Al Myers
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Ben, You are welcome to make a trip to the Dino Gym whenever you want, not just for meets. You’re a Dino Gym member for life and the gym is always open for you. Take care and hope to see ya soon, Al
I want to give a big “shout out” to all the lifters at Nationals!!! Great job!!! I hated missing, but so glad to see it was a big success. Again – THANK YOU Denny and Judy for hosting. Al
I’d like to make a few comments regarding the proofing of the rule book.
I agree that there are many grammatical and other language errors. When the new rulebook was developed, it had input of a committee of several but I did most of the writing for it. I knew this was a weakness of mine as I’m not a good writer/editor. However, we did get help from Tom Ryan who edited/reviewed as a profession. I was amazed how many minor grammatical errors he found. So I feel the “first version” of the new rulebook was pretty clean. But we have added much content since then which I’m sure has many grammatical mistakes.
Good points Chris!
I remember when the “5 lift limit” on record days was passed. It was proposed by the late great Art Montini. At the time everyone was in favor of it at the meeting. The intention of this rule has NOTHING to do with trying to limit records by lifters. Its all about record day meet logistics – ie if one lifter wants to do 100 lifts that pretty much ruins the day for many others as if they are officials they would be required to officiate all those lifts, or in some cases lifters will be loading for it. I’ve seen record day meets at my place in the past where this happened – often putting me in the position that I couldn’t even do any lifts myself. Not that that bothered me that much – its when other officials who were there to lift (and traveled) not being able to do their record day lifts. You need a “wrap time” for meets and the 5 lift limit accomplishes that for a meet director.
Add in the added burden put on the records director for these “unlimited” record days, I see no point in eliminating the 5 lift limit. Sure – you can say lets get more help with the record list but I’ve been there and done the record list for years and thats no easy task. Anyone can talk big about doing it but it’s a monthly task and becomes a burden. The fun soon wears off. Lets not run Johnny off as he’s been doing a great job with it.
It’s not just the bar selection that can affect a lift – but the plates themselves! Some lifts perform better with wide plates while others prefer slim plates. Sometimes bumpers can be an advantage and other times not. Sometimes tight fitting plates are better, and other times loose fitting plates are better.
There are many factors involved in lifting a heavy max weight – but STRENGTH will always override the bars and/or plates that are selected!!!
This is a topic I could write a long blog on! Which I did here in the forum a week ago but ended up not saving and I lost it all! I was so frustrated its taken me a week to do it again – which I’m sure won’t be as good as it was the first time.
The USAWA rules for a barbell are very lenient. When the rulebook committee discussed this issue years ago it was determined to make them that way so most all gyms would have a bar that was rule compliant. Before the rules stated “barbell rules” using the IWF bar rules from the 1960s. These were very specific and unless you had an old 50 year old york bar the bar you would be using would probably be illegal. I only had a couple of bars in my gym which fitted the old bar rules and both were old bars.
Dan – I remember you doing that Peoples deadlift at my place and I do remember you were limited by grip as you obviously had more strength to do more. That was a second generation Okie Deadlift bar and one of my favorite bars for that lift. Also – I remeber my buddy Chuck lifting a big peoples dl that day with that bar – which was his PR. He loved that bar for that lift. Goes to show that bar selection for a lift varies amongst lifters.
I do not think it is cheating to use a favorable bar when lifting. (as long as its within the current bar rules). My brother in law bob told me once his favorite bar for one handed snatces and C&Js were a old rusty bar that sleeves were pretty much bound up to prevent rotation upon completion. I prefer to call that “lifting strategy” instead of cheating. Often at my meets I will have different bars for the different lifts. But there you go – i pick the bar I WOULD LIKE BEST. Doesn’t mean its that way for everyone.
Good topic for discussion here!
Randy, Both of those assessments are correct and in my opinion would be good changes made to the rulebook. The “blocks under the feet” has been allowed before in the USAWA so that’s an “unwritten rule” that should be clarified in the rulebook. As for the Jefferson Finger Lifts that is a IAWAUK lift and a good addition if you are one who wants to add to the 15 finger lifts we already have.
AlImpressive lifting!!!
One more thing I would like to add here.
A few years ago we had the “big issue” regarding the use of knee sleeves. This was a pretty polarized topic as there was opinions on both extremes. The USAWA EB decided to do a poll of all the USAWA members PRIOR to the National Meeting to get a true unofficial vote on the manner. The decision of this poll was then supported by vote at the National Meeting.
Polls prior to the meeting on big topics is good solution to getting a true overall vote amongst all members.
Dan, I agree with what you said and have questioned our “voting” process for a long time. I truly believe that everyone should have the opportunity to voice their beliefs thru voting. But the problem we have with the USAWA is that we are a small org and not everyone wants to be involved in the politics. Very rarely does all lifters even should up to the National Meeting when they are there to compete. I understand – they are there to lift and don’t want to be bothered by a long meeting the night before the meet. You are the EXCEPTION to this along with a very small group. I’ll go out on a limb here and predict that if the USAWA instigated online voting the participation would be pathetic (with mainly the core group participating) and hardly worth the effort it would take to make it happen. Plus it would create issues for those lifters who do not like to participate in forums and emails and they would now be upset. Half a dozen USAWA members come to mind as I type this!
Again as I’ve said before – it doesn’t accomplish much solving one problem while you create another.
That is outstanding news!
Keep up the great work! You’re doing outstanding!
I always like to compare hand size when meeting other lifters, especially guys with super strong grips. I consider myself to have an average size hand. Most of the really good grip guys have a much larger hand than myself. Stevie and me have the exact same size hands, but when I met Jack I immediately noticed how large his hands were. His fingers 1/2-3/4″ longer than mine. But what makes the BEST hook grippers are the ones with extra long thumbs and Jack’s thumbs were VERY LONG in proportion to his fingers. There’s NO WAY he was going to lose his grip on the rings.
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