Author Archives: Al Myers

Clarks RD

by Al Myers

MEET RESULTS

CLARK’S RECORD DAY

Bill just sent me the results from his meet last weekend.  It looks like it was a busy affair!  I’ll start with the bad news before the good.  Bill had sanctioned the Backbreaker along with a record day on this day, but he had no entries in the Backbreaker.  The Backbreaker is a traditional meet in Clark’s Gym that consists of the Hip Lift, Hand and Thigh Lift, Harness Lift, Neck Lift, and the Back Lift.  Truly a grueling ordeal. I’ve done it before and can attest to the extreme soreness afterwards.  Can’t really blame the guys for passing on it!

But the GOOD NEWS is that all round lifting is still alive and flourishing in Clark’s Gym.  Six lifters took part in the record day event.  The day was highlighted by the appearance of Steve Schmidt as he attacked another Guinness World Record.  Steve was successful in adding his name to the Guinness Record Book once again.  Steve, at age 59 and 215 pounds BWT, pulled five nails from wood with his teeth in 7.44 seconds! He then set a second record for most nails pulled from wood in one minute – with an astonishing count of 27!  I will try hard to get a follow-up story on this.

Veteran gym member Joe Garcia set the pace for adding more records to the USAWA record list.  It practically fills up a full page.  I guess now since Joe has passed on keeping the record list up to date to me – he doesn’t mind making a lot of work for me!  I don’t remember him EVER doing that many record attempts in a day when he was keeping up the list!  Great job Joe – and I really don’t mind adding your name many more times! David Emslie continues to be a presence at Clark’s meets, and added many records himself. He set records in ALL combinations with the vertical bars which is quite the accomplishment. Bill Clark, at age 82, still has record setting performances in him.  I was really impressed to see the list of new records he set.  He set a new USAWA record in the Hip Lift with a fine lift of 907 pounds, but in his letter he told me that he hopes to get another 1000# Hip Lift before long.  I should remind everyone that this is done with a plethora of artificial joints, too many to count on your fingers using both hands.

MEET RESULTS:

Clark’s Record Day
November 8th, 2014
Clark’s Gym
Columbia, Missouri

Meet Director: Bill Clark

Officials  (1 Official System Used): Bill Clark, Joe Garcia

Results (PDF): ClarksRD-page1 ClarksRD-page2

Dino Gym Challenge

by Al Myers

MEET ANNOUNCEMENT
DINO GYM CHALLENGE PRESENTS THE –

“Herman Goerner Deadlift Medley”

Every year I like to change up the theme of the Dino Gym Challenge to give it variety.   I have honored several of my favorite Old Time Strongmen in the past by hosting meets in their memory, ie Arthur Saxon and Warren Lincoln Travis.   This year the meet will honor the great German lifter and strongman – Herman Goerner.   He was an outstanding deadlifter in many pulling disciplines, so this meet will feature an entire meet of various deadlift movements.  It ought to provide for a very challenging meet.

I encourage prior meet registration, or at least let me know if you plan to attend ahead of time so I can prepare accordingly.  The meet will be held in the Dino Gym on the main platform.

LIFTS:

Deadlift – Fulton Bar, Ciavattone Grip

Deadlift – One Arm

Deadlift – No Thumbs, Overhand Grip

Deadlift – Ciavattone Grip

Deadlift – Heels Together

ENTRY FORM (PDF) – 2015 Dino Challenge Entry Form

Taking 2015 Memberships

by Al Myers

It’s time to start renewing your USAWA memberships for the next year!  Memberships in the USAWA run for the calendar year – first of January to the end of December. A few have already renewed their memberships, and are listed at bottom of the membership roster under 2015 memberships.  Once January 1st rolls around, the 2014 membership list is be “archived” and the 2015 list will come to the top as the active membership list.

Membership applications are located on the upper left column of the website under “forms and applications”.   Just print out the form, write a check for $25 to the USAWA, and mail it to me.  Once I get it I will add your name to the membership roster.   This roster is the official listing of our current members.  It is always kept up to date to allow for anyone to check their membership status or for meet directors to verify memberships.

OTSM Championships

by Eric Todd

This Saturday past, ET’s House of Iron and Stone played host to the third annual “Battle in the Barn”. This year’s affair also served as the Old Time Strongman Championship for the USAWA. It turned out to be a great competition with some new lifters as well as some of the old players as well. The weather was cold, but the competition was not. Some fantastic lifting was done.

We started out with the Saxon Snatch. To my knowledge, this is only the second time this lift has been contested in the USAWA. Keith Thompson and I tied for the top mark of 105 pounds, just shy of Mark Mitchell’s all time record of 107. Next we hit the Apollon’s Lift. In this Discipline, Keith Thompson once again tied for top honors, this time with Mike Lucht, making his return to all-round. They both hit 305 pounds. However, this was possibly overshadowed by Jenna Lucht’s 150 pound lift, which tied her for the all-time female record with the powerful Felicia Simms. As the day progressed, the weights got heavier. We moved into the Dinnie Lift. This time, I had the top lift of 700 pounds, missing a 780 record attempt. Greg Cook hit a very impressive 650 his very first time trying the lift, and Keith Thompson hitting a 600 without the aid of a hook grip. We headed to the last lift of the day, the Hand and Thigh. Keith Thompson hit an easy PR of half a ton. I finally hit the elusive 1500, first time going this high in a meet. I missed a record attempt of 1565. Jenna hit an easy 600 for her top lift in the meet, but then shamed us all with a huge 810 record attempt. Mind you, on my top end lifting, an ant could have squeaked through. Jenna cleared by four inches!

Also in attendance were Lance Foster and Dean Ross. Both cease to amaze me with their dedication to our organization and their attendance at meet in the area. Both came ready to battle, and actually flip flopped in places. Lance got fourth in total weight lifted, and Dean when formula and age adjustment was made.

MEET RESULTS

USAWA OTSM Championships
November 1st, 2014
ET’s House of Iron and Stone
Turney, Missouri

Meet Director: Eric Todd
Judges: Lance Foster, Mike Murdock, Eric Todd
Record keeper and expeditor: Mike Murdock
Loaders: Scott Tully and all competitors
Celebrity Guest appearance: Conan Wass

Lifts: Saxon Snatch, Appollon’s Lift, Dinnie Lift, Hand and Thigh

Women’s Results

LIFTER AGE BWT SAX APP DIN H@T TOT PTS
Jenna Lucht 23 144 40 150 420 600 1210 1321.9

Men’s Results

LIFTER AGE BWT SAX APP DIN H&T TOT PTS
Eric Todd 39 255.5 105 300 700 1500 2605 2042.8
Greg Cook 57 250 80 190 650 950 1870 1749.4
Keith Thompson 28 239.5 105 305 600 1000 2010 1628.3
Dean Ross 71 267.5 60 115 420 720 1315 1330.3
Lance Foster 48 335 65 170.5 490 720 1445 1066.1
Mike Lucht 32 227.5 90 305 525 xxx 920 765.6

Notes: BWT is bodyweight in pounds. All lifts recorded in pounds. TOT is total pounds lifted.  PTS are total adjusted points for age and bodyweight corrections.

4th attempt for records:
Apollon’s Lift: Greg Cook 205#
Hand and Thigh: 810#

Record breaking after meet:
Snatch From Hang: Mike Lucht 170# judged by Mike Murdock and Lance Foster
Right hand 2” Vertical Bar: Keith Thompson 215# judged by Lance Foster and Mike Murdock
Cyr Press: Jenna Lucht 70# judged by Lance Foster and Mike Murdock
Harness Lift: Eric Todd 2560 Judged by Lance Foster

Burton Record Session

by Al Myers

Group picture from the Burton Powerhouse Record Session.

I had an absolutely great time last weekend in England at the 2014 IAWA Gold Cup, promoted by Steve Gardner of the Burton Powerhouse Gym.   I met so many great enthusiastic all rounders, and witnessed some outstanding lifting.  Plus I got to share stories with many ole friends from overseas, and be part of the largest attended Gold Cup in IAWA history.

However, the fun didn’t end on the day of the Gold Cup for me.  The Monday afterwards Steve hosted a Record Day Session in his gym for his gym members which my Dad, Denny, and I got to be part of.  Since there were SO MANY lifters at the Gold Cup, it was virtually impossible for everyone to get their second Gold Cup lift in on the meet day.  All of the Burton gym members, along with myself, my dad, and Denny postponed our second lifts for this record session to help accommodate getting the Gold Cup finished on time.

I truly enjoy getting the opportunity to lift in new gyms – especially gyms whose training focus is All Round Weightlifting. Steve has just recently moved his gym to a new facility which is much larger.  This was my first time seeing his new gym, and I was very impressed!  Steve has the gym set up with great lifting atmosphere, with the walls lined with many pictures, awards, and  other items of motivation.  I tried to take it all in – but know I missed some of it.  It has to be one of the best All Round gyms in the World!

Eight  Burton Powerhouse gym members took part in this Record Session (James Gardner, Chris Findon, Graham Saxton, Steve Gardner, Karen Gardner, John Gardner, Pete Tryner, and Paula Thompson), plus myself, my dad LaVerne, and Denny Habecker.  This made for a full night of lifting!   Steve ran the evening of lifting like he runs meets – very efficiently and quick.  The two platforms were constantly in action with more record lifts being done.   I was most impressed with Chris Findon doing a dumbbell Snatch of 48Kg after recent elbow surgery, Big Graham and John’s 2 man hack lift of 350 Kg,  and Karen’s 90 kg Trap Bar Deadlift.   And I got to add that getting to see Denny set another record in the Pullover and Push was a pleasure (remember to get the big belly bounce Denny!!!).    Denny was eating so well on this trip that he went UP a weight class in 2 days after the Gold Cup and decided to pick his same Gold Cup lift for his record session lift!

Denny Habecker with a record 95 KG Pullover and Push.

I picked the Index Finger Hack Lift for my second lift – and succeeded with a 90 kg lift which I was pleased with.  I still have the proof of that lift on my torn left index finger as I type.  After watching John Gardner lift a huge thumbless grip DL at the Gold Cup, and since this is also on of my favorite lifts,  I talked John into joining me for a 2 man thumbless deadlift.  This is not an official lift in IAWA, so we were doing it just for fun.  We lifted 345 Kgs, and just missed 365.   We have our sights set on 400 KG now!

The evening ended with myself introducing the Burton Gym to teeth lifting.  I made a teeth bit for them, and challenged Graham to a lift off.  This was not really a fair fight, since Graham has never done any teeth lifting before and I have, but he was a gamer and took me on.  We had lots of fun with it – and I bet the next time I go back to the Burton Powerhouse the gym will have mastered the teeth lifting and will be putting up big numbers in it.

All this was finished in an hour and a half.    I want to thank Steve and all the members of the Burton Powerhouse Gym for all they do for the IAWA, and especially for their work in making the 2014 IAWA Gold Cup a great success!

MEET RESULTS (PDF) – Record_Session_at_Burton_27.10.14

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