Author Archives: Al Myers

John’s History in the USAWA

by Al Myers

John Vernacchio completing a Clean and Jerk.

It’s been a sad past couple of weeks with the passing of John Vernacchio.  He had many friends in the all-round weightlifting community.  However, it is a glorious occasion as well, because I know he is in heaven right now meeting family members and friends that have gone before him.  My bet is that he and Howie are having a hard training session together right now – with John pumping out those famous presses of his, while Howard is hooking up the belts to do a Harness Lift.

I would like to take today and share some of the accomplishments that John has achieved throughout his lifting career.  Most of this will be with his time lifting in the USAWA as I don’t have much information on his lifting before that.  However,  Joe Roark (Ironhistory.com) recently provided some important information on John that I wasn’t aware of prior to his USAWA involvement. Initially John did some competitive bodybuilding in his early weightlifting days.  These were his physique competition accomplishments:

Mar 12, 1960 was 11th at Mr. Jr. Middle Atlantic
Dec 09, 1961 was 7th in an Open Physique contest in Norristown, PA
Oct 13, 1962 was 18th in an Open Physique contest in Philadelphia
Apr 04, 1964 was 21st in a physique event at Holy Saviour

After that John become involved with Powerlifting and Olympic Lifting, lifting for the Holy Savior Weightlifting Team.  Joe Roark also provided some contest history of PL and Olympic meets that John competed in in the early 60’s:

Oct 19, 1963 at Atlantic Coast PL: curl 140, Sq 360, BP 200, Total 700 for 6th place in the 181 class
Mar 21, 1964 was last in an Open PL contest in Pittsburgh where his only successful lift was a 380 squat
Feb 13, 1960 in the 148 class at the Greater Philidelphia Open 200-170-235 = 605

In John’s Hall of Fame Bio, it stated that he won his first National Championship in 1961, at the National Collegiate WL Championships.  John also stated in his bio that his two favorites lifts were the Military Press and the Squat – which shows why John eventually found his calling in All-Round Weightlifting by enjoying two such different lifts the best. Most of his Powerlifting was done in his club – the Valley Forge WL Club.  This continued into the early days of the USAWA, as John usually brought a team from his club to represent in all-round meets.  The Valley Forge WL Club was a member club of the USAWA from 1989 to 1995. 

John Vernacchio (left) presenting Jerry Turner (right), a member of the Ambridge Club his award after a meet John was promoting.

John was one of the pioneer leaders of the USAWA.  He promoted the VERY FIRST USAWA National Championships in 1988.  That is still a meet the “old-timers” tell stories about.  He went on to promote three USAWA National Championships (1988, 1989, & 2004).  At this years Nationals, a special award was given to John for this contribution, as he was one of 4 that have promoted the most, at 3, USAWA National Championships.  I am really glad now that he received this final award from the USAWA before his death.  He deserved it! 

John was the second President of the USAWA, elected in January 1989 and serving till the end of 1992.  He also served as one term as the IAWA Vice President (elected in 2000).  In addition, he has served several terms on the IAWA Technical Committee.  He did several IAWA promotions as well.  He promoted three IAWA World Championships (1989, 1991, & 1997), as well as three Gold Cups (1992, 1996, & 2003).  John was “no stranger” to competing overseas.  Numerous times he attended the IAWA Worlds when it was held out of the states. I did some research and have discovered John competed in 12 World Championships!  He had a continuous 10 year run from the the first one in 1988 in Leicester, England to 1997 Worlds in Collegeville, PA.  This included World Meets in Glasgow, Scotland twice and England three times.  His last two World entries came in 2002 & 2005 in Lebanon, PA. John also promoted many Powerlifting meets and Olympic lifting competitions. He promoted the 1987 National Masters WL Championships as well as the 1991 Pan American Masters  WL Championships.  He promoted multiple Eastern Masters PL and WL Championships.

John was an active participant in the USAWA National Championships as well.  All together – he competed in 15 Championships (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, & 2007).  He won numerous Best Lifter Age Group Awards through the years: 1988 Best Lifter 50-54, 1990 Best Lifter 50-54, 1992 Best Lifter 55-59, 1993 Best Lifter 55-59, 1997 Best Lifter 60-64, 2004 Best Lifter 65-69.  He probably won more Best Lifter Awards than this number, as this information came from the old meet results and often not all Best Lifter Awards were recorded.  His highest overall placing at the USAWA Nationals was 4th overall at the 1988 Championships.  He had 4 total “top ten” finishes at Nationals: 4th in 1988, 10th in 1989, 6th in 1990, and 8th in 1997.  John “V” also really supported the IAWA Gold Cup.  He competed in 13 Gold Cups, including Gold Cups  in England and Scotland.  He entered the “very first” Cup in 1991 directed by Howard Prechtel in Lakewood, Ohio and performed a 190 Kg 12″ Base Squat.

Masters Benching Secrets

by Roger LaPointe

Rudy Bletscher, at 70 years of age, performing a Feet in the Air Bench Press at the 2006 USAWA National Championships.

How much do you bench?

How many times have you been asked that question?

To me, the bench press is an exercise. To other people, I know it can be a way of life. For the Masters Age lifter, it can be an enigma..

I have recently been doing more bench pressing, because of my focus on the Crucifix Hold records. Thanks to a torn rotator cuff twelve years ago, I quit doing regular bench pressing. Now, thanks to the Indian Clubs, I am not so hesitant to bench. It used to put that shoulder out of commission for a week, or two, if I pushed it at all.

5 Training Lifts for the Master Bencher

  1. Crucifix Hold – I deal with a lot of Masters Age lifters and we all seem to have our particular collection of injuries, big or small. The Crucifix Hold is a funny lift. I have definitely found the classic flat bench press to be a helpful training lift to help with the crucifix 1RM, and vise versa.
  2. Olympic Power Clean and Press – Don’t use a super arched lay back, like the Russians of the early 1970s, instead press like Schemansky. Jim Bradford told me that Norb (Schemansky) told him he needed to “massage the bar”. My buddy Dave Pohlzin has been teaching me to do it. It’s pretty cool. One day I hope to Clean & Press more than I can bench.
  3. Incline Dumbbell Bench Pressing – Man, you need to crush it like Casey. I have an old Meet poster from Dr. Ken’s Iron Island Gym with a photo of Pat Casey doing incline dumbbell benches with some dumbbells that look to weigh around 220 pounds. Awesome. Most guys over do it with the flat benching and develop tendonitis and other problems at the point where the pecs, front delts and biceps meet at the front of the arm pit. This helps to avoid that problem.
  4. Side Lateral Raises – I know you have heard it a million times before but you really do need to avoid muscle imbalance in the delts. On some of these things, the bodybuilders have it right. If you hate this classic bodybuilder movement, try a one arm barbell snatch high pull. I won’t beat a dead horse on this concept. Just try it.
  5. Dumbbell Bent Over Rows – This will solidify the shoulder girdle like nothing else you can do.

Round out these movements with Indian Club work. Masters lifters all seem to have rotator cuff and biceps problems. In many cases, the Indian Clubs seem to solve that problem. They will help you bench more weight. Follow up the Indian Club work with the 5 exercises listed above and you might be benching more than when you were in your 20’s.

Roger LaPointe
“Today is a good day to lift.”

OHHH! My Toe!

by Roger LaPointe

Al Myers doing a Steinborn Lift at the 2010 IAWA World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. The Steinborn Lift is a lift that requires very tight quality collars that won't slip off!

Clang! Ding! Bang! Ohhh! My TOE!

Imagine the sound of plate after plate hitting the floor and then the other plates bouncing off those plates and rolling on the floor, with the ringing sound of milled cast iron followed by intense cursing and swearing…

Yes, the catastrophic failure of a crappy spring collar is what I have just described. Of course, it is followed by intense pain, maybe a little blood and a quick trip to the emergency room. None of this is anything I want to be a part of. I really don’t want to be the guy being taken to the emergency room.

Before you do a lift, make sure someone reliable has checked your collars, particularly if you are doing a dumbbell lift. Equipment failures happen. If there is a bolt, it can come loose. If there is a collar, someone can forget to tighten it down. If there is a weld, it can break. As unbelievable as it sounds, I have even seen dumbbell heads that have sheared off the steal handles. The long and short of it is that people abuse gym equipment and there is NO way a manufacturer or gym owner can anticipate every stupid thing that can happen in a gym… Believe me, I can tell you stories.

Quality Spin-Lock Collars are available from Atomic Athletic.

You have to be responsible for your own actions. Check your equipment.

RULE #1
I never use crappy collars for dumbbell lifts and ALL Spring Collars are crappy.

RULE #2
If I am the one who might be injured, I check the equipment before lifting with it.

RULE #3
See Rule #1 and Rule #2. If I violate them, then I only have myself to blame.

I can get a little OCD and excessive about certain things and will simply go overboard sometimes. For example, I have a collection of collars, both standard size and Olympic sized. I use different ones for their ideal applications. If you are just realizing that your collars are an important part of your equipment arsenal, then here is a good place to start looking. I love spin-lock collars. I highly recommend that everyone own at least one pair.

Happy lifting. Make sure to tighten down your collars.

Live strong, Roger
“Today is a good day to lift.”

World Entries

by Al Myers

Art Montini, the oldest active lifter in the USAWA, was the first person to send his entry in for the IAWA World Championships!

The deadline has passed (September 15th) for entry into the IAWA World Championships to be held on October 6th & 7th in Salina, Kansas.   A total of 25 lifters have entered, which looks to be a good field of competition!  I am excited that there are 6 overseas lifters registered – from England, Scotland and Australia.  This will make this years meet a TRUE World Competition.  In the past there have been people who have not liked to refer to this big IAWA meet as a “World Meet” because of the limited number of countries in attendance.  I will say this – the invite is open to ANYONE IN THE WORLD to attend, so why is it not a World Meet?   Just because most countries elect not to attend?  No one is being excluded from participating in this one, so I would say that qualifies it as a World Competition.  I will always refer to this competition as the World Meet. 

I want to thank everyone who has entered.  Chad and I are “in the middle” of making the final plans to insure that this will be  a TOP NOTCH Championship.  Part of this plan-making process involves getting the final count of awards for the lifters, which was done first thing this morning.  That is one of the many reasons we needed to get a good “head-count” by enforcing a deadline for entry.  The awards we are giving out are VERY NICE and we want our order to be exact on this as to not leave any “left overs”.  So the order went out for 25 this morning for those 25 lifters which got entered in time –  and which was the final date deadline the trophy shop gave me.

Now onto “my soapbox” for a spell.  Promoting these type of big competitions cost money.  Anyone who thinks meet directors “get rich” are clueless – and these people should promote a competition themselves firsthand to find out how much it costs to put on a good show.  The entry fees never cover all expenses. I’m just lucky Chad agreed to “share the losses” with me on this one.   We made it pretty clear that there was a entry deadline with penalties for late entries (if they were going to be accepted).  Chad and I have decided we MAY take late entries with this stipulation – entry fee is now $100 and the late entrant will receive no award (since this order has already been placed), and you have asked us and received permission before the day of the competition  if there is still “room” for you to enter.  Another thing – an entry is not complete until the entry form AND ENTRY FEE is in hand.  I’m not interested in good will gestures of taking the word that a lifter will show and making plans for that, only to be stiffed.  It’s happened too many times to me in the past. 

Again – I want to thank all lifters who have entered.  Chad and I will do our best to insure that you will have a very enjoyable time!   And special thanks goes to Art Montini for getting the first entry in!!!

REGISTERED ENTRIES FOR WORLDS
Art Montini USA
George Dick Scotland
Frank Allen England
Sam Trews Australia
John Mahon Australia
Chad Ullom USA
Lance Foster USA
Paula De La Mata England
Graham Saxton England
Tim Piper USA
Dawn Piper USA
Dennis Mitchell USA
Ruth Jackson USA
Al Springs USA
Denny Habecker USA
LaVerne Myers USA
Rudy Bletscher USA
Frank Ciavattone USA
Dan Wagman USA
Bob Geib USA
Susan Sees USA
Dave Glasgow USA
Doug Kressly USA
Jera Kressly USA
Randy Smith USA

Motivations from Castro

by Roger LaPointe

Pablo Lara

Do you know who Pablo Lara is?

Even if you do, I’m betting that almost nobody you know has a clue who Pablo Lara is or what he is famous for doing. For those of you who don’t know of Pablo Lara, he won the gold medal in the 76 Kg Weight Class in Weightlifting during the 1996 Olympics. His 205 Kg (451.9 lbs.) Clean & Jerk was an Olympic Record.

Motivations are funny things. By the year 2012, anyone knowing who won the 75 Kg (167 lbs.) weight class is filling up brain capacity with some pretty useless trivia. Yet, For PABLO LARA, that information is NOT TRIVIA. Lara set five world records during his career and was a national hero in Cuba.

You want to know about intensity? In 1997 I was able to watch Lara lift. I never spoke with Lara. I wanted to shake his hand, but really didn’t have a good opportunity. He was being watched pretty closely by the Cuban coaches. I was lucky enough to be sent down to Guatemala for the NACACI Championships in order to politic and try to sell weights for the York Barbell Company. Lara was my hero. I was able to watch every one of his warm-up attempts and his lifts on the platform. This was not a big contest, so he ONLY did a 190 kg Clean & Jerk. That is 418.9 pounds, more than any middle weight lifter has ever done from the United States.

Here’s some real motivation. I watched Lara come into the hotel, before the meet, with at least a pound of gold chains around his neck. I thought it was pretty ostentatious, but I had grown up in the Detroit area and had seen that sort of thing before. Leaving Guatemala, I saw Pablo in the airport and he didn’t have any chains. I found out, from one of the Canadian Coaches, that he had sold all of his gold so that he could bring back dollars to Cuba. Essentially, the Cuban team lived a good life sponsored by the state, but the lifters families were still in poverty and that is what the lifters would go back to when they were no longer part of the National Team. Those gold chains were going to be a chunk of Pablo Lara’s retirement. I have no idea how true that may be, as I have never heard anything more about him after that meet. I have heard similar stories about successful lifters from other third world countries. That is some motivation.

You have to find your motivation. I know that through that look of intensity, Pablo Lara also seemed like one smiling happy guy. Weightlifting is hard work. I also know that no one sticks with it without truly enjoying it. Ultimately Lara was done after 1996.

Live strong, Roger LaPointe

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