USAWA

Finally home! What a weekend. Great to see all my friends.

Laynne Burnett: Thanks, Pal, for recovering the sheaves and driving an hour just to get them to me.
Dave Glasgow: Always a pleasure, brother.
Scott Tully: Thanks for not punching me in the throat (or elsewhere)and for you donations, I got two and they are awesome.
Ryan Batchman: Great to work with you all day judging and loading, thanks!
John O’Brien: Great job lifting and for driving, I don’t think Big Red would have made it!
Mike Murdock: You know why, you are a great man with a big heart.
Dean Ross: “I got hit in the face by a sledgehammer…..TWICE”….you are a legend.
Rudy: I want to be like you when I’m your age….maybe sooner.
LaVerne: Why weren’t you lifting? Oh, yeah, you didn’t have a DINO GYM shirt!
Wilbur Miller: I don’t think half the guys there realized they were in the midst of one of the greatest strength athletes of our time!!!!
Chad: Don’t worry, I only believe most of what Al tells me. And you didn’t outkick you coverage. You deserve it.
Al: Words aren’t enough…..anchors aweigh!!!!
DJ, Vince: Great to see NAHA support other organizations….I know “other” groups that would never do that. You are first class in my book.
Mark Mitchell: “have you lost weight…haha” Great to see you, what a small world.
Felicia Simms: Are you kidding me! Future women’s world champion in Highland games, mark it down and see what happens. Dave and I both just adopted you….we are your “Highland Games Dads”.
Eric Todd: Great performance and what a determined comeback from that long ago back injury….you looked as strong as I’ve ever seen you.
Sam: Every time I looked over, you were putting up bigger and bigger numbers, great job!
Lance: LPC’s got to stick together. We were all talking later about how you always show up, do your best, and get better and better. That’s what it’s all about.
Joe Garcia: I was impressed and great to hang out with you all weekend in Al’s secret clubhouse.
EVERYONE ELSE, great job, great meet see you soon at the USAWA Nationals!!!!

What an exciting weekend at the Dino Gym!!! Thanks everyone for making this happen. Everything went according to schedule – and we even finished on time! Not very many times do you go to a competition that has 18 lifters and 5 events and finish under 4 hours.

I finally got the meet report done. I hope it’s not too long! I could’ve said more than what I did! I didn’t even tell any Thom stories. Al

Congrats to everyone! Again, sorry I couldn’t be there because it sounds like I missed a heck of a time.

I’m enjoying the Saxon Plank that I won in the silent auction though! Lifted on it today and was even more impressed with the contest numbers – especially for the Saxon Snatch – when I realized how hard it is to snatch any significant weight on that beast.

Did the lifters use a similar Saxon Plank (wood or steel) to the one I got or did they have to use steel – which would be slicker I think unless it held chalk well?

I’ll train with it a few times a month because I like the feel of it. Did some pinch deadlifts with it too and was humbled by how little weight I could do on that too.

Ben, Al made three of those, one is in his gym and two got auctioned. They were all identical. I was most impressed that Felecia Simms got 70lbs on that. Well, she impressed me all day!

Ben – I’m glad you got the Saxon Plank. You will have a lot of fun with it! I have had a steel one for some time and use it for a variety of movements. Try doing curls with it – tremendous forearm workout! We also do pinch grip deadlifts with it. I think Mark has the Dino Gym record with a lift of 195 pounds – and that was on the steel plank, not the wood plank. Al

Al, I recall Mike Smith getting a steel plank one time when you challenged him to break the Dino Gym record to get it.

Yeah – I issued Mike the challenge and he did it!! I had an extra steel plank and told him if he broke the Dino Gym record in the plank deadlift I would give it to him – which he did with a lift of 190 pounds. But it wasn’t much longer and Mark took his record back!! Al

I notice that when a “NON” gym member breaks a record, you guys usually waste NO TIME in making sure it’s broken by a gym member……hahahaha

That’s usually true!!! At least we try our hardest to. However Thom, your record in the water bottle blowup is still on the Dino Gym Record Board. It hasn’t been broken yet. I’m still trying to find a gym member “more windy” than you! Al

How much harder is the steel plan than the wooden one in your estimation? 195lbs is a stellar lift!

Find someone more windy than me!?!? Good luck with that!!!!

Ben – I’m not really sure on this. Also, the steel plank (or block bar as we call it) is painted with a gloss slick black paint. I need to do some pinch dl with the saxon plank, and then I would know. Al