USAWA

Thom – I checked the record book and there are still a few OVERALL records left that can be broken with a token lift of 135#. So you can get one Al

Thom, We have 164 official USAWA lifts. Counting the finger lifts and the one arm lifts that gives a total of 197 eligible overall records in the 125+ class. In our Record List ONLY 157 have been established in the Overall, 125 kg+ slot. That gives you 40 records that you can set with a 135# token lift. Of course, some of these lifts that are left are lifts like the Van Dam Lift in which 135# would not be token. But you got a good start – of your 15 overall records, 13 were set with pounds less than 135# and 2 with 225#s!!!! haha I’m too hard on you Thom!!! Do you still want the list?? Al

Im impressed by all you guys who set all these records, even by thom, lol. Honestly Im impressed by anyone who has the balls to throw on a belt and compete and train, great job to all!!

ST

Did I hear someone say “token lift”? Like Al. Based on my performance in an Olympic lifting meet on Saturday, I believe that I am presently (and perhaps “inarguably”) the current world record holder in the token lift. Specifically, I presumably tied the all-time record (shared by many, I think) for the lowest total in men’s Olympic lifting with my 25-kilo snatch and 25-kilo clean and jerk, taking just one attempt in each lift. I hope the assembled throng who witnessed the first stage of my comeback after a layoff of 25 years was not disappointed, but this was planned. 🙂

I knew that I would almost certainly be lifting unopposed (and I was), and I was nursing a slight injury with either tendonitis or a strained muscle a few inches above my right knee. I have also discovered that one cannot make up for not training snatches and clean and jerks for 25 years with just 3 months of training. I had planned to use the meet Saturday (the Southern Open) to satisfy the 3-year requirement and be eligible to compete in the National Masters in April, but it will apparently take about another year of training for me to return to a level that I consider acceptable for that contest.

By doing 25 in each lift, it will be apparent to anyone who views the contest report that I was just taking token lifts, whereas if I had gone higher, it would have looked like I lifted as much as I could. So I needed to keep my current capabilities secret … for my emotional well-being!

I can tell you that when you don’t train snatches for 25 years, your top pull for the snatch disappears completely, as do your traps! I have started doing muscle snatches for my top pull, working up to a set of 5 reps, and I have discovered that I actually still have traps, they have simply been hidden for the past 25 years! 🙂

I told a friend that there are probably some housewives in the Atlanta area who could c&j 25, but I think the 25 snatch would stop them cold. Even if they got the bar to arms length, they would probably have some press out.

Try snatching 25 without jacking the bar up. Your knuckles will be almost scraping the platform. I practiced from that position the night before the contest, just to make sure that I could do it. (I could.) I figured that I had better use the dive style, though, that some lifters used in the 30s and 40s because I was afraid that if I used the normal get set style and had to get down that low, I might be stuck there forever! Fortunately they jacked the bar up at the contest by turning a collar on each side on end and sitting the 2.5 kilo plate and the bar on top of those, jacking the bar up 4 or 5 inches.

It was good to renew acquaintances with my old (literally) Olympic lifting buddies, who were coaching their young lifters, as I have not been attending local meets in recent years. I can tell all of you (relatively) young guys, however, that you had better enjoy being not old as much as you can because once you hit your 60s and 70s it may take all of the king’s horses and all of the king’s men to put you back together again! One old weightlifter I know turns 68 this month and he has had both hips replaced, and one who is 61 told me Saturday that his shoulders are shot.

Speaking of shoulders, I had a long talk with Bill Clark yesterday (actually all of my talks with Bill are an hour or more) and he will be coming to my town to have his shoulder repaired, as he didn’t care for what the Missouri docs had in mind. If he flies in, I will get a chance to do some chauffeuring, which will be fine since I owe him some favors.

Tom

Great job Tom!!! I bet it felt really good to get “back on the platform”. The older I get the more respect and admiration I have for those older than me that still compete. Because I know it doesn’t get easier! I’m old enough now that I’m starting to feel aches and pains that I didn’t before I was 40. The weight on the bar may not be what it used to be – but the physical and mental aspect may be tougher the older you get. By this I mean the body is usually “broken” somewhere, and you are wise enough to know that you probably shouldn’t be doing what you’re doing!! Al