Deadlift – Fulton Dumbbell, One Arm

By Al Myers

Scott Tully performing the top Fulton Dumbbell Deadlift in the USAWA Record Books at the 2012 Grip Championships.

Scott Tully performing the top Fulton Dumbbell Deadlift in the USAWA Record Books at the 2012 Grip Championships.

The second lift contested this coming weekend at the USAWA Grip Championships will be the Deadlift – Fulton Dumbbell, One Arm. This is a great lift in the USAWA and has been contested before at the Grip Championships. It is one of my favorite grip lifts in the USAWA. Several years ago I wrote a blog over the origin of this lift. The following is an exerpt from that blog that I would like to share with you again.

Back in the early 80’s at a odd lifting meet in Liberal, Kansas, meet director Bob Burtzloff included a thick-handled dumbbell deadlift in the contest.  This dumbbell had a smooth 2 inch diameter handle.  Wilbur Miller, the “Cimarron Kid” and Kansas lifting legend,  was the hands on favorite to win this event.  Wilbur has huge hands with long fingers and was very rarely beaten in any lifting event that involved grip strength.  But this day was one of those rare days – when a young farm boy from Nebraska by the name of Kevin Fulton pulled off the upset! Upon Fulton’s winning – Bill Clark announced that this lift would be forever named the Fulton Lift.  This eventually lead to the naming of the 2″ bar as the Fulton Bar along with the Fulton Dumbbell.  As for Wilbur – upon the finish of the event he went back to the warm-up area and proceeded to pull more on this lift than he did in competition.  He went home knowing that he may not have won the event on this day,  but with the satisfaction of knowing he would next time!

This is the USAWA Rule for the Deadlift – Fulton Dumbbell, One Arm:

I7. Deadlift – Fulton Dumbbell, One Arm

The rules of the Deadlift – One Arm apply except the dumbbell used must have a handle of 2” in diameter. No knurling is allowed on the handle. The maximum diameter of the plates used is 18 inches.

I have some really nice Fulton Dumbbells that we will use in the Grip Championships.  I expect to see some really great lifts this weekend.  Since this is a One Arm event you must choose which hand you want to lift with on all your attempts. Below is the USAWA ALL TIME OVERALL RECORDS in the Deadlift – Fulton Dumbbell, One Arm for the Mens Division.

LEFT ARM RIGHT ARM
CLASS LIFTER LBS LIFTER LBS
75 KG Stephen Santangelo 130 Stephen Santangelo 130
80 KG Art Montini 60 Art Montini 60
85 KG None Denny Habecker 125
90 KG Denny Habecker 100 Denny Habecker 100
95 KG None None
100 KG Ben Edwards 175 Ben Edwards 185
105 KG None None
110 KG Jeff Ciavattone 190 Jeff Ciavattone 190
115 KG LaVerne Myers 165 LaVerne Myers 187
120 KG Al Myers 170 Al Myers 170
125 KG None Dean Ross 125
125+ KG Darren Barnhart 185 Scott Tully 192

The Best overall All Time USAWA Record is held by Scott Tully with 192 pounds, set at the 2012 USAWA Grip Championships. But I’m sure you are wondering how much did Kevin Fulton lift on that memorial odd lift day in Liberal, Kansas?  It took me “some digging” but I found that Kevin lifted 195 pounds on that day in 1983!  So let’s see if anyone this coming weekend can beat this record mark set by Kevin in the pre-USAWA days!