USAWA

The USAWA has several bodyweight classes and age group classes for lifters to compete in. Any lifter may find a class to compete in where the competition is against other lifters of the same bodyweight and age.

Age groups

The USAWA has four main age groups which are the Junior, Senior, Open, and Masters age groups.  A lifters age is determined by the lifters actual age the day of the competition. The Junior age group includes lifters who have not reached their 20th birthday. The Junior age groups may be further split into four smaller age groups. These include 13 and under, 14-15,16-17, and 18-19. The Senior age group includes lifters who are between the ages of 20-39. The Open age group includes lifters 20 years of age and older.   The Master age group includes lifters who are over the age of 40. Master age groups are often split into smaller age group classes. These include 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, etc.

Weight classes

There are 19 bodyweight classes, beginning at 40 kilograms. There is a new bodyweight class for every 5 kilograms above 40 kilograms until 125 kilograms is reached. Lifters above 125 kilograms compete in the unlimited class, or the 125+ KG class. At the National Championships, lifters compete in one of these 19 weight classes within the smallest split of age groups for class placings. Best lifter awards are given for each age group and is determined by formula adjusting the lifter’s total for bodyweight and age. For local competitions, the Meet Director is in charge of how the scoring is done for each competition and the type of awards given. The Meet Director may combine different weight classes or age groups to make different divisions.

Gender adjustment

(added to USAWA in 2024, to match the way IAWA does it)

A Gender allowance is given to female lifters, which is 33%, that they can more equally compete against male competitors. A lifter’s total is multiplied by the Lynch Formula Factor, then multiplied by any Age Allowance% (plus 33% extra for female lifters). This will find a lifter’s Amended Total and will be used to determine the overall rankings of all of the lifters in a competition.

Overall scoring

The Meet Director may have all the lifters compete against each other, in which the lifter’s total is formula adjusted for bodyweight, age, and gender which is the recommended scoring system of the USAWA.  The method for adjusting for bodyweight and age is this:

• 1st – Make the bodyweight adjustment. This is done by using the Lynch Formula. The Lynch Formula is:

Lynch Points = Total Weight Lifted x Lynch Factor

The Lynch Factor is a coefficient that corresponds to a lifter’s bodyweight. The intent of the Lynch Formula is to create a fair way of comparing all lifters, regardless of bodyweight. The  Lynch Factor Chart contains the Lynch Factors. If a lifter’s bodyweight is weighed in pounds, it must be converted to kilograms to find the appropriate Lynch Factor.  This conversion is: 1 Kilogram = 2.20462262 Pounds.  It is advisable to use at least 3 decimal places to make this conversion.

• 2nd – Make the age adjustment. For the Junior and Masters classes, an adjustment is made for age. The formula for the age adjustment is this:

Age Adjusted Lynch Points = Lynch Points + (Age Percent x Lynch Points)

This provides an age  handicap for the Junior and Master lifters.    If a lifter does not receive any Age Percent Adjustment, their Age Adjusted Lynch Points would be the same as their Lynch Points.

Another formula which can be used to calculate the Age Adjusted Lynch Points is this:

Age Adjusted Lynch Points = Lynch Points x Age Percent Factor

In using the above formula, the Age Percent Factor must be mathematically expressed over 100%, ie 25% would be inserted into the formula as 1.25, 10% as 1.10, etc.

The Age Percent adjustments for a Junior lifter are:

12 and under – 33%
13 – 25%
14 – 20%
15 – 15%
16 – 10%
17 – 5%
18 – 3%
19 – 2%

The Age Percent adjustments for a Master lifter are 1% for each year of age starting at 40 till the age of 65. At age 66 a 2% adjustment is made for all years beyond and including this age. So for example, a lifter of 40 years of age receives 1%, 41 years of age receives 2%, 42 years of age receives 3%, etc. A lifter age 66 would receive an age adjustment of 28%, age 67 would receive 30%, etc.

• 3rd – make the gender adjustment for female lifters, to allow for an overall ranking

Adjusted Total = Age adjusted Lynch points if the lifter is male

Adjusted Total = Age adjusted Lynch points x 1.33 if the lifter is female

This Adjusted Total is then used for determining the ranking of a meet.  This is often reported in the meet results as PTS, which stands for the Age Adjusted Lynch Points.

Scoresheets

In scoring meets, it is important to have the proper scoresheets for the officials or scorekeepers.  Below are two template scoresheets that contain the pertinent information needed to score a meet. These may be downloaded as pdf’s.

Scoresheet (PDF) – MeetScoresheet

Weigh-in Form (PDF) – MeetWeighinForm

The USAWA has computer scoring programs available for free download. The old program was written using a old version of Excel, while the new scoring program is compatible with the latest Excel versons.

Spreadsheet for meet scoring: master scoresheet (2024 edition)

Provided for historical purposes: old master scoresheet (2016 edition) – does not contain gender adjustment