March was a busy month with meets being held in Massachusetts, Kentucky, Missouri and Colorado. Randy Smith earned lifter of the month for March by shining in the Colorado Single Arm Challenge and Jeff’s 50th Birthday Bash. He was first overall in the Single Arm Challenge with a massive 420 pound unadjusted total at 198 pound bodyweight and 70 years of age. During Jeff’s Birthday Bash, he completed four of five lifts with an impressive 130 pound Roman Chair Sit-up.
Randy has records dating back to the 2003 National Championship and has competed in 16 National Championships and was the best lifter in 2015. He is a member of the Century Club with 144 records. 31 of those are National Records, which puts him at 5th behind some pretty impressive company.
Most recently he has taken a role on the USAWA Advisory Committee which was tasked with better understanding the membership.
This is the 4th time Randy has earned Lifter of the Month with past recognition in July 2014, June 2015 and October 2021. Congratulations Randy!
Jeff Bankens is the lifter of the Month for February. Jeff is a newcomer to the organization, but has already made an impact by hosting the first ever USAWA meet in Louisiana and setting four records along the way.
Jeff is also active on USAWA’s social media platforms with (5) posts in February in addition to his strongman show clips in 2024. Finally, Jeff is active in his church community and brings people of the world together not only through the Gospel, but also through strength sports. Congratulations Jeff!
In honor of the 100th anniversary of George F Jowett’s book the World’s Weightlifting Rules and Records, I wanted to share some of the history of the lifts in the USAWA rulebook and the records that were published back in 1925.
The USAWA Rulebook 13 Edition Preface states “This rulebook was compiled from a variety of sources including past Strength Journals from England, the original IAWA handbook for the 15 International Lifts, The World’s Weightlifting Rules and Records by George Jowett, past monthly Strength Journals published by Bill Clark, and other previously compiled rules and guidelines established by the membership of the USAWA.” So far Jowett’s book is the only original source I have found.
Per Wikipedia, George Jowett was an English-born Canadian strongman, weightlifter, magazine editor and author. He was co-founder of the American Continental Weightlifting Association. He became known as “The Father of American Weightlifting.”
In World’s Weightlifting Rules and Records (WWRR) Jowett listed (41) Title Lifts and an additional (14) Record Lifts. USAWA currently contests (25) of the Title Lifts and (11) of the Record Lifts.
Jowett competed at 168 pounds and his records still eclipse anything in the USAWA record book at 75kg. He had a right hand snatch of 172.5 pounds (vs 110 pounds in our books). He had a right hand clean & jerk of 200 pounds (vs 132 pounds in our books).
Given the upcoming New England Winter Heavy Lift Classic (hand and thigh) and the Colorado Single Arm Challenge (1H Snatch, 1H C&J, 1H DL), I wanted to with the best of luck to the athletes that keep showing up to contest these lifts. Our membership includes lifters that struggle with overhead positions and/or have had joint surgeries, repairs and replacements. Our athlete’s enthusiasm and perseverance is well aligned with the writings of Jowett 100 years ago.
“We want you to help us build this into a national institution for good, and help the national reform laws build up a stronger, healthier nation of men and women. You do not have to be a weight lifter in order to join. As long as you are interested in physical training, health, food reform, or weight lifting as a sport you are wanted. Our object is to keep the sport of weight lifting clean, and keep established a record list founded on merit only, and give credit where credit is due”
– Jowett on the American Continental Weight-Lifters Association from 1921
(41) Title Lifts
1&2 Right (and Left) Hand Military Press
2&3 Right (and Left) Hand Snatch
5&6 Right (and Left) Hand Swing
7&8 Right (and Left) Hand Continental Press
9&10 Right (and Left) Hand Clean & Jerk
11&12 Right (and Left) Hand Clean & Bent Press
13&14 Right (and Left) Hand Bent Press from Shoulder with Dumbbell
15&16 Right (and Left) Hand Anyhow with Bent Press
17&18 Right (and Left) Hand Bent Press from Shoulder with Barbell
19&20 Right (and Left) Hand Deadlift
21&22 Right (and Left) Hand Deadlift – Platform Style
23&24 Right (and Left) Hand Clean and Side Press
25 Two Hands Clean and Military Press with Dumbbells
26 Two Hand Clean and Jerk with Dumbbells
27 Two Hands Clean and Continental Press with Dumbbells
28 Two Hands Clean and Military Press with Barbell
29 Two Hands Clean and Continental Press with Barbell
30 Two Hands Snatch
31 Two Hands Clean & Jerk – from Behind Neck
32 Two Hands Clean & Press – from Behind Neck
33 Two Hands Clean & Jerk with Barbell
34 Two Hands Continental Jerk with Barbell
35 Two Hands Anyhow with Barbell and Kettlebell
36 Two Hands Deadlift
37 Kennedy Lift
38 Jefferson Lift
39 Back Lift
40 Harness Lift
41 Hand & Thigh Lift
(14) Record Lifts
R1 Abdominal Raise
R2 Crucifix
R3 Rectangular Fix
R4&5 Right (and Left) Hand Slow Curl with Kettlebell or Dumbbell
R6 Lateral Raise Standing
R7 Lateral Raise Lying
R8 Hold out in Front – Raised from Below
R9 Hold Out in Front – Lowered from Above
R10 Pullover at Arms Length
R11 Pull over and Press on Back without Bridge
R12 Pullover and Press on Back with Shoulder Bridge
R13 Pullover and Press on Back in Wrestler’s Bridge
January is off to a great start and Tony Lupo is Lifter of the Month. He traveled down to Westlake, LA to help launch All-Round lifting in the Pelican State, took 2nd in the Bayou Beast Bash and set 5 records after the competition lifts were completed. He shows up live on the platform and has a jump on the competition for 2025 Road Warrior miles. Tony first appears in the record list starting in 2021 and has since accumulated 155 individual records in 138 different lifts and 9 team records. A true All-Rounder, he has set records in the Phumchaona Lift and the Carter Lift.
He was the 2023 Newcomer of the Year Runner Up and the inaugural recipient of the Al Myers Award presented at the 2024 Old Time Strongman World Postal Meet. Finally, he supports the USAWA as the Awards Director and the Records Director. Maintaining 19,000+ records is a daunting task that he has taken on without fanfare. Congratulations Tony!
Do you know a USAWA member who should be recognized as a future Lifter of the Month? Send nominations to the Secretary at bethskw@gmail.com
With the Q4 Postal meet in the books, it is time to crown the Men’s and Women’s postal champions. 17 women and 44 men competed throughout the year. 17 women is the largest women’s field the postal has ever had, beating the previous best of 12 entrants set in 2023. 44 women is the largest men’s field the postal has ever had, again a huge jump over the previous best of 36 entrants set in 2023. 61 entrants represented nearly half of the 2024 USAWA members.
Scoring was done the same way it was done last year with points awarded based on number of entrants. RJ Jackson and Sylvia Stockall tied with 33 points each. I don’t think we have a tiebreaker system yet, but with RJ taking the win in Q2 and Q3, versus Sylvia’s Q1 win, I am proposing RJ is the women’s postal champion. Abe Smith had 99 points, narrowly edging out Barry Bryan with 94 points. Congratulations to RJ and Abe. This is RJ’s 8th title and Abe’s 1st title.
Grand Slam winners include Stacy Todd, Allison Lupo, Janet Thompson, Abe Smith, Barry Bryan, Denny Habecker, Randy Smith, Jeff Wenzel, Travis Luther, Tony Lupo, Spencer Wenzel, Sanjiv Gupta, Eric Todd, Bill Clark
