Author Archives: Al Myers

Lifter of the Month – Chad Ullom

By Al Myers

The USAWA Lifter of the Month for January 2019 is Chad Ullom.  Chad was the overall best lifter at the Dino Gym Challenge, which was the only competition held in the month of January within the USAWA.  The Dino Gym Challenge is currently the longest running annual competition in the USAWA held at the same location every year.  This year celebrated the 16th year of the Dino Gym Challenge (started in 2004).

By winning the best lifter award at the 2019 Dino Challenge, it made Chad the lifter who has won the best lifter award at the Dino Gym Challenge the most times.  This was his 6th overall win (2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2019).

Grip Championships

By Al Myers

2019 USAWA GRIP CHAMPIONSHIPS

Group picture from the 2019 USAWA Grip Championships

Group picture from the 2019 USAWA Grip Championships

What a great day at the Grip Champs!

Twelve lifters made their way to the platform for the annual USAWA Grip Championships this year.   This has always been a well attended event in the USAWA, and this year was one of the best ever.

Kaela Janzen was the overall Best Womens Lifter. Presenting his award was meet director LaVerne Myers.

Kaela Janzen was the overall Best Womens Lifter. Presenting his award was meet director LaVerne Myers.

There were so many excellent lifts that there’s no way to cover all of them in the meet report.  The overall Womens Best Lifter was newcomer Kaela Janzen.   The overall Mens Best Lifter was the meet director and grip aficionado LaVerne Myers.

I was very impressed with both Junior lifters Cole and Jarod. These two have excellent coaches and mentors with their Dad’s John and Jason.  Also, excellent lifting was had by Scottish Johnny – who was the only one to break a Dino Gym record during the competition (his 185 1arm FB DL topped the gym record of 182 pounds).

Our President Denny Habecker made the longest trip to the event, coming from Lebanon Pennsylvania.  Denny set several new records over the weekend to extend his century club record number and stretch his lead  in the top spot.

It was great to see Ben Edwards back in action. Ben had the top mark in the dumbbell walk with 112 pounds.  LaVerne mentioned this is his opening remarks but I would like to repeat it here.  The Grip Championships only came about because Ben convinced me many years ago to have a grip challenge as he thought it would be well received by the membership.  The first grip meet in the Dino Gym was promoted by Ben and that was the start of the tradition of the Grip Championships.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone who showed up to compete or support this meet.

MEET RESULTS:

2019 USAWA Grip Championships
Dino Gym
Holland, KS
Saturday, February 9th, 2019

Meet Director: LaVerne Myers

Scorekeeper: Al Myers

Announcer: Al Myers

Official (1 official system used): Al Myers

Lifts: Dumbbell Walk, Deadlift – Fulton Bar One Arm, Deadlift – Inch Dumbbells, Deadlift – One Arm No Thumb, Deadlift – Index Fingers

WOMENS DIVISION

LIFTER AGE BWT DW FB1 Inch DL1 IND TOT PTS
Kaela Janzen 24 186 47R 80R 160 85R 0 372 346.2

MENS DIVISION

LiFTER AGE BWT DW FB1 Inch DL1 IND TOT PTS
LaVerne Myers 74 229 97 170R 240 185R 135 827 926.8
John Strangeway 40 196 92 180R 240 190L 230 932 850.3
Chad Ullom 47 239 97 165L 240 200R 225 927 812.5
Ben Edwards 43 219 112 160R 220 195R 225 912 806.1
Cole Janzen 17 181 77 155R 190 160R 120 702 692.2
Denny Habecker 76 193 37 115R 140 120R 100 512 639.3
Brandon Rein 23 154 77 100R 160 130R 115 582 609.4
Jarod Payne 17 288 102 130R 200 145R 120 697 541.6
John Janzen 53 291 67 130R 180 145R 110 632 530.6
Dean Ross 76 243 57 90L 120 110L 90 467 514.9
Lance Foster 53 345 67 110R 140 145R 155 617 478.7

EXTRA ATTEMPTS FOR RECORD:

John Strangeway: Dumbbell Walk 102
Cole Janzen: Dumbbell Walk 102
John Strangeway: Deadlift Fulton Bar Right 185
Jerod Payne: Deadlift Inch Dumbbells 220
John Strangeway: Deadlift No Thumb Left 195
Denny Habecker: Deadlift No Thumb Right 125
Dean Ross: Deadlift No Thumb Left 120
Dean Ross: Deadlift Index Fingers 100

BEST LIFTER AWARDS:

BEST WOMENS SENIOR – Kaela Janzen
BEST WOMENS OVERALL – Kaela Janzen
BEST MENS JUNIOR – Cole Janzen
BEST MENS SENIOR – Brandon Rein
BEST MENS MASTER 40+ – John Strangeway
BEST MENS MASTER 45+ – Chad Ullom
BEST MENS MASTER 50+ – John Janzen
BEST MENS MASTER 70+ – LaVerne Myers
BEST MENS MASTER 75+ – Denny Habecker
BEST MENS MASTER OVERALL – LaVerne Myers
BEST MENS OVERALL – LaVerne Myers

NOTES:  All lifts recorded in pounds.  BWT is bodyweight in pounds.  R and L designate right and left arms. TOT is total pounds lifted.  PTS are overall corrected points adjusted for age and bodyweight.

RECORD DAY LIFTS

John Strangeway – Age 40 years, bodyweight 196 pounds
Finger Lift – Index, Right  125
Finger Lift – Middle, Right 160
Finger Lift – Ring, Right 150
Deadlift – Fulton Bar, Left 160

LaVerne Myers – Age 74 years, bodyweight 229 pounds
Finger Lift – Index, Right 95
Finger Lift – Index, Left 95
Finger Lift – Middle, Right 105
Finger Lift – Middle, Left 105
Habecker Lift 185

Denny Habecker – Age 76, bodyweight 195 pounds
Anderson Press 145
Deadlift – Fulton Bar, Left 100
Deadlift – Fulton Bar, Ciavattone Grip 210
Habecker Lift  200
Deadlift – No Thumb, Left 100

Dean Ross – Age 76 years, bodyweight 237 pounds
Bearhug 152
Lurich Lift 220
Habecker Lift 185
Deadlift – No Thumbs, Overhand Grip 215
Deadlift – Fulton Bar, Ciavattone Grip 160

Updated Goerner’s Club

By Al Myers

Chad Ullom lifting 310 pounds in the Middle Fingers Deadlift, and joining the USAWA Goerner's Club.

Chad Ullom lifting 310 pounds in the Middle Fingers Deadlift, and joining the USAWA Goerner’s Club.

I always notice outstanding lifts from meet results when I’m updating the Record List.  Every meet has a few that stand out amongst the rest. At the Dino Gym Challenge a few weeks ago Chad Ullom made a lift of 310 pounds in the Middle Fingers Deadlift.  It was done on a fourth attempt so it would be easy to miss as it’s hidden in the “footnotes” of the meet results.  Of all the Finger Deadlifts I’ve considered the Middle Finger Deadlift as the KING of the finger deadlifts as the most weight can be lifted with this long strong digit.

Years ago I’ve dubbed a GOERNER’S CLUB and have kept track of the lifters that are in it.  Chad’s great MF DL at the Dino Challenge gets him into this exclusive club of finger gripsters.

I have written blogs in the past about the Middle Fingers Deadlift and the famous old time German Strongman Hermann Goerner. I want to share again part of a story I’ve written before.

David Willoughby in his book The Super Athletes listed Goerner as having done a MF deadlift of 140 kilograms (308.5 pounds) around 1925.  I have always considered this the mark to beat to be outstanding in the middle fingers deadlift.  Now, compared to what Hermann has reported in his other finger lifts, this lift of his seems to be a sub-maximal effort.  None the less, it is a very good lift (and is actually believable compared to some of his other claims).   However, this 308.5# middle finger deadlift is not listed in Hermann’s autobiography by Edgar Mueller’s Goerner the Mighty.  I have read this book several times, and I don’t ever remember seeing this lift listed.  Mueller does talk in one chapter about the wide deviations of grips that Hermann uses for his deadlifts, and mentions a middle finger overhand grip  deadlift (of which he lists Goerner as having worked up to 220 pounds), but nothing about using an alternate grip as we allow in the USAWA for the Finger Deadlifts.

I’ve always considered  Goerner’s Middle Finger Deadlift of 308.5 pounds as the mark to be considered outstanding at this lift. Only a handful of USAWA lifter’s have achieved it in USAWA competition and are part of the USAWA “Goerner’s Club”.  This is the short list:

1. Kevin Fulton 400 pounds – 1999 SuperGrip Challenge
2. Dan Wagman 316 pounds – 2017 Iron Warrior RD
3. Ben Edwards  315 pounds – 2016 USAWA Grip Championships
4. Chad Ullom 310 pounds – 2019 Dino Gym Challenge
5.  Bill DiCiccio 309 pounds – 1994 IAWA Gold Cup

On a sidenote of Chad’s 310# Middle Finger Deadlift, is that it broke an outstanding record held by Joe Garcia of 305 pounds.  I hated removing Joe’s name from the record list as he was so close to being in the Goerner Club – and now his great lift will be left unremembered (except for me and him of course!). I feel for you Joe as I was close once with a 300# MF lift that got removed from the Record List as well by James Fuller.

The ALL TIME master of the Middle Finger Deadlift in the USAWA is Kevin Fulton.  In addition to his 400 pound lift, he is without a doubt the man who exceeded 309 pounds in competition more than anyone else.  I tried to count all the times he has done it, and after I got to six I gave up as no one else is remotely close!

 

World Championships

By Al Myers

MEET ANNOUNCEMENT –

2019 IAWA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

The plans for the 2019 World Championships are underway! My father LaVerne and I are  the co-promoters and directors of the 2019 IAWA Worlds, which is the biggest meet  in the International All Round Weightlifting Association.   We are both excited and honored to be able to do this promotion.  The dates have been set for October 5th & 6th.

The lifts have been approved for this two day event.  They are as follows:

DAY ONE

Reverse Curl (Curl – Strict, Reverse Grip)
2H Snatch From the Hang (Snatch – From Hang)
One Hand Clean and Jerk (Clean and Jerk – One Arm)
2H Thumbless Deadlift (Deadlift – No Thumbs, Overhand Grip)

DAY TWO

Pullover and Push Press with Bridge (Pullover and Push)
Continental onto Belt (Continental to Belt)
Straddle Deadlift – 2″ Bar (Jefferson Lift – Fulton Bar)

The first listed name is the official IAWA-UK name, the name in parenthesis is the official USAWA name for the lift.  Fortunately for the lifts this year the IAWA-UK and the USAWA rules for each lift are identical so there shouldn’t be any confusion on the rules.

For USAWA lifters, this gives you a great opportunity to compete in Worlds without traveling out of the country.   IAWA Worlds is only in the states every 3-4 years.  I’m hoping for a great turnout, so put this event on your calendars!

ENTRY FORM (PDF) – 2019 IAWA World Championship Entry Form

2018 Year in Review

By Al Myers

coverscanI have just finished the 2018 USAWA Year in Review.  Every year since I have been secretary of the USAWA I have done this Review Book.  I take all the information that has been put on the website (blogs, meet results, past history archives, etc) and copy it into a book, which is printed off.  I also include this book as a digital file on the website if someone wants to look at it that way or print it off themselves.

I do this for one reason primarily – and that is to preserve the history of the USAWA in paper form.  It always surprises me by the amount of information that this website accumulates every year. This year the Year in Review is 381 pages long and contains 76,491 words!  It would take a few evenings to get all that read.

If anyone wants a printed copy of the Year in Review please let me know.  I plan to take it to the printer’s next week.  The cost is $50, made out to the USAWA.

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