / 772 lbs at his raw prime.
Competition Bests
Equipped (2000s)
Squat: 395 kg / 871 lbs
Bench Press: 287.5 kg / 634 lbs
Deadlift: 400 kg / 882 lbs
Total: 1062,5 kg / 2342,4 lbs
Raw (as a Masters lifter)
Squat: 325 kg / 716 lbs
Bench Press: 235 kg / 518 lbs
Deadlift: 382.5 kg / 843 lbs
Total: 937,5 kg / 2066,8 lbs
Brad was stronger raw earlier in his career, but he only began competing raw about ten years after his peak. Even so, he won the Open World Championship in 2013 in Russia.
Major Championships
2nd – 1997 World Powerlifting Championships (Equipped)
4th – 1998 World Championships (Equipped)
2nd – 1999 World Championships (Equipped)
1st – 2000 World Championships (Equipped)
1st – 2001 World Championships (Equipped)
2nd – 2002 World Championships (Equipped)
4th – 2004 World Championships (Equipped)
1st – 2006 World Championships (Equipped, Masters)
2nd – 2007 World Championships (Equipped)
3rd – 2010 World Championships (Equipped)
8th – 2011 World Championships (Equipped)
1st – 2013 World Championships (Raw)
Training Personal Bests
All of the following were performed without equipment.
Deadlift
365 kg / 804 lbs for 2
352.5 kg / 777 lbs for 3
340 kg / 749 lbs for 5
310 kg / 683 lbs for 8 (no belt)
Squat
250 kg / 551 lbs for 8 (no belt)
300 kg / 661 lbs for 5
Bench Press
Multiple sets of 215 kg / 474 lbs for 8 reps
272 kg / 600 lbs in training multiple times
Are you interested in training programs inspired by much of what Brad Gillingham did? In the Built Strong app you will find programs such as PL Building Block, a linear progression program for the main lifts with corresponding accessory work.