Author Archives: Al Myers

Lateral Raise Lying

By Eric Todd

Eric Todd performed an All Time World Record of 60 kilograms at the 2016 IAWA Gold Cup.(photo and caption courtesy of webmaster)

Eric Todd performed an All Time World Record of 60 kilograms at the 2016 IAWA Gold Cup.(photo and caption courtesy of webmaster)

This October past, I competed in the IAWA Gold Cup for the first time.  This is kind of like the world championships of record breakers.  When I decided to sign up for this meet, I wanted to choose a lift that I could go after not only just an age/weight class record, but an all-time record as well.  I chose the lateral raise lying. The all-time record in this event was 55KG which equaled 121 in American pounds or 60.5 per hand dumbbells.  It was held by Nick McKinless, who was an all-round world champ in 1996, Britain’s strongest man (under 105k) in 2006, as well as a Hollywood stunt man and an action director.  I had heard of him plenty over the years, and figured beating a record of his would be something to sing about.  Anyhow, I spent some time training for this lift.  It took some playing about with it, but ultimately I hit 70 pounds per hand in training, and 66 per hand for 132 pounds or 60 kilo in the Gold Cup meet for the record.

The rules of this lift are as such:
Two evenly loaded dumbbells are used for this lift. The lifter lies on the platform, face up. The dumbbells are placed on the platform on both sides of the lifter, who grips the dumbbells with the palms of the hands facing up at arms’ length, with the arms at a 90 degree angle to the body. Legs are to be straight and flat to the platform, and must remain that way throughout the lift. Width of legs spacing is optional, but must remain in that position throughout the lift. Maximum diameter of the dumbbell plates is 11 inches. The arms must remain straight and elbows locked during the lift. The arms must maintain a 90 degree angle to the body during the lift. Once the lifter is in the correct starting position on the platform, an official will give a command to start the lift. The lifter then raises the dumbbells to a position over the lifter’s body until the dumbbells touch. The dumbbells must be lifted simultaneously. Once the dumbbells are motionless, an official will give a command to end the lift.

Anyhow, I thought I would give some pointers here on things I found technique wise to help out on this lift.  The first thing I did was spread my feet apart to give myself a wide base for stability.  As long as they stayed there, it was within the confines for the rules.  Then I pulled my lats in tight, pulling my shoulder blades together.  This shortened the length of my levers giving me much better leverage. I tightened my core, and squeezed my glutes.  I then lifted my head and began the lift.  On the way up, I really focused on keeping my elbows straight.  Did not matter if I completed the lift, if my elbows bent it would have been a no lift.  I also focused on just keeping the weight moving.  It did not matter how slow the lift, if it ended up together at the end. If I had it to do over again, I would train strictly with standard dumbbells.  I used standard dumbbells up to 50s in training, but then loaded up Olympic dumbbells. After that with 25s. They fell within the 11” diameter, but the 10 kilo plates at the meet were a bit bigger, so we had to go with 5s, which were smaller than what I was used to.  If I had accustomed myself to the longer pull, that would not have been an issue.

I know it is not the most contested lift in the USAWA/IAWA, but it was a fun lift to train.  Maybe you can use some of these pointers to put up your own records in this lift.

Andy Goddard

By Al Myers

Below is a tribute to Andy Goddard by Steve Gardner.  Steve just recently shared this on Facebook.  I knew and competed with Andy through the years and he was a true gentleman on the platform.  We have kept Andy’s memory alive with the annual IAWA World Postal Championships, which is also know as the “Andy Goddard Memorial Meet”.

Andy Goddard

Andy Goddard lifted overhead by Steve!

Here I am with my old friend and all round lifter Andy Goddard. Andy was one of the nicest guys I ever knew, he was a loyal team mate and friend. In his earlier years he had been an Army Boxing Champion but Cancer stopped his career. Some years later I met Andy and he started lifting, he was a real strong fella with a great sense of humour who would take anything on. Sadly the cancer came back and finished him.  Andy lifted in the Worlds in the October and set World Records, but he passed only a few months later. We keep his name alive with the World Postal event. In this photo Andy and I were in Perth Australia for the Worlds, and the local press reporter asked us to do something for the photo, there were no weights at hand so I lifted Andy above my head which they all loved. For some reason Andy didnt want to try and lift me lol! … – Steve Gardner

Team Championships

By Al Myers

2016 USAWA TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

I started promoting the USAWA Team Championships in 2007, so this year makes it the 10th year! I remember thinking this would become a popular meet amongst the lifters because it gave a different element to lifting than other meets -that being you lifted “on the bar” with a team mate! Well, in these 10 years it has not seemed to grow as I imagined back then, but none the less, always gives an entertaining day of lifting.  This year Chad and I again competed to “defend our title” from last year, and were challenged by the Dino Gym elders LaVerne Myers and Dean Ross.  These two team up well in size and lifting ability, plus have “been around the block a time or two” so they know how to play dirty.  I knew they would give us a good fight.  That was true.

For the first time in the Team Championships we included an Old Time Strongman Lift, the Hackenschmidt Floor Press.  This proved to be a real challenge with two lifters on the bar as your elbows were hitting your partners and you had to press in a closegrip fashion.  The second lift was the 1 arm deadlift with the fulton bar.  This has been contested in the Team Champs before so Chad and I had a goal to break our previous meet best. We accomplished that with a 210 KG lift.  The final lift was the Team Stifflegged Deadlift. Both teams used up their 3 attempt limits before hitting a true maximum weight.

Even though this was a small meet we had a great time!  We finished so quick that we had time afterwards for Dean and Chad to do their National Postal lifts along with some record day lifts.

MEET RESULTS:

2016 USAWA Team Championships
Dino Gym, Abilene, Kansas
December 17th, 2016

Meet Director: Al Myers

Officials (1 official system used): Al Myers, Chad Ullom, LaVerne Myers

Lifts: Team Hackenschmidt Floor Press, Team One Arm Fulton Bar Deadlift, Team Stiff Legged Deadlift

Lifters:

Dino Gym 1
Dean Ross – 74 years old, 250 pounds
LaVerne Myers – 72 years old, 239 pounds

Dino Gym 2
Al Myers – 50 years old, 226 pounds
Chad Ullom – 45 years old, 246 pounds

TEAM Press 1FBDL SL DL TOTAL POINTS
Dino Gym 2 235 210R 350 795 674.2
Dino Gym 1 120 155R 185 460 485.5

NOTES:  All lifts recorded in kilograms.  TOTAL is total kilograms lifted.  Points are adjusted points for age and bodyweight corrections.

Record Day Lifts:

Dean Ross – Back Lift 1050 lbs.
LaVerne Myers – Thors Hammer 20 lbs.
Al Myers – Thors Hammer 45 lbs.
LaVerne Myers – Pinch Grip Left 70 lbs.
Al Myers – Pinch Grip Left 80 lbs.
Al Myers – Pinch Grip Right 80 lbs.
LaVerne Myers – Finger Lift Left Middle 95 lbs.
Al Myers – Finger Lift Left Middle 125 lbs.
LaVerne Myers – Finger Lift Right Middle 125 lbs.
Al Myers – Finger Lift Right Middle 125 lbs.

Time to Renew!

By Al Myers

Tis the time of the season to renew your USAWA membership!

I want to remind everyone that membership in the USAWA is for the calendar year – running from January 1st to December 31st.  There’s no reason to wait to join.  I have already had one member (William Clark of Habecker’s Gym) join for 2017 and he’s already listed on the 2017 membership roster.

I consider it an honor to be joined before the new year begins, and those that do get the distinction of having the “January 1st” join date listed beside their name!

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