USAWA

It may surprise new lifters to know that it’s very easy to set a record in USAWA! In fact, the way I learned about USAWA was bumping into one of our late members, John McKean, at a local gym. He said “You could set some records!” and I thought…who, me?? But now I’m a proud member of the century club, with well over 100 records to my name.

In USAWA, we have two types of meets. In one type, the lifts are decided by the meet director, and it’s up to the lifter to be sure they know how to perform those specific lifts. But the other type is the record day, where each lifter gets to choose what lifts they would like to do, with the goal of setting a national or world record. In this article I’m going to explain record days, and walk new lifters through the process of choosing and setting their first records.

Wait, how is it so easy to set records?

I’m not saying it will be easy, exactly. But look: we have around 200 lifts in the record book (even if some of them are not going to be very popular, hello Teeth Lift). One handed lifts can count for two separate records if you do them on the right and then the left hand.

We also have weight classes and age groups. So for example, if you are a 70 kg man, there is currently no record in your weight class for the Teeth Lift! That one could be yours! If you weigh 75 kilos, there is already an open record, but if you’re over 40 or under 18, you could set an age group record even if you cannot beat the open record. See how this works?

When and where can I set records?

Take a look at the schedule of upcoming events, which you can see on the sidebar of this website, or if you’re reading on a phone, scroll to the bottom of the page. Anything labeled “record day” is a good opportunity to set records.

Other types of meets will often include a record day to finish out the day’s lifting. And if you compete in a meet with set lifts, you should still check the record book for those lifts! You may be able to set records with your regular attempts in the competition.

Competitions also typically allow a fourth attempt for the purpose of setting records–so if you’ve done your three attempts but feel like you have more in you, you can request a fourth attempt, which will not count for the competition, but will still allow you to set a record if successful. (You can even break a record on your first, second, or third attempt, and then break your own just-set record on your fourth.)

There are also two big meets each year that are high-profile record days: the Presidential Cup (USAWA) and the Gold Cup (IAWA). Both ask lifters to choose a lift where they believe they can set a record, whatever that may be, and to do all of their attempts at record-setting poundages. An award is given to whoever does the most impressive lift of the day.

How do I find out what the current records are?

We keep a list of national (US) records here. Take note of the date the list was most recently updated, since there may have been records set since then (but generally our records team does a great job of keeping it up to date).

Download the most recent Individual record list (you can import it into Google Docs if you don’t have a computer with a spreadsheet program) and take a look at the tabs at the bottom. One of the sheets is labeled Record Grid, and this is the best way to look at an individual lift. Each column is a weight class, and each row is an age group. Lifters from age 20 to 39 don’t have their own age groups, and can only compete in the “open” class, which is labeled ALL. Since we’ve been using the Teeth Lift as our example, here is the grid for men’s Teeth Lifts. (Select “F” from the sex dropdown to see the women’s records. Currently only two women have set records in the Teeth Lift, so I guess I’ll have to get to this one eventually!)

How do weight classes work?

Each weight class is named after the highest weight you can weigh and still compete in that class. So if you weigh 101 kilograms, you will compete in the 105 kg class. But if you managed to lose 1 kg of weight, you could compete in the 100 kg class.

And, yes, weight classes are in kilograms but lifts are in pounds. I’m sorry.

How do age groups work?

Age groups are named after the lowest age that you can be and still compete in that class. So if you are 41 years old, you are in the 40 year old age group with everybody else who is 40 to 44 years old. When you turn 45, you can start setting records in the 45 year old age group.

Lifters who are under age 13 compete in the same age group as 13-year-olds.

What about world records?

Our international organization, IAWA, maintains world records. You can look those up here.

Note that IAWA does not recognize all the same lifts we do. The Hackenschmidt floor press, for example, is a USAWA lift but not an IAWA lift. On the other hand, USAWA does not recognize a regular plain old deadlift, but IAWA does.

You can set world records at any USAWA or IAWA event, but please note that while USAWA only requires one official to set national records, IAWA requires three officials.

If you are from a country that does not have its own IAWA-affiliated organization, you cannot set national records, but you can still set world records. So, for example, the Canadians who lifted at True North True Strength last month were not able to set US records since they are not from the US, and they could not set Canadian records since there is no Canadian organization (yet!) but they were able to set IAWA records. We made sure that three referees were present to certify their lifts as official world records.