Author Archives: Al Myers

Club Challenge

by Al Myers

MEET ANNOUNCEMENT – THE 2011 USAWA CLUB CHALLENGE

John McKean and Art Montini of the Ambridge VFW BBC are the hosts for the 2011 USAWA Club Challenge.

After the overwhelming success of the USAWA Club Challenge last year, John McKean has announced plans to host this unique team competition again this year.  The date has been set – March 12th.  The Club Challenge will follow  along the same guidelines as last year.   This competition is a “team” competition – with each club bringing three members whose adjusted points will be added together to form a “team score”.  No awards will be given for individual performance.  The Challenge will occur at the famous Ambridge Barbell Club in Ambridge, PA.  John has set an afternoon start time to allow for lifters to fly in the morning of the meet.  This is a great opportunity for all USAWA Member Clubs to show their “team spirit” by pitting themselves against other clubs in the USAWA.  Even though I would like to see teams composed of USAWA members who list their club as their affiliated club on the membership roster, this is not required.  So if you are the only one from your club that wants to attend and you can find two other team members, that is allowed. If a club wants to bring more than one team – that is ok as well.  The Ambridge BBC is a very interesting gym, and contains equipment that you will not see anyplace else!  Plus after the meet, John knows the best places to eat in town and you will not be disappointed in the post-meet celebration!

2011 USAWA Club Challenge

Date:  Saturday, March 12th

Venue:  Ambridge BBC

Meet Director:  John McKean

Entry Fee:  None

Start Time:  2:30 PM

Sanction:  USAWA

Lifts:

Bentover Row

Deadlift – 2 Bars

Neck Lift

There is no entry form for this competition. If interested, contact myself (at amyers@usawa.com) or John.

National Postal Meet Reminder

by Al Myers

Dino Gym member Chuck Cookson lifts 656 pounds in the 12 inch base Deadlift in the 2010 USAWA National Postal Meet.

I just want to remind everyone that the deadline for the 2010 USAWA National Postal Meet is the last day of December.  If you only do one postal meet – do this one.  The USAWA Postal Meet Director John Wilmot picked three lifts for this meet that ANYONE can do – 12″ base deadlift, heels together clean and press, and the cheat curl.   Make sure you include the signatures of the officials that judge your lifts.  For postal meets, you may use someone who is not a certified USAWA official and your lifts will still count for placings.  However, lifts MUST have a certified official in order to set a USAWA Record (and THREE certified officials for a IAWA record).  This information is recorded on the result sheet.

The USAWA Postal Meet Series has been a big success these past few years.  John Wilmot deserves the credit for this.  He really believes in Postal Meets as a way of encouraging participation.  And I agree with him!!  All you have to do is do the lifts in your own gym – and it doesn’t even require any expense!!!  It doesn’t get any easier than that.

This year I am going to recognize an OVERALL Postal Meet Champion.  The scoring for this will be very straight-forward.  You will receive points for EACH Postal Meet (of the four) you compete in throughout the year.  If there are 10 competitors, first will receive 10 points and last will receive 1 point.  If there are only 5 competitors, first will receive 5 points and last 1 point, etc.  The National Postal Meet will be worth double points.

There also will be awards for the winners in the National Postal Meet – and you get ALL THIS FOR FREE!!!

Goerner Deadlift

by Al Myers

MEET RESULTS – GOERNER DEADLIFT DOZEN PLUS ONE

2010 Goerner Deadlift Participants: (left to right) Mike Murdock, Al Myers, and Rudy Bletscher

The tradition of the Goerner Deadlift continues!  After a postponement and a change of locations, the Goerner Deadlift has added another year to it’s rich history.  Bill Clark graciously let me reschedule it at the Dino Gym after he cancelled it because of low entries, and only one entry was added as the result of the postponement.  That one addition was Mike Murdock.  So, overall the Goerner this year only attracted 3 lifters, which is still a pretty low turnout for a meet of this caliber. Rudy Bletscher and myself were the other two lifters.

Rudy Bletscher pulled a 265# Heels Together Deadlift.

Because of lack of available weekends left in December, the meet occurred this past Tuesday night.  We started at 6 PM – which is a pretty late start for a meet that has 13 lifts!!  We kept after it at a fast pace, and by the time we finished at 10 PM all of us were starting to feel the effects of the aches and pains in our backs from the multiple deadlift attempts!   The real heated battle was between Rudy and Mike.  Both of these guys are over 70 years old and are two tough characters!  Together they teamed up at the 2010 USAWA Team Nationals last September  to become the National Champs in Two-Man lifting in the 70 year age division. Who can forget their 2-Man Trap Bar Deadlift of 585 pounds at that meet???  Both these guys are great pullers – so I knew this was going to be a close battle between them.  It was “nip & tuck” till the finger lifts, then Rudy’s experience with the Finger Deadlifts showed and he pulled out a tight win over Mike, and gathered second place overall.

My highlight of the meet was FINALLY officially registering a 400 pound plus One Arm Deadlift!  I have worked for this for very long time, and this NIGHT was the NIGHT!  My 405# One Arm Deadlift broke the record of 402# held by Kevin Fulton in the 40 year age group/115 kg class.

I want to thank Bill for allowing me to host the Goerner Deadlift this year, and to Rudy and Mike for showing up to make it a competitive event.

FULL MEET RESULTS:

Goerner Deadlift Dozen Plus One
Dino Gym, Holland, Kansas
December 14th, 2010

Meet Director:  Al Myers

Officials (one official system used):  Al Myers & Mike Murdock

Lifts:  Deadlift – Heels Together, Jefferson Lift, Hack Lift, Deadlift – 2 Bars, Deadlift – Right Arm, Deadlift – Left Arm, Deadlift – Right Arm, No Thumb, Deadlift – Left Arm, No Thumb, Deadlift – Reeves, Deadlift – Middle Fingers, Deadlift – Ring Fingers, Deadlift – Index Fingers, Deadlift – Little Fingers

Lifters:

Rudy Bletscher – 75 years old & 220# bodyweight

Mike Murdock – 70 years old & 234# bodyweight

Al Myers – 44 years old & 244# bodyweight

Lift Rudy Bletscher Mike Murdock Al Myers
Deadlift – HT 265 265 551
Jefferson Lift 198 198 551
Hack Lift 198 154 551
DL – 2 Bars 220 265 551
DL – Rt Arm 154 154 405
DL – Lt Arm 154 154 353
DL – Rt, NT 132 132 220
DL – Lt, NT 132 132 200
Reeves 185 185 280
DL – MF 135 115 234
DL – RF 95 45 140
DL – IF 140 95 140
DL – LF 45 45 95
Total 2053 1939 4271
Adj. Points 2367.96 2084.65 3602.44

NOTES:  All lifts recorded in pounds. Adj Points are adjusted points corrected for bodyweight and age.

Joe Ciavattone – Level 2 Official

by Al Myers

Joe Ciavattone is now a Level 2 USAWA Official.

Joe Ciavattone Sr., the owner of Joe’s Gym,  has just passed the USAWA Official’s Exam which upgrades him from a Level 1 USAWA Official to a Level 2 USAWA Official.  Level 2 is the highest level of official certification attainable in the USAWA .  This gives Joe LIFETIME CERTIFICATION as an official.  To be eligible as a Level 2 official, an official must have knowledge of the rules (by passing the Rules Exam) and experience officiating (by serving as an official in over 25 USAWA competitions).  There are currently only 11 Level 2 Officials in the USAWA, which makes Joe part of an elite group!

Congratulations Joe!!!

Cyr Press

by Al Myers

Sam Cox, of the Dino Gym, takes a 150 pound dumbbell overhead one handed. What makes this even more amazing is that Sam only weighs 200 pounds!

One of the very popular strength feats done by the Canadian Strongman Louie Cyr was pressing his famous dumbbell one handed.  We are going to honor Cyr and this strength feat by including it in the Old-Time Strongman Competition at the  Dino Gym Challenge.  As with the other strongman lifts in this competition, there are minimal rule restrictions.

The Rule for the Cyr Press:

Any dumbbell with a handle diameter between 1 inch and 1.5 inches is allowed.  The dumbbell may be brought to the shoulder in any manner, but must come to the shoulder before going overhead.  This includes using two hands. Once at the shoulder,  the dumbbell is taken overhead with only one hand anyhow.  The other arm/hand is not allowed to touch the lifting arm during the overhead portion. The feet are allowed to move. If the lifter misses with one arm, the dumbbell may be switched to the other arm during the attempt, but the arm used must be selected at the shoulder.  A time limit of 1 minute is allowed for the attempt.  The dumbbell may be set down or dropped during the attempt.  If the overhead portion of the lift is missed, it may be restarted at the shoulder. Once the dumbbell is overhead motionless with arm straight, the legs straight and feet in line with the torso, an official will give a command to end the lift.

The only role of the official is to be awake at the end of the lift to give the down command!!

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