Category Archives: USAWA Daily News

Rest in Peace, John Vernacchio

by Al Myers

Two legends in All-Round Weightlifting, John Vernacchio (left) and Frank Ciavattone (right) at the 2009 IAWA World Championships in Lebanon, PA.

Yesterday brought some bad news to the All-Round Community with the news of the passing of John Vernacchio.  Anyone who has been involved with the USAWA for any length of time knows John.   John has been one of the primary leaders in our organization since the beginning, and without his efforts the USAWA might not even exist today.  I could go “ON AND ON” regarding John’s titles and lifting resume, but today I want to take the time to remember John for “the man he was”, and from the comments that I have received about him, it is obvious that he was loved and well-respected by all.  Please continue to send any comments and/or stories about John, and I’ll share them here on the USAWA website.

by Steve Gardner

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but for those who knew him, just wanted to let you know John Vernacchio has passed away. John was my very good friend and buddy from Philadelphia USA, a prolific all round weightlifter and powerlifter in his early days and a big mover and shaker in the US all round organisation too. John was 75 I think, and he suffered a fatal heart attack this morning. So very very sad. Rest in peace John.

by Andrew Tomlin

he was a gentleman and a legend R.I.P john

by Barry Bryan

Very sad news to hear. I lifted for his gym,trained with him, and he is the one who got me in the all round lifting. We had many great times.

by James Gardner

RIP JOHN. ALWAYS A LEGEND

by Joe Garcia

Sad news indeed. Remember a lot of good times with John at his meets. I called Bill and let him know. If anyone has current address or funeral data shoot them to me.

by John Gardner

Very sad to loose the legend will miss you mr v

by Steve Angell

Am sitting here with tears in my eyes. This has just become one of the saddest days of my life. l owe that man so much and had a love for him like a father. RIP John. You really were a legend!

by Rick Meldon

Horrible news, a great bloke indeed

by David Horne

Very sad news. I always remember my time at his place in Philly with fondness. A great chap!

by Tom Ryan

Yes, very sad news. I echo the comments made above. I knew John well, especially from the 1989-90 academic year that I spent in the Philly area and trained a few times at his gym. John was very active in staging competitions during the early years of the USAWA, in which he was a charter member. And he was a force on the lifting platform! He was a good Olympic lifter who switched to powerlifting after the press was eliminated, as the press was his best lift. John retained his strength as he aged much better than most of us do, as he squatted with 601 at the age of 47, which tied his personal record. Yes, John was 75 and would have turned 76 near the end of the year.

by Graham Saxton

Very sorry to hear the news. I had the pleasure to spend sometime with him on a number of occasions. Treasured memories.

(THERE WILL BE MORE TRIBUTES TO COME OVER THE FOLLOWING DAYS)

Olympic Dumbbell Swing

by Roger LaPointe

Chad Ullom performing a 150 Right Arm Dumbbell Swing at the 2012 USAWA Club Challenge in Ambridge, PA. Chad has the best Dumbbell Swing of ALL TIME in the USAWA.

As a competitive lift, the dumbbell swing has not been part of the Olympics since the first one, or maybe it was the second modern Olympics? I don’t know and the records are a least a little sketchy. So why do it?

Dumbbell Swings are simply AWESOME for your grip work.

Leading up to our last All-Round Weightlifting Meet, I hadn’t done any traditional deadlifting and hardly any clean pulls. Instead, I did a lot of stone lifting, snatches, cleans and the three lifts in that competition: the crucifix hold, one arm deadlift and thick bar Jefferson lift. I was doing the stone lifting because I was training Casey Pelton for the German American Festival Steinstossen event and because I just love summer outdoor stone lifting.

“Wow! Isn’t that actually over training you back?” exclaimed my Dad.

The quick answer, is “Yes… and No.” The volume of back training was pretty big, but most importantly, the volume of grip training was really high. I needed to hit my grip and single arm work, in a genuinely periodized fashion. I really needed to hit some lighter weights, with super high intensity. I felt like the dumbbell swing might just fit the bill.

There is no way to do a serious dumbbell swing being highly intense about it. Without intending to create this dichotomy, it also happens to be a nearly perfect lift to balance out the crucifix hold. Nice.

If you want to see the dumbbell I use to train the Dumbbell Swing, check out this shot. It is a very nice Olympic Plate Loading Rotating Dumbbell. The handle diameter and knurling is about as perfect as you could hope for and my York weights were not sloppy, like on the old one I was previously using. It was a wonderful upgrade.

Lifter of the Month: Dale Friesz

by Al Myers

Dale Friesz (center) at the 2012 USAWA Nationals in Las Vegas. He is surrounded by Dennis Mitchell (left) and the meet venue owner John Broz (right).

The choice for the lifter of the month of August was a pretty simple one – DALE FRIESZ.   In the month of August he won the prestigious Presidential Cup, the premier of the USAWA Record Days.  Dale has been involved with the USAWA from the very early days, and at the USAWA Nationals was “one of four” awarded the special award of Top Participation Award of past USAWA Nationals.  I consider Dale one of the “founding members” of the USAWA.  He has a passion for All-Round Weightlifting and the USAWA that very few others have. Despite having endured MANY physical hardships that would have put other lifters “on the sideline”, he continues to make a presence at meets, and in turn gives inspiration to any lifter that is facing a physical obstacle themselves.  Because no matter how bad you may think your issue is – it is NOTHING compared to what Dale has been faced with, and yet he continues to work out and compete.  That puts things in perspective.  In fact, I have NEVER met anyone like Dale who has such a underlying passion for weightlifting.   He is a true champion and very deserving of winning this month’s LIFTER OF THE MONTH.

Last Day for Knee Sleeve Poll

by Al Myers

I just want to remind everybody that today is the LAST DAY to cast your vote in the knee sleeve poll.  The deadline is September 1st, so tomorrow I will be turning the USAWA poll results into IAWA President Steve Gardner so he can tabulate the “Worldwide vote”.  At that time you have “missed the boat” to cast a vote in this poll.   Shortly after that, the poll results will be announced on the website. 

This issue has been a “hotly contested” discussion item on the USAWA Discussion Forum.  It has been the most discussed single thread the forum has seen, and has “by far” the most views (closing in on 1000 views!!!).  I want to thank everyone who participated in this forum discussion, because the opinions expressed by everyone represent the voice of the USAWA.   I know there are those that have strong feelings on this (for and against) and will be disappointed however the poll turns out (either way), but I hope that those “hard feelings” can be placed to the side, and a sense of pride can be felt by knowing the fact that the USAWA now operates in a democratic fashion, with the direction of the organization determined by the majority vote of the membership.  I grant that there are still “rules in the book” that seem hypocritical, but this healthy debate brought those issues to the surface and now can be addressed in the future.

IF YOU HAVEN’T VOTED YET – CAST YOUR VOTE TODAY

Entry for Worlds Reminder

by Al Myers

The IAWA World Championships in now just a little over a month away – with the entry deadline being September 15th.  Entries have been coming in slow, so if you are coming it’s now TIME to get that entry in.  Chad and I are going to alot of work to make this a great meet, but we need to get a good “head count” to make the appropriate plans.  I have only 1 more week to turn in my shirt and awards order to get things done in time, and knowing the number of lifters that plan on attending is VERY IMPORTANT in our making this decision on how much to order.  It’s costing us enough the way it is without estimating too high on awards & shirts, and then having too many extras.  Depending on the number of entries by the deadline, we MAY or MAY NOT accept late entries.  But if we do take late entries, the entry charge will be $100 instead of the $75 it is if you get your entry in on time.  I want to also mention that oversea lifters need only to email me their entry by the deadline, and may pay at the time of meet checkin.  But this DOES NOT apply to USAWA lifters!

The blog outlining the details of the 2012 IAWA World Championships is found here:

https://www.usawa.com/world-championships-3/

The host hotel for Worlds is the Ramada  Conference Center and Hotel .  The blog giving the details on this can be found here:

 https://www.usawa.com/host-hotel-for-worlds/

If you are just interested in the entry form, here it is again:

2012 World Championship Entry Form

 

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