William B. Peel
(but call me Bill or Wicked Willie)
I'm currently fifty-one (but that will change.) Married with two grown children.
I'm a laboratory manager at the University of Florida, providing classroom and audiovisual support for the medical school and the various medically related colleges. Been doing that for over 15 years and have held an interesting variety of positions before that.
I've trained off and on for over thirty years and have a fairly extensive background in various aspects of the Iron Game. Although I don't like to trumpet the fact, I was born prematurely and suffering from the effects of mild cerebral palsy. I started training with weights at age twelve, in hopes of overcoming the effects of the cerebral palsy and building huge muscles like my magazine hero, Dave Draper. I also played a lot of baseball and softball...so the weights were a tool I used to develop more power, since I couldn't run fast. Hit the ball far and you don't have to run so fast.
By being stubborn and arrogant, I managed to make just about every training and dietary mistake that could be made in the next twenty years or so. I also accumulated a fair amount of injuries. Somehow, I muddled through it all to accumulate a fair amount of training knowledge... practical knowledge that will work, if you will.
I feel that weight training should be a joyful adjunct to one's life and that extremes in any direction are generally counterproductive and, sometimes, harmful. My training philosophy has evolved over the years but it is not complex. Do what works and pleases you... then be patient.
Or as my friend Dave Draper has said "The secret is... there is no secret."
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Bill specializes in the following aspects of the Iron Game:
- Old time training and movements
- Training for the 40+ individual
- Training with minimal equipment
- Making your own equipment
- Cable (expander) training
- Grip and hand strength training
- Training around injury or physical limitations
Bill is one of the IOL forum's go-to guys for instructions on how to build home gym equipment. He's also known for his skill at writing exercise descriptions for our database, as well as being one of the resident experts on Vince Gironda's training and nutrition writings.
You can also review his forum profile here, and read a few of his forum and blog posts and articles via the links below or in the column at the right.
A Calf Primer for the Gastrocnemiusly Challenged
Rambling Thoughts of an Old Musclehead
Frog Crunches/Gironda Leg Raise
L-Flys and Variations -- Preventative/Rehab
More of Bill's Exercise Descriptions
You'll find a list of Bill's forum topics here and his 3-part home-gym setup recommendations here.