Monthly Archives: October 2010

Art’s Birthday Bash

by John McKean

As a classic Autumn day, Art’s big meet started in brilliant warming sunlight, crystal blue skies, trees ablaze in color, and Art more mellow (well, he growled less!!) upon his 83rd birthday! I was first in, to find Art in his usual position in the VFW Barbell Club office, ready to dispense the meet t-shirts and donuts that he generously supplies free to all lifters & guests. We didn’t have to wait long for our travelers to bound down the steps into our Ambridge “cave.” First came Denny & Kohl from a delightful trek through the mountains from across state, then the ever-smiling Scott Schmidt from Cleveland, and, finally, big Ernie Beath and family from the Eastern shores of Maryland. Ernie is usually the first one to show, but managed to misplace his car keys, AND – big news – he’s newly married to a gorgeous gal who attended her first meet with us!!

Art announced that, in addition to our usual self torture, Scott, he, and I would do the lifts for Steve Gardner’s World team Postal meet. Wonderful, more pain! But these proved to be a good choice of movements, and gave us each a shot at a few more records!

Big Ernie and I had been reducing – Ern was down to a meager 385 (marriage will do that to ya, big guy!) and I was down to my old powerlifting weight of 165 (having just celebrated MY 41st wedding anniversary, momma has stopped feeding me altogether!! Naw, she baked me a superb apple pie right after the contest – tho’ I had to elbow Sean & Rob outa the way!). But the two of us were excited about doing the bent over row for a National record, and are hopeful that next year the IAWA will reconsider and put it on the international list of lifts. Ernie did a huge 351 pound pull, and hopes to be the first to row with over 400 for the record books! His big dumbbell presses were their usual awesome displays of pure power!

Old Art celebrated the onset of his 84th year with one arm hacks & Zerchers, and did a teeth lift with 113 pounds – I still maintain that Art should get extra credit for this event, since he must be pulling with little more than one remaining tooth!! (I mentioned that once before to him and he BIT me, to prove ALL the old chompers are still healthy – ouch!! But my subsequent rabies shot hurt worse!!). But the ole guy went on to do all the Postal lifts with ease, cleaned up the gym, and later attended the usually long barbell club monthly meeting! And I’ll bet he still was up for his usual training session at 4 AM this morning (Monday)!

Denny went through with quiet deliberation on 5 new records, to keep a slight, but constant lead over Art in the race for most USAWA records. Of course, President Habecker always has exciting news and views of All-Round lifting to share with us – only, as yours truly experienced, don’t plan on getting a bench press signal from him anytime in the forseeable future when he’s expounding those views!!

Kohl Hess at 16 years young, and 273 pounds big, astounded us by performing the “shoulder drop,” which absolutely frightened us older guys! Later, among others, he did a big “bear hug” lift with 115K, which seemed natural, since the massive young man undoubtably trains by wrestling & terrorizing real local bears in the Lebanon woods!

Ole Scott Schmidt is the only olympic style lifter I know that keeps smiling while he bangs big lifts overhead!! Though he found new joy in the Postal events contested and loved the 2 hand pinch grip and Ciavattone deadlift! It’s almost too bad that later on in the day his hometown Cleveland Browns had to play our Steelers!! (tho for this day he was an honorary VFW BBC member and an adopted Western Pennsylvanian!).

Lots of iron was moved and birthday candles snuffed out (next year’s meet has to have the cake monitored by the fire department!!), and we hope to have a big crowd for 2011! Train hard, guys!

MEET RESULTS

Art’s Birthday Bash
Ambridge VFW Barbell Club, Ambridge, PA
October 17, 2010

Meet Director:  Art Montini

All lifts listed in pounds except as noted

IAWA International Officials: (3 judges on all lifts) : Art Montini, Denny Habecker, Scott Schmidt, John McKean

John McKean – 165 pounds, 64 years, Class – 60+, 75K

Trap Bar Deadlift 365#
Ciavattone Deadlift 322#
Bent Over Row 220#
Deadlift 2 Barbells 360#
Straddle 2” Bar 302#
Reflex Clean & Push Press 95#
Reverse Curl 70#
Two Hands Pinch Grip 101#

Art Montini – 180.5 pounds,83 years, Class -80+, 85K

Left Hand Hack Lift 98#
Right Hand Hack Lift 98#
Left Hand Zercher 98#
Right Hand Zercher 98#
Teeth Lift 113#

Denny Habecker -191 pounds, 68 years, Class -65+, 90K

Fulton Deadlift 262#
Ciavattone Fulton Deadlift 202#
Bench Press Hands Together 150#
Right Hand Thumbless Deadlift 128#
Two Dumbbells Clean & Press 100#

Scott Schmidt -252 pounds, 57 years, Class -55+, 115K

Clean & Press – 105K
2” Bar Vertical Deadlift R – 95K

Kohl Hess -273 pounds, 16 years, Class – 16+, 125K

Shoulder Drop – 40.0K
Clean & Jerk – 79.5K
Bear Hug -115.0K
Straddle Deadlift – 200.0K
Clean & Press on Knees – 62.5K

Ernie Beath – 385 pounds,29 years, Class – Open, 125+

Bent Over Row -351#
RH Dumbbell Clean & Press -150#
Strict Curl -150#
LH Dumbbell Clean & Press -135#

2012 IAWA Worlds to be held in Kansas City

by Al Myers

Chad Ullom and Al Myers will be the Meet Promoters for the 2012 IAWA All-Round Weightlifting World Championships.

Another thing that arose from the 2010 IAWA World Council Meeting was that Chad Ullom and myself submitted a bid to host the 2012 IAWA World Championships – and it was ACCEPTED!!   Chad and I will be co-promoters (meaning that we will SHARE in the expenses!).  We plan to have the Championships the first weekend of October,  which is the traditional date for it.  It will be held in Kansas City, which has a major airport to allow for lifters to fly into the meet without much additional travel.   We have not selected a venue yet.  We are excited about this opportunity and plan to host it in a “FIRST RATE STYLE”.   This location (Kansas City)  is the “center point” of All-Round weightlifting in the United States, and hopefully, will stimulate a big interest in attendance. This is the first time the IAWA World Championships will be held in Kansas.   The entry forms will not be available until after next year’s Championships, but I wanted to announce the date now so everyone will have plenty of time to get this date on their schedule.

Art Montini is presented the IAWA Award of Merit

by Al Myers

Art Montini (center picture) receiving the IAWA Award of Merit. To left is the 2010 IAWA World Championships Meet Promoter George Dick, and to the right is IAWA President Steve Gardner.

One of the HIGHLIGHTS of the 2010 IAWA World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland was when Art Montini was presented the IAWA Award of Merit, a Presidential Award  presented to Art  by our IAWA President Steve Gardner.  This is the FIRST EVER such award ever given on behalf of the IAWA, and it went to the best eligible candidate in the organization.  Art has been to MOST of the IAWA World Championships since the IAWA was formed, and he ALWAYS represents himself in a dignified, professional manner that epitomizes the character of a CHAMPIONSHIP ATHLETE.  Art competes like he is working a job, always focused and performing picture-perfect lifts like they’re just another “task at hand”.  Don’t let his casual demeanor mislead you when he’s lifting – internally he’s as fired up as anyone else!!!

Another thing that impresses me immensely about Art is the passion he still has for lifting.  Art is now 82 years old, but when you are around him it becomes obvious that he “feels” like a much younger man.  I hope that I will have the same zeal for lifting that he has when I’m his age.  He is a great inspiration to me and I’m sure to many others.  He had no idea that he was going to be presented this award, and even when Steve was giving his intro, Art still didn’t think it was about him.  I was sitting right across from him at the banquet and the look of amazement and acknowledgment upon hearing his name called was PRICELESS!!

This is for Art – every0ne in the USAWA and IAWA consider you our  “father figure” in our organization who we look up to.  We are EXTREMELY PROUD that you have received this AWARD OF MERIT!!!! Congratulations!!

Lynch Formula Expanded

by Al Myers

Chris Bass is the "brains" behind the IAWA. Chris is often the official scorekeeper at International Events, and he maintains the IAWA World Record List, which is an overwhelming task. Chris was very influential in helping solve this problem with the Lynch Formula.

A  project that I have been working on for the past several months has been trying to expand the Lynch Factor Chart to allow bodyweight adjustments for heavier lifters.  This has been a big problem with the Lynch Factor Chart in the past – it only went up  to 138 kilograms bodyweight.  This is how it always has been since the original calculations were done.  Nowadays, it is not uncommon to have lifters that weigh over this amount, and NO LYNCH FACTORS have been available for them.  It forced the Meet Director to either just use the highest Lynch Factor available on the Chart, or “make a guess” at a factor for them, either case not being the way it should be done.

Efforts were made to acquire the original Lynch Formula or extrapolate the current Lynch Factors to higher bodyweight factors.  Both of these ideas were unsuccessful – UNTIL NOW!!  I brought this problem up at the IAWA World Council Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, and a committee of myself, Chris Bass and Roger Davis were formed to look further into it and find a resolution.  I am glad to say that Roger Davis has found the original Lynch Formula, which the Lynch Formula creator Ian Lynch had given to him many years prior.  Through the works of Roger, he placed the formula in an Excel Spreadsheet and generated the new, higher numbers, which are needed to make the Lynch Factor Chart complete. The chart now goes to 180 kilograms bodyweight, with all the new numbers generated from the same formula that the previous numbers were.  For those interested, the mathematical expression of the Lynch Formula is:

=((75-(39.53-(300/BW)-(3000/(BW*BW))))^(1/3))/(BW-(39.53-(300/BW)-(3000/(BW*BW))))^(1/3)

This is indeed a much more complicated formula than I thought it would be originally!!  I have expanded the USAWA Lynch Formula Chart with the new values.  It will always be  available on the USAWA website – under the  page titled  “Scoring Information”.  I am the type of person who likes to solve problems quickly, and then immediately take action to implement the solution.  So, I presented this to the USAWA Executive Board for approval, which would allow the USAWA to implement this new Lynch Chart right away.  The USAWA Executive Board, of myself, Denny Habecker, Dennis Mitchell, Chad Ullom, and Scott Schmidt,  approved it unanimously.  This means the USAWA, as of now, will use this new Lynch Factor Chart in our scoring.  The IAWA will need a membership vote, which only occurs when there is a World Council Meeting.  This means it may be next year before the IAWA approves this new Lynch Chart, unless a Council Meeting is called for at the 2010 Gold Cup next month.  Regardless, the committee of myself, Roger, and Chris will present it for IAWA approval at the next Council Meeting.

The new Lynch Factor Chart  – Lynch Factor Chart

I want to especially thank the efforts of Roger Davis and Chris Bass.  Without the efforts of these two, this BIG improvement in our scoring system  would not have been realized.

USAWA Records Fall at Worlds

by Al Myers

82 year old Art Montini broke a USAWA Record in the Steinborn Lift with a lift of 143 pounds. This record was previously held at 105 pounds by the legendary lifter and Stongman Ed Zercher I, which was set at the 1988 Zercher Strength Classic.

Only five USAWA lifters attended the IAWA World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, but SEVERAL USAWA Records were set by this elite group.  Twenty one new USAWA Records were added to the USAWA Record List along with several new IAWA World Records.   Dennis Mitchell and Art Montini lead the way with 6 new USAWA records each.

USAWA RECORDS SET AT WORLDS

Lift Lifter Age Wt Cls Record
Clean and Push Press Dennis Mitchell 75 75 55#
Snatch, One Arm, Left Art Montini 80 85 33#
Snatch, One Arm, Right Denny Habecker 65 85 77#
Snatch, One Arm, Right Dennis Mitchell 75 75 33#
Continental to Belt Denny Habecker 65 85 275#
Continental to Belt Art Montini 80 85 165#
Steinborn Lift Denny Habecker 65 85 244#
Steinborn Lift Dennis Mitchell 75 75 93#
Steinborn Lift Art Montini 80 85 143#
Steinborn Lift Chad Ullom ALL 110 440#
Curl, Cheat Dennis Mitchell 75 75 84#
Curl, Cheat Art, Montini 80 85 77#
Press, Dumbbell, Left Al Myers 40 115 88#
Press, Dumbbell, Left Denny Habecker 65 85 66#
Press, Dumbbell, Left Denny Habecker ALL 85 66#
Press, Dumbbell, Left Chad Ullom ALL 110 110#
Press, Dumbbell, Left Al Myers ALL 115 88#
Press, Dumbbell, Right Dennis Mitchell 75 75 27#
Press, Dumbbell, Right Art Montini 80 85 38#
Deadlift, Trap Bar Dennis Mitchell 75 75 225#
Deadlift, Trap Bar Art Montini 80 85 248#

Several record-breaking highlights occurred which deserve mentioning.  Chad Ullom established the USAWA ALL-TIME best lift in the Steinborn Lift with a lift of 440# (200 kilograms).  This also TIED the best Steinborn Lift in the IAWA Record List, which is held by our IAWA President Steve Gardner when he performed a 200 kilogram Steinborn Lift in 1998.  Art Montini broke two USAWA Records held by the legendary Missouri Strongman Ed Zercher.  Art broke Ed’s records in the Steinborn Lift and the Cheat Curl.  Ed Zercher had set these records in 1988.  It seems only fitting that one legend replaces another legend in the Record List.

The USAWA Record Race between Denny and Art is still going strong.  Denny is now at 369 USAWA Records (compared to 365 in July) while Art is still in second with 362 USAWA Records (compared to 358 in July).  Denny did help himself by breaking a record of Art’s in the Steinborn Lift by 1 Kilo in this meet!!  Art’s Birthday Bash and Record Day is coming up, but Art sets a limit of a maximum 5 records set, so if  Denny and Art both do this, Denny should maintain his lead.

1 2 3 4 5