Category Archives: Uncategorized

Error Correction-2019 Worlds

By Eric Todd

Unfortunately, sometimes error in sports occur. One has recently come to my attention from 2019 worlds. Even though a fail-safe computer program was used, an error was made. While it was announced at the banquet that Beth Skwarecki was the victor in the women’s division, there was an omission of RJ Jackson’s one hand barbell clean and jerk in the addition of her total. With the one arm clean and jerk added, RJ’s amended total surpassed that of Beth. When I reached out to Beth to be sure I was not missing anything, she assured me that I was not, and she graciously conceded victory to RJ with her congratulations. Apologies from the USAWA/IAWA to RJ Jackson for missing this, and congratulations for your 2019 World Championship!

Hating to Squat, Part II

by Thom Van Vleck

I really appreciated Dan’s article. I’ll name drop a little here myself. I used to train with John Ware. He broke Bill Kazmaier’s total records and O.D. Wilson broke John’s record just weeks later as I recall.  As Dave Glasgow would say, “WHATEVER, TOPPER”.

I have never been a great bencher. I remember maxing out after a year of hard training and getting a 5lb PR.  I went from 360 to 365. It was so disappointing after so much work. A week or so later John Ware was spotting me on a set of 10 on the bench. He made the comment, “Not a single one of those reps looked the same”. His observation cause me to think.

I had no “groove”.  I had been a serious practitioner of the singles, doubles, and triples.  I rarely did more than 5 reps in a set.  What I realized was I was not getting and keeping a “groove”.  My bar path was all over the place as a result.  My solution was to go unconventional and do 10 sets of 10 with a focus on keeping the same bar path on every rep.  I did this for three months.  I then maxed out and I benched 405!  So one year of training had led to 5lbs of progress and 3 months led to 40lbs of progress!

I had fallen into that same trap.  I had not been focused on my form.  Just trying to lift as much weight as possible every set and every rep.  I figured out in that 3 months I got in 1200 reps.  In that year of low rep training I had gotten in maybe a 1000 reps.  I’m not saying 10×10 is the best power routine but I think at the time I needed the reps to reset my groove.  And it worked!  I remember hitting 370, 390, and 405.  I’ve never had a 40 lb PR on any lift before or since.  I was literally jumping for joy!

As a Highland Games thrower I video myself all the time.  Most every throw.  Because I find that over time, no matter how much I try to not let this happen, my form degrades.  I think it’s from trying to throw too hard to feed my ego.  Same goes for the weights.  Feeding my ego led to a degrading in form.

So find that love again, like Dan said!  And if you don’t have an O. D. Wilson or John Ware to check your form then set up a video.

NEWS FLASH – NATIONAL’S RESULTS

The USAWA National Championships were held this past weekend in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.  The meet was hosted and directed by Denny and Judy Habecker.  The top five placings were as follows:

1.  Al Myers, Kansas –  939 points

2.  Chad Ullom, Kansas – 874 points

3.  Denny Habecker, Pennsylvania – 858 points

4.  Randy Smith, Michigan – 795 points

5.  Scott Schmidt, Ohio – 758 points

The full meet results and meet writeup will be available tomorrow in the USAWA Daily News.

Congrats on the New Website

I would like to thank Al for all his hard work on the new website.  He is a good friend of the USAWA and all of us and a credit to the iron sport in general.

I know that the annual meeting is coming up at Nationals and I wish I could be there, but I know that the guys who will be there will represent the USAWA well and I look forward to see what comes out of the meeting.

Welcome to the New USAWA Website

After much work, the new USAWA website is up and working!  I hope that you like the new features that this website offers – such as the search functions of previous blogs, and the more modern look.  We outgrew our previous site, and this new site will allow us to expand as much as we like, with no limitations.

It is important that you establish a new login.  You still must be a website member and logged in to be able to participate in the USAWA Discussion Forum.  This new site has been designed  to allow the membership to be more involved.  If you are interested in contributing blog stories for the USAWA Daily News, just let me know and I will designate you “author status”. This will allow you to prepare your stories on the website.  Enjoy!