He’s not exactly a great powerlifter either, he brags about his 800lb squat but that was in multi-ply gear where 800 is bullshit. His best raw squat (in wraps) is 655 but he weighed 324lbs. I have squatted over 600 weighing about 70lbs less than him and drug free, and I don’t even see that as a big accomplishment. His best raw bench is only 375 at the same BW, raw deadlift 625 at slightly less fat. He’s an intermediate level super heavyweight.
Then there’s the allegations that he paid lifters to say that he coached them, who know what this guy actually does. If he coached Larry Wheels to do a bunch of bullshit for views on YouTube then that’s something, but not exactly what I would call strength coaching.
Nothing impressive. I had better numbers than thatcompeting in Strongman with a test level below range (277). I seriously don’t get how anyone is taking this guy seriously.
He supposedly coached Larry Wheels, and I assume he must have coached some other well known lifters but I’m really not sure who. If he is actually able to produce results in high level lifters while eating like a pig and lifting recreationally then that’s not necessarily a strike against him, Boris Sheiko is a chubby old guy who I don’t believe has ever competed in PL or WL (where he started coaching) but is well respected because he earned it. But then again, even Gaglione’s track record of coaching is suspect so I don’t know what is really going on.
I’ll say those are actually pretty poor numbers. Justification for weighing 324 lbs isn’t there if your lifts are mediocre. Shit I know people who blow those numbers away and can make the 198 class.
Anyone who thinks Gaglione is elite is confused. I read some article of his a while back where he was talking about his 800lb squat, which he goes on and on about in this latest article but the whole time I thought it was raw. Good thing we have openpowerlifitng, you can look up the details on anyone who competes in PL.
Yeah I never knew much about him until this thread here. I have a feeling he is duping a lot of less knowledgeable/experienced lifters.
Glad we have guys like @The_Mighty_Stu helping us out in the forums.
If I “coached” someone by being intimately familiar with T-nation articles, passed the idea of as my own, and they get results, I deserve absolutely zero credit.
Yeah, I’m friends with a few of the guys who actually used to run his “gym” for him (the actual coaches who really worked with clients, and have all left on bad terms) as well as very close to the group of older guys who let John initially hang with them way back when and wore singlets with his name on them to help him out when his parents gave him the money to start his own place (maybe hoping he’d finally move out of their house?)
Hell, my brother in law was the guy who conducted the seminars JG used to hold at his place, because he was an accomplished lifter, PT and CSCS and John was just the guy whose name was on the banner and had dreams of being accomplished somehow (and he too left on bad terms, calling John some harsh names I won’t credit to him publicly).
Larry wheels? -lol ask anyone in the powerlifting community on Long Island or even NY (whole East coast?) and they’ll tell you Larry was on salary and that John was A no one.
So he actually paid Larry to pretend that he was being coached by JG? That is some backwards shit. There are more than a few questionable characters in the fitness/powerlifting industry, but this is as bad as it gets.
The one thing he really seems to be good at is shameless self promotion. If he could just avoid pissing off so many people then maybe he would get somewhere.
Shameless indeed. With What this guy has Done to other people, or Even what he has had multiple allegations of having done, I am amazed he still thinks he can build a bogus reputation in the fitness field.
Years ago, there was an interview with Dorian, Kevin levrone , and Shawn Ray, and they were asked about social media and building a following. I believe it was Kevin who said that the real people who should be listened to are too busy Actually accomplishing things to be wasting their time online trying to drum up bullish-t followings.
JG is the perfect example of what’s wrong in the industry.
