Category Archives: USAWA Daily News

Rounded Back Platform Deadlifts

by Al Myers

Dino Gym member Ryan Batchman demonstrating the proper way to do a Rounded Back Platform Deadlift.

We have our “Big Workout Night” at the Dino Gym on Tuesday night, and usually have a large turnout of lifters.  Everyone has their own workout, but it is the night to go heavy so most exercises trained involve the back and legs.  Lots of squats and deadlifts!  We start at 6:00 and sometimes don’t finish until 10:00 or 11:00.  The last part of the workout usually involves doing exercises that help with recovery or flexibility, or more commonly referred to as “accessory exercises”.  I am a firm believer in training heavy to get stronger, but at the same time don’t overlook lighter exercises as a way to supplement your heavy work. We constantly change these exercises from workout to workout as this is our way of “winding down” a hard workout. We have several back accessory exercises we do but I want to explain one that is not well known, which we call the Rounded Back Platform Deadlift.  This exercise could be a great addition to your back training program.

The Rounded Back Platform Deadlift is done is this manner. First, you place a foot on two different raised platforms, and place the weight on a loader in front of you between your feet. It is best to have a loader that a handle can be attached to so weight can be added. The height of the handle should be just above the level of the feet, but not as high up on the lower leg as a loaded bar on a lifting platform.  Use an overhand grip when picking up the weight, and with a bend of the knees allow the lower back to round over.  When rising, stand and come to a complete lockout. Lower the weight as low as possible without allowing the weights to touch or rest on the floor.  Keep constant tension on the body at all times. Perform the repetitions at a controlled pace, paying attention to keeping the proper form of rounding the back when rising up with the weight.  We perform sets of 10 reps, adding weight to each subsequent set. Usually we will do between 4 and 6 sets.  We rotate quickly between us and try to keep the rest minimal.  This exercise is not about maximum exertion – but rather about stimulating blood flow to the lower back and legs. You will feel “the burn” in your hamstrings after performing this exercise.

The Rounded Back Platform Deadlift improves flexibility because the weight has a deep pickup that requires a good stretch.  The cross-over benefits to an All-Rounder is that it will help with rounded back type lifts, such as the Zercher Lift or Hack Lift.  It is also a very good exercise for Strongmen to help build strength for Stone Lifting, which is also a rounded back type of lifting.

USAWA National Championships

2010 USAWA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

OFFICIAL ENTRY FORM

June 26th and 27th, 2010

Note: You must be a current USAWA member to compete

Closing Date :  May 26, 2010

NAME__________________________________________

ADDRESS______________________________________

CITY_____________________STATE_____ ZIP_______

TELEPHONE____________________________________

E-MAIL_________________________________________

AGE__________           DATE OF BIRTH_____________

USAWA MEMBER:   Yes  /  No

SHIRT  SIZE___________________________

WEIGHT CLASS_________________________________

DIVISION ENTERING [age group: i.e. open & 40+]_____________________________

In consideration of your accepting my entry, I hereby release all claims for damages, losses, and injuries that I may hold against the USAWA., the Lebanon Senior Center, Meet Directors, all officials and assistants while taking part in the 2010  USAWA Championships  Also I fully understand the USAWA drug testing policy and will  fully avail myself if selected and not hinder the officials in the execution of their duties.

SIGNATURE______________________________

PARENT’S  SIGNATURE [if under 18 years of age] _________________________

WILL  YOU BE ATTENDING THE  BANQUET?  ______

IF YES  – NUMBER ATTENDING ___________

The Banquet will be a picnic in Habecker’s back yard. Donations accepted.

Mail entry to Denny Habecker, 637 N. 11TH Ave., Lebanon, Pa. 17046

Schedule of  Events

Venue :                                    Lebanon Senior Center , 710 Maple St.  Lebanon, Pa.

Weigh-ins :                              7:30 A.M. to 8:30 A.M. –Saturday and Sunday

Lifting  starts :                        9:30 A.M.

Lifts :

Saturday – June 26, 2010

Vertical Bar Lift – 1 Bar, 2”, One Hand

Pullover and Push

Clean and Jerk – One Arm

Deadlift – Trap Bar

Sunday – June 27, 2010

Snatch – From Hang

Deadlift – One Arm

Clean and Press

Zercher Lift

Entry Fee – $50.00 [ $70.00 for 2 Divisions]

T-Shirt Included

Awards: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in each weight class and

Age  divisions for Masters, Juniors, and Women,

Based on total poundage lifted.

Best Lifter Awards for each age group in Masters,

Juniors, Senior [20-39], and Women by Formula

Entry Form pdf:  2010 USAWA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

George Barker Windship, MD

by Dennis Mitchell

One of the very few pictures of George Barker Windship, MD (Courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society)

George Barker Windship was born in 1834 in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and entered Harvard University at age 16. He stood five feet tall and weighed one hundred pounds. Because of his small size he was constantly teased and tormented by his classmates. He started practicing gymnastics at the Harvard gym in an effort to build himself up. He spent some time every evening after classes at the gym doing chins, dips, and working on the rings and various bars. By the time he graduated he was well known for his strength. He could chin twelve times with one arm, and do a one arm chin with either arm using just his little finger.

On a trip to Rochester New York, he saw a lifting machine and lifted 420 pounds in what was similar to a Hand and Thigh Lift. After returning home he made his own hand and thigh apparatus, lifting a barrel that he would fill with rocks and sand. He became a dedicated weight lifter.

He returned to Harvard University and following in his father’s, grandfather’s, and great grandfather’s foot steps entered medical school. However, he stated that his main reason for medical school was to learn about the human body in order to improve his lifting.

He graduated in 1857, and had increased his Hand and Thigh Lift to 1208 pounds. He also fashioned a yoke type apparatus similar to the Harness Lift and could lift 2200 pounds. At this time he also added dumbbells to his training and in time could press a pair of 100 pound dumbbells. He also added barbell lifting with a globe barbell that he could vary the weight from 141 pounds to 180 pounds by adding shot to the globes. He was never a very big man reaching the height of 5’7″ and weighing 147 pounds.

This is a lifting apparatus designed and built by George Barker Windship, MD. It was patented in 1893, and is a forerunner of the Universal Machine.

Dr. Windship had his gym next to his medical office, and would tell his clients that if they would spend more time in his gym they would spend less time in his medical office. Dr. Dudley Sargent, the head of the Harvard Physical Education Department, after watching Dr. Windship work out, stated that, “he was exceeding strong and that he used very heavy weights in a number of different movements and angles with both weights and on machines that he invented”.

Dr. Windship gave many lectures on the health benefits that would come from being strong, and would end his lectures with a demonstration of his strength. He preached that heavy lifting was a form of medical therapy.

He had patents on various equipment. He made a dumbbell that could be adjusted in half pound increments from eight pounds to one hundred and one pounds. He invented the forerunner of the Universal Machine, and invented a leg and hip machine. his training methods were quite modern and he stressed very heavy short workouts with ample rest between training sessions. One of his patents in 1870 was for a machine that used compressed air in a piston for resistance in a rowing machine and a cable apparatus used for working the chest.

On September 12th, 1876, at the age of just 42, Dr. Windship died of a massive stroke. There were those who were against heavy lifting stating that it was dangerous, and used Dr. Windship’s death as proof. It did have a negative affect on lifting and for some years lifting was looked on as being dangerous.

IAWA World Championships

2010 World Championships
Entry Information

by Al Myers

2009 World Meet Promoter Denny Habecker (on left) presenting a 2009 World Championship Medal to 2010 World Meet Promoter George Dick (on right).

The 2010 IAWA World Championships will be held on October 2nd and 3rd. The entry information for the 2010 IAWA World Championships has been added to the Event Calendar. It will be directed by George Dick of the Castlemilk Gym Club. The Castlemilk Club last hosted the World Championships in 2006. The meet will be held at the Castlemilk Club in Glasgow, Scotland. If you want a “trip of a lifetime” – make it to Scotland for this meet. George and the Castlemilk Club will put on a TOP QUALITY MEET – that is for certain. On top of this – the meet can be combined with a vacation. There are several historic sites to see in and around Glasgow.

Entry Form (pdf) – 2010WorldIAWA

Take the Time to Become an USAWA Official

by Al Myers

One of the exciting things about the membership voting to pass the new rulebook at last years National Meeting was the development of an USAWA Certified Officials Program which was included in the new rulebook. The USAWA has never really had an system for certifying officials before this. Several things have been tried through the years to develop an Officials Program but nothing ever took hold. Mainly it consisted of anyone who wanted to judge a meet was considered an official. Sure, at the 2006 National Meeting, the membership voted to develop a test that must be passed in order to be an official. But this turned out to be an optional requirement because meets were still being contested and records being set with Officials who didn’t take or pass the test. Only a handful of people took the test. Nothing really changed. A few years before this, a system was developed where there would be regional official’s chairpersons, who had the “duties’ of certifying officials in their area. But again, no guidelines were given to the Chairpersons in how to go about implementing this so it died about as quick as it was started.

Why didn’t any of these previous Official’s Programs work?

My opinion is this. They were either too extensive and time demanding that it wasn’t worth it for someone to go “through the program”, or the program didn’t have any backbone. What I mean by this is that having a program is all fine and dandy, but if there are not repercussions for NOT going through the program, why do it? Afterall, if you can still be an official and not go through the program, what good is the program?

I don’t think anyone would argue with me about the importance of having a system in place of certifying officials versus not having one. Everyone wants their lifts to mean something in competition, and having a certified official in competition passing your lifts lends to credibility. Now what people will argue about is what is required in an Official’s Program, or how it is implemented. Luckily this has all been sorted out by the membership agreeing on our current Officials Program, by voting in favor of it, at the last National Meeting. The new Official’s Program is far from perfect, but at least it is something to start with. I think it is best to start small and grow, rather than start big and fail. There are obvious things that need to be added to it as it develops through time, but those hurdles can be jumped as we come to them.

I know one of the arguments against this new Official’s Program is “passing a test does not make you a good official”. I absolutely agree. It is only part of being a good official. I think THREE things make up a good official: 1. Knowledge of the rules, 2. Experience, and 3. Judgement Skills. (and their importance is probably in that order). Passing a rules test only tests your knowledge of the rules. Experience only comes with hours of sitting in a judges chair and learning from your mistakes. This can be somewhat measured by the number of meets one has officiated. Judgement skills is the hardest to evaluate, but is a very important characteristic of a good judge. It can truly only be evaluated by a practical exam in which a master official “judges” a judge. Many other larger lifting organizations require this in their Official’s Programs. We are far from that! We all know each other and it is hard enough to be impartial judging each other lifting, let alone finding someone to judge our judges in a practical exam. That person would have to be someone with a very thick skin who didn’t care in having any friends after wards. Practical exams would never work at this time – it is hard enough just talking individuals into taking the short 100 question rules test!

I want to highlight some of the requirements of the Officials Program.

All of these come from the Rule Book.

VII.8. There will be two levels of certified USAWA Officials

Level 1 – The official has passed the USAWA Rules Test OR has the experience of officiating in 25 or more competitions or events.

Level 2 – The official has passed the USAWA Rules Test AND has the experience of officiating in 25 or more competitions or events.

VII. 10. The USAWA Rules Test will consist of 100 open book questions regarding rules within this rulebook. To pass the test, an applicant must score over 90 percent.

VII. 11. All sanctioned USAWA events must use certified officials, and the officials must be willing to sign a meet document proving their involvement in the competition or event as an official.

V. 4. Records may be established in any USAWA sanctioned competition or event provided that one certified USAWA official is present to officiate and approve the lift. If three USAWA officials are used to judge the lift, the lifter must receive approval of two.

The authority of a Level 1 Official is the same as that of a Level 2 Official. Nothing in the rules say otherwise. It is only a designation that shows that Level 2 Officials have achieved both of the criteria required. The experience criteria is the USAWA way of having a “Grandfather Clause” to allow those older, seasoned officials not to be asked to take the test. But to maintain integrity in our program the 25 meet experience requirement must be adhered to. I would hope that even those meeting the experience criteria would still take the Rules Test, and by doing so, would show support to this new Official’s Program and set a good example for others to take the test. Rule V.4. will be adhered to from now on – so if you want a record in the future you must have a certified Official judge you. You may notice that there are not any time limits imposed on Officials to re-certify. This is one thing that will need to be looked at by the membership in the future.

The Rules Test has been rewritten this past year and is much shorter in length. If you have ANY understanding of the rules you should be able to complete it in 2-3 hours. All of the essay questions have been removed. The test is open book and ALL answers can be found in the Rule Book. All the test really achieves is guaranteeing that a Official has LOOKED at the Rule Book, and hopefully will know where to go to find the answers to any judging question. This system couldn’t be any easier – so to say it is too hard to become an USAWA Official is just not true. If someone doesn’t have three hours to give to take this test only tells me that they are not really that interested in becoming an official. You don’t even have to be an experienced lifter to take and pass the exam! Maybe someday our organization will grow to a point where we can have Level 3 Officials, whereas a Practical Exam would be required, but for today I would just hope that everyone would support the program that is in place – so we can TRUTHFULLY say that we have a Certified Official’s Program in the USAWA.

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