Category Archives: USAWA Daily News

A New Year!

by Thom Van Vleck

I know it’s kind of a thing that most of us who lift regularly get fed up with the New Years resolution bunch crowding into the gym and bugging us for training advice that they’ll never use.  At least that’s my perspective but let’s look at this positively.

First of all, when is the best time to be in the gym?  WINTER.  I am mainly a highland games thrower which means as soon as it’s nice out until it’s too cold and snowy I’m out throwing every chance I get.  But even when I was a regular lifter winter was a great time to be in the gym.  It was too dark outside by the time I got off work to do much so why not retreat to the gym.  I generally come out of the busy holidays having traveled, went to a dozen or so parties (most for work or I wouldn’t go!) and find myself in January with a lot of time on my hands.  GYM TIME!

Second, when the New Year’s warriors come seeking advice or crowding the gym I look at it as an opportunity AND a compliment.  It’s a chance to have a positive impact on others and reach out to that one in a thousand that will actually take off with it.  I recall a 15 year old kid coming to the gym.  He had to keep all his clothes on, his wallet and keys in his pocket, to break 100lbs.  He bugged the crap out of me for advice.  More of it was seeking affirmation and motivation than actually lifting advice.  I remember being annoyed as can be….but I did it.  And many years later he made the cover of Powerlifting USA and sent me an autographed copy thanking me for my help.  He pulled more than quadruple bodyweight at 160lbs in the deadlift.  Now I take it as my duty to help others and a compliment they would think I could even help them.

Last, It’s just a great time for a new start.  I have notice in my life time that I have set 100’s of goals, probably more like 1000’s of goals.  And I’ve made very few of them.  My Uncle Phil used to tell me that it’s better to set goals that are almost unreachable because when you set them too low we tend to quit trying when we reach them.  I hear people complaining that they get tired of hearing about all these “New Year’s resolutions” that nobody will keep.  Well, out of a 100, even if just ONE makes that goal then I say keep at it.  Otherwise, what do you say, roll over and quit!

So, as this New Year begins I look forward to the new faces, the questions, and that one guy….that will make the cover of PL USA someday!

Merry Christmas from the JWC!

by Thom Van Vleck

Me driving my Ol' Truck in the Christmas parade pulling our float.

Recently the Jackson Weightlifting Club had a float in the Kirksville Kiwanis Christmas Parade.  The take collections for warm hats, gloves, and scarves for the needy and we added to their collection. We decorated up the truck and trailer and my kids got about a dozen friends to walk in the parade, hand out candy, and ride on the trailer that was covered in lights and loaded with boxes wrapped to look like presents.  Sure, the “presents” were really my boxes used for weight training but it looked good!

My lovely wife rode on the trailer. She has been my personal Christmas present that I've gotten to wake up to every year for nearly 3 decades!

What you can’t see is my two oldest were carrying a JWC banner to lead our group and all the kids handing out candy along the side.  A bonus was it was Ethan Van Vleck’s birthday so we all went out for a birthday dinner afterwards.

We are a small town but I'd guess about 500 folks were out for the parade! And Santa was even there....though he looks suspiciously familiar...like someone I know.

The Jackson Weightlifting Club has been a part of my family’s life for over 75 years and 4 generations.  What you see is the 5th generation.  The JWC is much more than just lifting weights.  So, from the JWC family to your family….Merry CHRISTmas and a happy 2015!  As my Grandpa Dalton Jackson, the founder of the club would ALWAYS say, “The best is yet to come”!   Amen!

A Little Christmas Story

by Denny Habecker

When four of Santa’s elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.

Then Mrs. Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.

Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.

Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drunk all the cider and hidden the liquor.

In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and an irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.

The angel said very cheerfully, ‘Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn’t this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?’

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

OLE JOHN AND SALLY

BY DAVE GLASGOW

(A SEASONAL, NON-LIFTING, BUT UP-LIFTING STORY)

I ENJOY HISTORY, ESPECIALLY MY OWN FAMILY HISTORY. ONE STORY I HEARD MANY TIMES WAS TOLD BY MY DAD, JOHN. IT WAS ABOUT MY GREAT GRAND DAD, WHO I HAVE ALWAYS CALLED ‘OLE JOHN’, TO DIFFERENTIATE HIM FROM MY DAD. I THINK THIS IS THE APPROPRIATE TIME OF YEAR TO PASS THE STORY ON.

OLE JOHN WAS A SOLDIER IN THE ‘CIVIL WAR’. HE WAS IN THE CAVALRY, WHICH SEEMED ODD TO ME, AS HE WAS A SAILOR FROM THE TIME HE WAS TWELVE YEARS OLD. AT ANY RATE, HE WAS CAPTURED BY THE CONFEDERATES AND SENT TO THE NOTORIOUS PRISON CAMP, ANDERSONVILLE, IN GEORGIA. THE CONDITIONS IN THIS CAMP WERE HORRID. MANY DIED OF DISEASE, STARVATION AND JUST PLAIN LOSS OF HOPE. SOMEHOW, OLE JOHN SURVIVED, BUT HE DID NOT GO UNSCATHED. HE LOST ALL HIS UPPER TEETH AND HAD PERMANENT SKELETAL PROBLEMS FROM SCURY AND MALNUTRITION.

AS THE STORY GOES, OLE JOHN TOLD HOW THE MEMBERS OF THE SALVATION ARMY (WHOM I HAVE ALWAYS CALLED ‘SALLY’) WOULD SNEAK UP TO THE WALLS AT NIGHT AND THROW SWEET POTATOES OVER THE FENCE TO THE PRISONERS. HE SAID THAT THIS KIND, HUMANITARIAN GESTURE WAS ONE OF THE REASONS HE MADE IT OUT ALIVE.

SO, EVERY CHRISTMAS, WHEN MY KIDS WERE GROWING UP, I WOULD ENCOURAGE AMBER AND DEREK TO ‘THROW SOMETHING IN SALLY’S POT’, IN HONOR OF OLE JOHN AND TO HELP OUT SALLY, WITHOUT WHOM WE WOULD , PROBABLY, NOT BE AROUND.

THEN, A FEW YEARS BACK, I WAS LISTENING TO THE RADIO AND THEY WERE SPEAKING TO SOME MEMBERS OF THE SALVATION ARMY, AS IT WAS CHRISTMAS TIME AND THEY WERE IN NEED OF MONIES AND CLOTHING DONATIONS TO GIVE TO THOSE IN NEED. NATURALLY, I THOUGHT OF OLE JOHN. SO, WHEN I HAD TIME I DID A LITTLE RESEARCH ABOUT ‘SALLY’. WHAT I DISCOVERED DISAPPOINTED ME, GREATLY.

SEEMS THAT SALLY WAS STARTED IN ENGLAND IN 1865, AND WAS NOT FOUNDED IN THE STATES UNTIL 1880! CLEARLY WELL PAST THE TIME OF OLE JOHN’S CONFINEMENT!! IMMEDIATELY, QUESTIONS FORMED IN MY MIND AS TO THE VALIDITY OF THIS CONTRADITION IN THE STORY. UNFORTUNATELY, ANYONE WHO WOULD KNOW THE ANSWER TO THIS MYSTERY HAS LONG SINCE PASSED.

AFTER A LOT OF DILIBERATIONS, I CAME TO SOME OF MY OWN CONCLUSIONS. COULD IT BE IT WAS THE BAPTISTS, METHODISTS OR MEMBERS OF SOME OTHER RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION WHO FOUND THE COMPASSION TO HELP THESE UNFORTUNATE INDIVIDUALS?

TO HAVE SURVIVED ALMOST A YEAR IN THAT FILTH AND DEGRADATION, CERTAINLY, BRINGS TO MY MIND THAT SOMEONE WAS HELPING THOSE PRISONERS! JUST BECAUSE THE DISCREPANCY OF THE ORGANIZATION IS IN QUESTION DOES NOT TAKE AWAY FROM THE MEAT OF THE STORY. ORAL HISTORY HANDED DOWN FROM ONE TO ANOTHER LEAVES THE DOOR OPEN TO ERRORS AND A MISTAKE COULD HAVE VERY WELL BEEN MADE BY ONE WHO HAD ONLY HEARD THE STORY, NOT THE ONE THAT WAS THERE, LIVING IT.

REGARDLESS, DO I THINK THAT SWEET POTATOES MADE THEIR WAY INTO UNION PRISONERS HANDS? ABSOLUTELY! A STORY, SUCH AS THIS, IS TOO GOOD TO HAVE BEEN ‘MADE UP’. FURTHER, WHY WOULD HE FABRICATE SUCH A TALE IF IT WERE NOT TRUE?? IN MY MIND, OLE JOHN WAS THE RECIPIENT OF A KINDNESS THAT CAN NEVER BE REPAID.

SO, IN THIS SEASON OF GIVING, MIGHT I ENCOURAGE EACH OF YOU TO ‘THROW SOMETHING IN SALLY’S POT’? THEY ARE A VERY WORTHY ORGANIZATION AND HELP UNTOLD NUMBERS OF THOSE LESS FORTUNATE. EVEN IF SALLY WAS NOT THE ONES THAT HELPED OLE JOHN, MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, YOU WILL HELP THEM HELP SOMEONE ELSE THAT NEEDS A HAND UP!

JUST TELL THEM ‘OLE JOHN’ SENT YA…..

Quality over Quantity

by Thom Van Vleck

I love being in the gym.  When I first caught the “iron bug” I’d spend hours in the Jackson Weightlifing Club gym.  While I would always be training….not all that time was working out.  I recall reading a story about Paul Anderson.  He would rest for up to 15 minutes between sets while visiting with others or other distractions.  I know I often found myself doing the same thing.  I would visit, read lifting magazines, or be writing down stuff related to my workout.  I was putting value in the quantity of time in the gym over the quality of my time.

I know I’ve been guilty of doing a certain number of sets for a certain number of sets for the simple reason my work out plan called for it.  Most of us go into the gym with a plan.  I have often found myself looking to hit certain benchmarks and success was measured on getting those sets and reps.  I was happy if I made my “goals”.   I was putting value in the quantity of sets, reps, and poundages over the quality of sets, reps, and poundages.

A couple years ago I decided to start focusing on the quality of my workouts.  As I started to use that as a measure over quantity I found myself very lacking.  I found that I could take a weight and lift it….or I could LIFT IT LIKE I MEANT IT!   I also began to notice that I was wasting a lot of time just being in the gym and not doing things that had a direct impact on my lifting.  Oh…you know….like actually lifting weights!   So my re-dedication  involved assessing every part of my work out by constantly asking myself one question, “Is what I’m doing adding quality to my workout or is it just quantity?”.

I began to notice several things.  I started to make gains again.  I lost weight.  I got in better cardio shape (my workouts much faster), I got more done in less time which meant I was working out more and most of all my attitude towards my workouts improved as it re-energized me and gave me confidence in the idea that what I was doing was going to help make me stronger.

So, the next time you work out you might want to ask yourself, “Quality..or Quantity”?

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