Category Archives: USAWA Daily News

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

by Thom Van Vleck

Weightlifters are generally liars.  My Uncle Phil once told me that everyone was a liar, it’s just that some do it to a low degree while others to a high degree.  He would often would describe someone as a 5% liar (which was someone that most would feel was really honest) or maybe an 85% liar (which was someone that was full of crap).  Everyone had a number.

Weightlifters lie for lots of reasons but I think the number one reason is ego.  I’ll admit to it myself.  When I was young I would often add 10% to my best lift to inflate my ego.  I would reason that “on a good day” I could make that lift or that I would soon be able to if I kept training so it really wasn’t a lie.

Another reason weightlifters lie is because they are greedy.  They will lie about their workout routines to hide their secrets or to sell workouts.  I bought a leg training manual from a bodybuilder back in the 80s.  He had the best legs out there.  I followed that routine to the “T”.  Only to have him come out years later and admit that it was a fraud.  He was blessed with great genes and his legs didn’t require as much effort to look fantastic.  He said he was afraid nobody would believe him if he told the truth.  He was probably more concerned nobody would buy his training manual!

Weightlifters lie about two things.  Weights and measurements.  How much can you squat?  Oh, 5 plates.  I guess I didn’t ask if those plates were 45’s or 25’s so he could be telling the truth.  I had a high school buddy I would run into every year or so for some time.  Every time he would ask me what I was benching.  By some miracle he would always be benching 5 or 10lbs more.  Finally I asked him to do a bench workout with me (which was really me asking him to prove it or shut up).  He never showed up.  The truth is the numbers I gave him were probably 5 or 10 pounds more than I could actually do.  So we were both liars.  I was just a 5% whereas he was more like 20%.

Measurements are also a topic of exaggeration.  I remember there was a weightlifting historian by the name of David Willoughby.  He would show up with a steel tape and ask to measure strongmen, weightlifters, and body builders.  Most of the time he would get turned down.  When he was allowed the proclaimed measurements usually came up short.  Then the excuses would come.  I don’t recall him once saying he found a measurement that was bigger than stated.

Another measurement is distance.  Like a shot putter or highland gamer.  What’s your best put?  You always round up or you give your personal best from 10 years ago.

My Uncle Phil said that my Uncle Wayne was the only 100% honest weightlifter he knew.  I remember asking my Uncle Wayne about his lifts and never once did he exaggerate.  NOT ONCE.  He would not only give his best lift to the pound he would also tell you when he did it and that he couldn’t do that much now.

It all comes down to ego.  If you have a strong ego you tend to exaggerate less.  Doesn’t matter how strong you are, if you have a weak ego the lying will come!  I notice as I get older I lie less.  Maybe my ego is stronger. Have I mentioned I have 20 inch arms and I can bench 500?!

Ultra High Rep Training

by Thom Van Vleck

Albert Beckles: One of the great bodybuilders from the 60's to the 90's who used ultra high rep training.

Albert Beckles: One of the great bodybuilders from the 60’s to the 90’s who used ultra high rep training.

So I was talking training with Al Myers the other night and he asked me if I did a particular exercise.  I said I did.  Then he asked me what kind of weight I used.  I said bodyweight.  He then asked if I didn’t use weight how was it progressive resistance.  Was it reps?  I jokingly said I was up to a 1000 reps.

That got me to thinking about Ultra High reps. Usually strength training falls in the 1 to 10 rep range.  Body building 10 to 20 reps.  But what about high rep training.

My Uncle Phil was a bodybuilder but he had to travel a lot for his job.  Back in the 60’s and 70’s there weren’t many gyms he could find so he developed a routine where he would do 100 reps on bodyweight exercises.  Such as push ups, sit ups, leg raises, etc.  He weighed around 220lbs so doing 100 perfect push ups was a real challenge.  And believe me, he did them strict and non stop.

Bill Clark once wrote about doing something similar.  As a baseball scout he spent much of his time on the road.  He did a “Deck of Cards” workout.  He would shuffle a deck of cards, pick a bodyweight exercise, draw the card and do however many reps the card represented like in black jack.  This would amount to several hundred reps in one workout.

But what about weight training with high reps?

When I was a kid and just starting training I would peruse the weightlifting magazine collection my Uncles and grandfather had.  They went back to the 1930’s.  There was one magazine that had an article by Albert Beckles.  Beckles was a bodybuilder that placed as high as 2nd in the Mr. Olympia and won a pro event at age 61.  He competed at a high level from the 1960s to the 1990s.

This particular article he was pushing single sets of 32 reps.  This seems absurd and to be honest back in the day lifters would lie in articles about training as they wanted to keep their routines secret.  I read later articles on his training and it was more conventional.

But I tried it.  Talk about a pump!  I could see where as a bodybuilder that might be an effective routine to cycle in every once in awhile.  I don’t see how you could maintain that for very long but it might be good to “blow the cob webs out” every once in awhile.  Why 32?  Beckles just said that he originally would do them to failure and 32 was where he would usually end up.

I have a set and rep system I call “Hundred’s”.  I usually use it on calves and forearms that you need higher reps to get anything out of them.  If I use it on another body part it’s usually with an assistance exercise.  But I’ve used this set and reps program on the Bench Press before.  Believe it or not I started with 205 for 30 reps.  By the last set I was barely able to do 135 for 10 reps.

So sets and reps go like this:

First set:  30 reps

Second set: 25 reps

Third set: 20 reps

Fourth set: 15 reps

Fifth set: 10 reps

These total 100 reps.  I usually do them as quickly as I can.  The hump always seems to be the third set.  The final set I usually do slow and deliberately really squeezing the muscle.  What I like about the scheme is I feel confident I can do 5 less reps with each set although by the third set it becomes a real struggle.  I have to admit that 100 is a nice, round number.  I just adjust the weight until 100 reps is all I can do.

Will Ultra High reps build a lot of strength and power?  Probably not but they will build endurance which will in turn help with the lower rep exercises with the added conditioning.  If you try it share your results.

Stretching for a Healthy Back

By Thom Van Vleck

Neck and upper back stretch....and yes, I used a photo of a pretty girl instead of me!

Neck and upper back stretch….and yes, I used a photo of a pretty girl instead of me!

A healthy back is essential to weight training.  If you lift weights and have never hurt your back, you are either a very good liar, you’ve never pushed yourself, or you just started yesterday.  Back injuries are a part of the sport.  Especially if you are a master lifter over 40, and most USAWA lifters are over 40…..some WELL over 40!  If you’ve had a back injury, you’ve probably tried to rehab it in different ways.  Some of these with drugs like anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxants, or pain medication.  You may have seen a doctor, a chiropractor,  a massage therapist, or maybe an Osteopath.  You’ve probably been given stretching exercises, yoga exercises, or whatever the latest fad is.  You may have went so far to invest in some equipment, such as a stability ball, rubber bands, or went really expensive with a reverse hyper, or an inversion table!  You also may have found some really complicated and difficult ways to do what all these things try and do…..decompress your spine.

I’m going to share two very simple and basic stretches that require very little investment of time or money.  They can be very helpful in rehabbing a bad or injured back, but I would encourage you to do these EVERY TIME YOU WORK OUT to help keep your back healthy and prevent injuries!

First, there’s the good ol’ bar hang.  Sure, we’ve all heard of it and probably done it.  You hang from a chin up bar.  I know what your are thinking.  “Geez, Thom, I thought you were going to give us some great secret!  Well, I am.  Sometimes the best things are the simplest things and they are the things we tend to ignore.  Like squats, which is a really great exercise, and yet there’s been a hundred ways developed to avoid squatting each one more complicated than the last!  Now, here is a real secret.  When you hang from the bar, put your heels on something about a foot or two in front of you.  Why?  Because you want to tilt your hips forward.  This will straighten out the lower spine.  Otherwise, if you just hang there the weight of your legs will pull you hips back and bend your spin inward in your lower back.  As a result, the weight of your legs will bend your spine and true decompression does not occur!  You also need to relax everything except your grip (and another thing, this can be a tremendous grip exercise, an added benefit).  If you can’t hang for at least a minute, then use straps until your grip gets to where you can.  Total investment:  A chin up bar.

Now, the only problem with the bar hang is it only decompresses the lower half of your spine.  While this is where most injuries occur, it is only half the picture.   Plus, most guys don’t think much about this, but your spine is more than your back, it’s you neck as well!  Many weight lifters will injure their neck and it’s also an area that gets a lot more abuse than you realize.  Why, because it holds up your fat head!  Seriously, the head is always FORWARD on the neck so any time you are not lying down with your neck supported it is being leveraged with pressure from that bowling ball that’s sitting on top if it!  Also, many of us will injure our neck at some point lifting, playing sports, or doing something stupid (most guys that train tend to be risk takers….admit it, you’ve done something stupid with your body).   And as for the upper back, it gets injured much more rarely than the lower, as a result, how often do we decompress our upper back and neck?

So, this leads me to the second “secret” exercise.  Like I said before, if you got loads of cash, you can spend it on a personal masseuse and an inversion table….but if you don’t this will work just as well.  Maybe better because it is so easy you will do it more often!

The second exercise involves sitting in a chair and letting your head and shoulders fall between you knees.  There’s an added benefit that if you get good at this exercise you can also use it to kiss your rear goodbye when you do some of the aforementioned “stupid” stuff.  But seriously, you sit in a chair and let your arms fall between you legs while sitting right on the edge of the chair.  I was taught to let my arms fall relaxed and then let my head fall forward relaxing it as much as possible.  If you do this enough you can fell you vertebrae relax.  I now fell a “pop-pop-pop” in my upper back when I do this.  Again, you want to stay in this position for about a minute.  I also do the added exercise of  doing some head rolls once I sit back up, this will seem to always pop my neck a couple times.  Total investment:  a chair.

So, there you have it.  Two exercises, two minutes, cheap, easy and I would argue for the amount of time and money invested you will do your spine more good than any of that other stuff.  Call this, 2 ounces of prevention!

The History of the Dino Gym Challenge

By Al Myers

Early on I named this meet the Dino Gym Challenge for this reason – every year there would be a different meet challenge to take on.  No two meets would be the same.  Each year a different “theme” is contested.  This makes this meet very interesting, and allows different lifters to have advantages because of the different lifts that are contested each year.

2019 marked the 16th year of the Dino Gym Challenge.  It is now the longest running annual USAWA competition held in the same venue.  I mention this with a little sadness as it took over this spot with the passing of Art and the cancellation of Art’s Birthday Bash last year, which was previously the longest running USAWA event. Today I am going to give a “run-down” of the preceding Dino Gym Challenges with a bit of history.

2019 –  The Dale Frieze Memorial Challenge

This meet was done to honor the memory of a longtime USAWA member, Dale Frieze.  Five of Dale’s favorite lifts were picked for the challenge – Ring Finger Lift, One Arm Fulton Bar Deadlift, One Arm Deadlift, The Middle Fingers Deadlift, and the Neck Lift. Five lifters accepted the Challenge – Chad Ullom, LaVerne Myers, Calvin Heit, Brandon Rein, and Dean Ross.  Chad Ullom was the Best Lifter of the meet, and performed a 310 pound Middle Finger Deadlift to join the Goerner Club.

2018 – The Tom Ryan Memorial Challenge

This Dino Gym Challenge paid tribute to Tom Ryan, who was a longtime supporter of the USAWA.  Tom had passed away a year prior.  During Tom’s life he was a great help to me in providing historical information regarding the USAWA, and always had the answer for any question I had.  I picked five of Tom’s favorite lifts for this challenge – Weaver Stick, Rectangular Fix, The one hand no thumb Deadlift, the Reeves Deadlift, and the Hip Lift.  These eight lifters made their way to the Dino Gym for the competition – Eric Todd, Lance Foster, Chad Ullom, Calvin Heit, John Douglas, LaVerne Myers, Dean Ross, and myself.  Thom Van Vleck was present and officiated the challenge.  Eric Todd prevailed on the last event to be the best lifter of the meet, with a big 2010# Hip Lift.

2017 – The Triple Deuce

This meet was a truly all around event challenge with pressing, deadlifting, curling, and grip strength involved.  The Triple Deuce Dino Gym Challenge included three different groupings of 2 lifts, with each lift using either 2 bars, 2 dumbbells, or 2 pieces of equipment.  The lifts contested were 2 special equipment lifts (2 Inch Dumbbell Deadlift & 2″ 2 Bar Vertical Bar Deadlift), 2 Dumbbell lifts (Clean and Press with 2 Dumbbells & 2 Dumbbell Cheat Curl), and 2 Bar lifts (Reg Park Bench Press & 2 Bar Deadlift).  A terrible ice storm blew in the night before the meet making travel impossible for lifters on meet day. The meet was close to being cancelled and ending the streak of continuous yearly Dino Challenges, but my dad LaVerne and I decided the meet was going to take place so it was just the two of us competing. I was the best lifter of this 2 person challenge.

2016 – The Mike “Murdo” Murdock Memorial Challenge

This challenge honored a great friend of the Dino Gym, who had passed away the previous year. Murdo was the guy who would do everything at a meet – lift, officiate, load, and coach.  He then would help clean up after the meet.  He was a friend to all of us, so this meet was a tribute to him.  I picked five of his favorite lifts for the Challenge – Crucifix, One Arm Dumbbell Swing, Rectangular Fix, Bent Over Row, and the Trap Bar Deadlift.  A big crowd of lifters showed up to compete – 11 lifters total representing 5 different states.  LaVerne Myers served as the official throughout the day.  The best lifters were: Women – Emily Burchett, Men – Al Myers.

2015 – The Herman Goerner Deadlift Medley

This year the Dino Gym highlighted the Old Time German Strongman Herman Goerner.  Goerner was an outstanding deadlifter in many pulling disciplines, so the meet featured  various deadlift movements as lifts. These lifts were contested: Fulton Bar Ciavattone Grip Deadlift, One Arm Deadlift, No Thumbs Overhand Grip Deadlift, Ciavattone Grip Deadlift, and the Heels Together Deadlift. Six lifters competed – Chad Ullom, Kyle Jones, Eric Todd, Dave Glasgow, Dean Ross, and Lance Foster.  Chad Ullom was the overall best lifter.

2014 – Presenting a Challenge Left by Warren Lincoln Travis

The challenge this year was to honor the Old Time Strongman Warren Lincoln Travis.  Travis was an american strongman who often performed at Coney Island.  He performed many strength exhibitions for 25 years, and left a “challenge to the World” which has never been achieved by anyone since he did it.  The choice for the lifts were several of WLT’s favorites – Teeth Lift, Middle Finger Lift, Kennedy Lift, Harness Lift, and the Back Lift.  These lifts made for a grueling competition in which eight brave lifters showed up to take on.  The lifters were: Al Myers, Larry Traub, Logan Kressly, Doug Kressly, Dave Glasgow, Dean Ross, Lance Foster, and Eric Todd.  Overall best lifter was Al Myers.  A metal cutout of WLT was given out as a special award to all participants.

2013 –  The Old Time Strongman Powerlifting Meet

The Dino Gym Challenge in 2013 was an Old Time Strongman Powerlifting Meet.  The lifts that were contested were: Anderson Squat, Hackenschmidt Floor Press, and the Peoples.  All three of those lifts are similiar to the three powerlifts but are part of the USAWA Old Time Strongman Lifts.  The three celebrity officials were Thom Van Vleck, Chad Ullom, and LaVerne Myers.  A huge attendance of lifters, 21 in total, showed up to compete in the Dino Challenge.  The best overall womens lifter was Ruth Jackson, and the overall best mens lifter was Dan Wagman.  The top Anderson Squat of the meet was 903 pounds by Eric Todd.  The top Hackenshmidt Floor Press was 435 pounds by Dan Wagman.  The top People’s Deadlift was 800 pounds by Chuck Cookson.

2012 – The Single Arm Challenge

The feature of the 2012 Dino Gym Challenge was the Single Arm Challenge. Five one arm lifts were contested using both arms, for a total of 10 lifts altogether.  The lifts contested were: Side Press One Arm, Bench Press One Arm, Snatch One Arm, Clean and Jerk One Arm, and the Deadlift One Arm. Five lifters competed: Chad Ullom, Dave Glasgow, Rudy Bletscher, Dean Ross, and Al Myers. The overall best lifter was Chad Ullom.  Two special awards were given out as well, the first being the Ambidextrous Award which was determined by the highest percent correlation between the stronger arm to the weaker.  This was won by Chad Ullom.  The second was the Klutz Award which went to the lifter who had the lowest percent correlation between both arms, and that went to Al Myers.

2011 – Dino Gym Old Time Strongman Challenge

The Dino Gym presented the VERY FIRST Old Time Strongman competition that year.  Five new and exciting OTSM events were contested: Saxon Snatch, Cyr Press, Dinnie Lift, Apollons Lift, and the Goerner Stroll. This meet will forever be known as the first promotion of OTSM within the USAWA, and what a great inauguration this meet was!   A great turnout of 18 lifters took part.  The class winners were: Women – Felecia Simms, Mens Junior – Cody Lokken, Mens 40+ – Al Myers, Mens 60+ – Dean Ross, and Open – Sam Cox.  The top three placings of the day went to: 1. Sam Cox, 2. Eric Todd, and 3. Chad Ullom.

2010 – The Arthur Saxon Pentathlon

This meet was done  to honor the great German Strongman Arthur Saxon.  Five lifts were chosen which were some of Saxon’s favorites: the Dumbbell Swing, the Bent Press, the 2-Hands Anyhow, the Arthur Lift, and the Foot Press.  The Foot Press was done as an exhibition lift (not an official USAWA lift at that time, but it is now) and was a big hit of the meet.  It mimicked the stage act where Arthur would support a big plank loaded with people as natural weight.  5 lifters took part, with Chad Ullom being the overall meet winner.  A celebrity was in attendance – Wilbur Miller.  Wilbur is a legend in All Round Weightlifting and his presence at this meet enhanced the meet atmosphere.  Afterwards, several of us toasted Arthur Saxon with Arthur’s favorite workout beverage, the Saxon Health Drink.

2009 – The meet named after others

The 2009 Dino Gym Challenge was very unusual in that all 5 of the lifts contested were “named” after other lifters.  These lifts were contested: the Kelly Snatch, the Ziegler Clean, the Judd Clean and Jerk, the James Lift, and the Allen Lift.  All of these lifts required LOTS of flexibility that made them very hard to do.  Chad Ullom prevailed as the overall winner of the four lifters in attendance: Chad, Al Myers, Scott Campbell, and Rudy Bletscher.   However, despite all of these lifts being done with “light” weights, one of the biggest lifts in USAWA history was done on this day.  Steve Schmidt showed up to be officially judged in the Back Lift.  He finished with 3050 pounds (after doing 3000 pounds as well) to set an ALL-TIME USAWA record in the Back Lift.

2008 – The Roger Davis Selection

The 2008 Dino Gym Challenge saw lifts selected by Roger Davis.  Roger had just finished a compilation of the top All Round lifters of ALL-TIME in history using these lifts as the criteria: the one arm snatch, the one arm clean and jerk, the continental to chest and jerk, two dumbbells clean and push press, and the 12″ base deadlift.  His report was published in MILO and gave me the notion to have a meet using these lifts.   This meet must have scared off the competition because only two lifters showed up to compete: Chad Ullom and Scott Campbell.  I was going to compete as well, but I was the only one there to officiate so I judged instead.  Chad ended up the victor over Scott.  Wilbur Miller showed up as well and did some record-setting after the meet.  He first did a 350 pound Ciavattone Grip Deadlift, followed by a 400 pound heels together deadlift, and finishing with a 450 pound 12″ base deadlift.  Wilbur did these lifts at 75 years of age and 230 pounds!

2007 – The All Round Powerlifting Meet

The theme of 2007 was that of an All Round Powerlifting Meet.  These lifts were contested: Steinborn, Pullover and Push, and the heels together Deadlift. 11 lifters took part.  Al Myers was the overall best mens lifter and Kristen Barry was the top overall womens lifter.  A team award was given which was won by the Dino Gym.  A full record day was contested afterwards.  Some great lifts were done during the day: Chad Ullom 430# Steinborn, Kristen Barry 310# heels together deadlift, Bill Cookson 227# Index Fingers Deadlift, and myself teaming with Chad to hit a 407# Team Cheat Curl.  Afterwards, we all reconvened at a restaurant in town to celebrate the annual HASA banquet.  The big news of the banquet was the induction of Thom Van Vleck into the HASA Hall of Fame.

2006 – The Travis Lift Showdown

This meet had a record setting turnout of lifters – 23 LIFTERS!   Five lifts were contested: Fulton Bar Clean, Maxey Press, Front Squat, Jefferson Lift and the Travis Lift. The main event of this meet was the Travis Lift. This was the first time the Travis Lift had been held in competition.  Previously the only lifter in the USAWA who had ever done the Travis Lift was Howard Prechtel, and he did it only in record days.  At the time Howard held the ALL-TIME record with a lift of 1815 pounds.  Joe Garcia broke Howard’s record with a lift of 2000 pounds.  The class winners were:  Women Junior – Kirsti Griffis, Women Masters – Mary McConnaughey, Mens Junior – Kent Longbine, Mens Lightweight – Tim Pinkerton, Mens Middleweight – Eric Todd, Mens Heavyweight – John O’Brien, Mens Master – Joe Garcia.  The Mens Overall Best Lifter went to Eric Todd.

2005 –  The Back Lift Rematch

A big group of lifters turned out this year for the Dino Gym Challenge – 19 lifters.  Several difficult lifts were contested: the Fulton Bar Snatch, the Inch Dumbbell Deadlift, the Alternate Grip Bench Press, the Steinborn, and the Back Lift.  Steve Schmidt reclaimed his ALL-TIME Back Lift record with a lift of 2920 pounds at this meet.  Class winners were as follows: Junior Women – Misty Fritz,  Open Women – Mary McConnaughey, Junior Men – Ian Reel, Mens Lightweight – Tim Pinkerton, Mens Middleweight – Eric Todd, Mens Heavyweight – Chad Ullom, Mens Superheavyweight – Matt Graham, and Mens Masters – Joe Garcia.  Eric Todd was the overall Best Lifter of the meet.  Matt Graham put on a grip-lifting show after the meet by picking up two INCH REPLICAS at the same time!

2004 – The First Ever Dino Challenge

A full field of 17 lifters took part in the first ever Dino Gym Challenge.  These lifts were contested: Fulton Bar Clean and Press, Pullover and Push, One Arm Clean and Jerk, Steinborn, and the Back Lift. Several records fell during this meet.  Al Myers broke Steve Schmidts All-Time record in the back lift with a lift of 2915 pounds.  Class winners were as follows: Women – Jessica Todd, Men Lightweight – Tim Pinkerton, Men Middleweight – Al Myers, Mens Heavyweight – Eric Todd, Mens Masters – Joe Garcia. The overall Best Lifter of the meet was 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).

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