Author Archives: Al Myers

Heart of America Festival – Day 1

(Webmasters note:  This is a reprint of the meet report covering the  Heart of America Festival that occurred in  August 1963 as published by the oldtime lifting magazine, the Lifting News.  Dale Friesz passed this along to me to share, which characterizes one of the early-days All-Round Weightlifting Meets.  Dale’s brother, Leonard, is included in the results as he was a member of the Columbia Athletic Club at the time.  Our very own Bill Clark served as Meet Director, Head Judge, and Meet Reporter.  He also competed!   Past meets such as these are the reason why Bill organized All-Round Weightlifting into the USAWA.  You will recognize several of the “meet stars” as they are legends in All-Round Weightlifting today.  The meet was a two day affair, so I will divide the story into two parts, one covering each day. Enjoy!)

by Bill Clark

Wilbur Miller, the Cimarron Strongman, and Paul Wachholz, an outstanding athlete from Englewood, Colorado, waged a duel in the Heart of America Power Festival, August 3-4 in Columbia, Missouri, which brought nostalgia to the hearts of the old timers in the crowd and may have established an all-time record for weight hoisted in a two-day period.  The Power Festival, in its third year, is sponsored by the Columbia Athletic Club, Inc., and is a fun meet all the way.  Many lifts, pets of various lifters, are contested and except for eight established events, the meet follows only a vague pattern.  Often more than one contest is under way at the same time.  Last year Homer Lewellen, a mid-heavy from the host club, lifted in 34 different events and totaled well over 15,000 pounds during the two-day session.

This year, however, the number of events was cut down by the tremendous interest in the Miller-Wachholz battle.  There are two sets of trophy lifts in the meet.  On the first day, a Saturday, the contest is the jerk from the rack, squat, and dead lift.  The entire meet is on a bodyweight formula basis because never more than 15 hardy souls enter.  Medals are given for each lift and trophies back five places overall.  Leonard Friesz won the jerk from the rack with a 350 jerk at a bodyweight of 198.  Miller was close behind with 370 and Wachholz was third with 320.

Lifter BWT Jerk Squat Dead Lift Total Points
Miller 235 370 530 675 1575 1014.30
Wachholz 195 320 455 585 1360 932.96
Friesz 198 350 445 490 1285 876.37
Witt 214 225 470 525 1225 807.98
Hahn 187 275 400 475 1150 805.00
Tarwater 130 230 260 410 900 801.00
Fellows 160 265 345 400 1010 776.69
Hamilton 145 230 280 420 930 766.32
Skinner 129 230 280 340 850 760.75
McPheeters 232 260 375 475 1080 698.76
Lewellen 190 280 385
B. Fellows 238 305 420

Meet Director:  Bill Clark

Officials:  Bill Clark, Don Wickell,  Ed Zercher

Friesz, an army captain stationed in Columbia, stayed in the running with a 445 squat, but Miller made 530 to grab the lead and Wachholz came up with 455.  In the dead lift, Wachholz shot ahead of Friesz with a great 585 effort and a near miss with 600.   Miller opened with 600, a weight he does five reps with, then jumped to 675.  He held the listed world amateur heavyweight record at 672 1/2 and made the 675 so easily that 700 or more seemed quite possible.  Miller is a perfect deadlifter.  The weight never touches his thighs as it goes up.  His shoulders are back before weight and thighs get together.  The 700 broke loose twice and went easily to the knees but Wilbur couldn’t get his shoulders back after such a fine effort and the lifts were no good.  He vowed that he would make 700 in Leavenworth in September.

Miller thus won the first day’s trophy event with a 1575 total and 1014.3 points.  His dead lift was a world mark and his lifts and total were all Missouri Valley records.  Wachholz made a 1360 total and established himself as a strong young man. He strengthened this fact considerably the following day.

COMING TOMORROW – DAY 2 OF THE HEART OF AMERICA FESTIVAL

Official’s Shirts

by Al Myers

The new USAWA Official's Shirt.

The USAWA now has new Official’s Shirts.   It has been many years since the USAWA has issued official shirts for the officials.  Several of the new USAWA officials do not have one.   Thom Van Vleck spear-headed this project.   THANKS THOM!   They are very nice looking blue knit collared shirts, with the USAWA Logo Patch on one sleeve and a United States Flag Patch on the other sleeve. They are embroidered on the front with the wording “USAWA Certified Official”.

If you would like to order an Official’s Shirt, send payment of $25 to me, with payment made out to the USAWA. Please include the size you want. Sizes available – large, extra large, and 2 XL.

Andy Goddard Postal

by Steve Gardner

MEET ANNOUNCEMENT

Andy Goddard Tribute Postal Competition 2011

The Andy Goddard Tribute competition this year will be on two different lifts: (Alt Grip Bench Press – Straddle Deadlift) but still based around the Bench Press – Deadlift theme (they were Andy’s favourite lifts).  As last year, this competition will be open to all and everyone who wants their name and results to be listed in Andy’s memory.  Lifters can be listed in the official IAWA members record claim set of results, or in the listings for those not current members who just want to take part.

BUT…

1) All results must be sent in to Steve Gardner (steve-g@powerful.co.uk) by the END OF MARCH

2) All results must be clearly recorded to show if the lifter is

a) a current IAWA member or not, and

b) If the lifts were performed before 2 or 3 referees (which will be good for record claims) or

c) If the lifts were performed before just one referee which will be acceptable for the competition (but not record claims)

Good luck and lets get lifting in Andy’s memory!

Time to Cast Your Vote

by Al Myers

Who's going to win a set of my Hanging Dumbbell Handles??? It's up to YOU!!

It’s now time to vote!!!  All submitted stories have been ran in the USAWA Daily News over the past four days.  A set of my hanging dumbbell handles are at stake for the winner – so chose wisely!!!  It will be  hard to decide – mainly because all of the stories are so good.  That is why I am leaving it up to the USAWA membership to vote.  That’s right – the USAWA membership!   There are LOTS of “perks” to being a USAWA member, like getting to be part of this big decision!!   The list of choices:

1.  Hand and Thigh, Neck Training Tips by Joe Garcia

2.  Art’s Big Hook by John McKean

3.  Row Row Your Back!!! by Scott Tully

4.   Two Ounces of Prevention by Thom Van Vleck

Please send in your vote to me at amyers@usawa.com by next Friday (February 11th).  The winner will be announced on the 12th.   I promise to keep all votes confidential – so don’t worry about that!!!   I’m sure this will be a close vote so EVERY VOTE counts!!

Row Row Your Back!!

by Scott Tully

Scott Tully training one arm dumbbell rows with 175 pounds using a dumbbell handle specifically made for rowing.

I’m going to start this off by letting you know I’m not a writer, ha ha.  I want to write this about something that has helped me a lot in my overall training, and also want to let you know how we have tried to come up with a new handle to allow you to get even better Upper back and trapezius strength and gains.  When I started training at the Dino Gym almost 10 years ago, I had mainly competed in Olympic lifting and strongman.  One area of major weakness for me was the top end of my deadlift.   I also noticed weakness in my strongman training with stone loading,  as I could lap heavy stones but had a hard time transitioning to the load.  Al Myers and my training partners can attest I would miss many deadlifts over the knee.  We talked extensively about how to fix this.  Rack pulls  helped a little, but it seemed there was another issue.  Al recommended I add in more upper back and trap work.   I had always done lat pulls, but never that heavy and always for high reps, and very rarely any rows.  I thought I got enough of that type of work from strongman training, well I was wrong.  After we had this conversation, I started adding in heavy lat pulls,  not shying away from heavy sets of 5, and added in 4-5 sets of rows.  Rows included standing 45 degree dumbbell rows,  bent over dynamic rows (Pendlay or Russian Rows),  chest supported dumbbell rows on a incline bench, and seated cable rows.

A close up picture of the Dino Row Dumbbell Handle.

Over the years I’ve been able to make this an area of strength. It’s still not what I’d like it to be, but at least it’s  not a glaring weakness. I truly believe that I get the most out of standing 45 degree and chest supported rows with dumbbells.  The problem that myself and a lot of others run into is being able to use a heavy enough weight.  At the one gym I train at our DB’s go up to 120, and at the Dino Gym they go to 150.  The other problem with a DB is that often the plates hit your body before your elbow is far enough back to engage the lats all the way and being that a DB is totally fixed, it doesn’t rotate in your hand at all to allow the elbows up and to be able to pull back.  So I found an idea on the net for a handle and got a hold of Al, and 3 days later we had the Dino Row handle.  The problem with the one I had the pic for was that there was not enough room to add the weight needed, mind you, because I wanted to be able to shrug with these also.  We  were able to make the handle the exact height away from the loading shaft that we needed.  After using these and testing them out I think it’s the most effective way to hit your lats in a rowing movement.  This handle can go as low as 25lbs, and as high as around 250lbs.  One thing I mentioned above was hitting the traps.  The problem I have with barbell shrugs is that they wreck my lower back.  I had a microdiskectomy of my L-4 and L-5 in 2006 and a few movements still bother it, but with these handles I can hold them out to my side and take the pressure off the lower back and  extend the shrug higher. By hitting the Lats  more specifically with the rows I have taken my deadlift from the low 500’s before my back surgery to a 617 in competition and a 650 in training, and rarely do I ever miss a deadlift over the knees now.  There are pics included in this so you can see the handle, and if you’re at the Dino Gym you have to try this out, and the next day your lats will thank you for it.

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