Dave Polzin

[Tom Ryan]

Dave Polzin

[KCSTRONGMAN]

It was a pleasure to meet and lift with Dave. A very unassuming guy. You would never know by his modesty that he was one of the best.
ET

I'm the lyrical Jesse James

[Al Myers]

Thanks Tom for those “numbers” on Dave. I would agree with ET on Dave being very unassuming, as he didn’t let on to us any of his past lifting accomplishments. However by the end of the day I had a feeling that he was a MUCH BETTER lifter than he was letting on. The Heavy Lifts are a very poor indicator of overall strength in the Olympic Lifts and Power Lifts, but when he did his Clean and Press I KNEW that he must have put up some big overhead numbers when he was younger.

I really enjoyed meeting him as he is a very nice guy, and a perfect addition to the USAWA. Al

[Adam Glass]

Reading this really blew me away this morning, because I know a LOT of 20-40 year olds who couldn’t clean and press 80% of that, to see someone of that age doing it is very impressive.

[Steve Angell]

[b]Quote from tpr42345@aol.com on May 15, 2012, 02:39[/b]
In other words, Polzin was a very good Olympic lifter, so his 198 clean and press doesn’t surprise me, Al. It does, however, shoot down John McKean’s argument that lifters past the age of 55 can’t press anything. That is true for you and I, John, but Polzin had a ton of overhead strength in his mid-30s.

I also thought the clean & Press of 98kgs stood out as the top performance in the article.

And If you look at the IAWA records list, John V clean & Pressed 101.3kgs in the 50/55 year 95kg class, and Jim Malloy did 112.5kgs in the 50/55 115kg class. Both also great presses and proof that if your built to press, it does not drop too much as you age.

[Chad Ullom]

I clearly am not built to press!

[John McKean]

I lifted with Dave last year at Roger’s outdoor meet -he was a terrific guy, and cheered on everyone. A fantastic presser, who performed with such ease & style that I’m sure there’s much more in reserve for future meets/records!

I can’t ever remember saying that NO ONE over 55 can’t press well, just That I can’t!!

[Tom Ryan]

You did make a rather general statement, John. This was when you did your one-arm dumbbell deadlift of 264, as you pointed out that is still possible to make good deadlifts at your (our) age, but not overhead presses.

Trust me, I may no longer have the size of an elephant, but I still have the memory of one. More or less. 🙂

[Tom Ryan]

Yes, Steve, John V. did some impressive lifting as he aged. Jimmy Malloy was one of the top Olympic lifters in the Masters program when the USAWA got started, and he then became a very good USAWA lifter.

I first saw John when we competed in the National Masters in Olympic lifting in 1986. He was 49 then and even though he failed with a 3rd attempt 198 snatch, I later learned that his attempt was with only 17 pounds less than his PR snatch! Similarly, he told me that he equaled his PR 600 squat when he was 47. Of course we don’t all age at the age rate but John was unusual in being at or close to his PRs when he was in his late 40s.

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