Garrett “Bottesy” Bailey is just your average fifth year senior at LSU.
He also happens to be a bona fide world champion powerlifter.
Bailey, a kinesiology major and former LSU powerlifter, placed first in the 2014 Classic World Men’s Championships in the 93 kilogram Juniors Division held in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has now built a team, known as the Louisiana Legends, made up of other young lifters seeking to make a name for themselves.
The Louisiana Legends is not affiliated with the University, although some members of the team are undergraduate, graduate and prospective LSU students. All of them were brought together by Bailey while he was searching for others to lift with.

“After I left LSU’s team, I didn’t like lifting by myself. I want to expand beyond just collegiate lifting,” Bailey said.
Bailey saw an opportunity to build a Louisiana team to send to major competitions, such as the the United States of America Powerlifting Raw Nationals and the International Powerlifting Federation Raw Worlds.
While some of his lifters are more experienced than others, he opens his arms to anybody up for the challenge.
“I noticed that Louisiana hasn’t had [powerlifting] legends in a while. So, I thought, ‘I want to be a legend. Let’s make everybody a legend,’” Bailey said.
Bailey echoed the achievements of former world champion and Baton Rouge native Wade Hooper as inspiration to make Louisiana a powerlifting powerhouse.
Young lifters, such as Matthew Broussard and Jeffery Sylvester, jumped at the chance to build up their bodies while doing it at a competitive level under the tutelage of Bailey.
“I hadn’t really been playing sports, because I was homeschooled,”said Sylvester, who plans to attend LSU next year. “I thought I was naturally strong. Turns out I was stronger than I thought.”
Broussard, like Bailey, wrestled at Baton Rouge Magnet High School, which gave him an advantage when he started heavy lifting.
“It got me in shape,” Broussard, an LSU freshman, said on his wrestling background. “Bottesy can tell you I’m a different person.”
Bailey is set to bring some of his Louisana Legends, including Sylvester and Broussard, to San Antonio, TX for the 6th Annual USAPL Iron Wars this Saturday. The lifters have been training for almost 8 weeks, according to Bailey, following a strict exercise regiment he created during an internship at Trinity Holistic Health and Training in Baton Rouge.

“I just took the last step [of his exercise regiment] and edited it specifically for powerlifting,” Bailey said on the routine he introduced to the group. “I started making gains really quick. They started making pretty good gains.”
Bailey not only coaches the team but also participates in the team competitions. Normally, he does not let his lifters touch weights for 3 weeks to ensure that they are using correct technique. Due to intensity of his regiment, he admitted it is a struggle to train his lifters while also training himself.
“For the new guys, I have to teach them form. When you have more than one new person at one time, it a little difficult,” Bailey said.
The Legends will be competing in their second raw meet Saturday, which means they use no equipment like a bench press shirt or squat suit, when they lift. Bailey said that there is good and bad when using equipment to lift weights.
“The pieces of equipment are almost like a double-edged sword,” Bailey said as he showed a scar he received from a bench shirt. “They give you more weight, but it’s pretty painful when you put it on. They pretty much will cut into your skin.”
Powerlifting, in nature, is not a sport for the faint of heart, but Sylvester enjoys the results he sees after each workout with the Legends. It keeps him coming back to the gym to see his improvements.
“Also, just bonding with these two idiots,” Sylvester joked as he pointed to the laughing Broussard and Bailey.
The Legends realize they have a long way to becoming world renown, but they continue to push their personal limits until they get there as a team.
“Our goal is to pick things up and put them down,” Broussard joked on their literal goal for their upcoming competition.
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“I noticed that Louisiana hasn’t had [powerlifting] legends in a while. So, I thought, ‘I want to be a legend. Let’s make everybody a legend.’”

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Ashlyn Achord