[Al Myers]

Dan, That is a great idea, and something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. The other weekend at Nationals in Boston I got to meet a new lifter in our organization, Rocky Morrison. Rocky is a software specialist and I talked to him about doing this exact thing for us! I would really like a record list online that gives the lifter the ability to sort and rank. Rocky right now is working on updating our USAWA scoring program to a more updated excel version. Rocky is brilliant with this type of stuff so hopefully we will see your idea in reality soon! Al

[Al Myers]

I agree ET. I never approve the spammers.

I feel the involvement in most discussion forums is much less now than it was a few years ago. Now people much prefer social media like facebook to make their comments.

[Al Myers]

Great post Dan! You brought up some very good points.

As I read through your post there was not really much I completely disagreed with. Most meets (not record days) we have now only have 5-6 lifts in them so worrying about “making the RD worth it” by limiting to 5 is not any difference than going to a meet with pre-set lifts and doing 5 lifts in a meet.

I do somewhat disagree with the setup required when lifters do large number of record attempts. I don’t even attempt to do record lifts at the same time during the record day meets I’ve hosted. I feel all I do is help out others get their lifts done – setting up the equipment required, load, and officiate. Now some lifters know what to do here (like you) so obviously that’s not the issue with all lifters.

As for going “all out” on lifts I’ve always said I’m good for only 5-6 per day, but again, that is on big lifts. Lots of our lifts do not severely tax the body so more can be done of course than 5 “all out” if picking these type of lifts. Or picking lifts that that require different muscle groups, ie finger lifting or other grip stuff. I absolutely agree with your statement regarding women and muscle resistance having more muscular endurance. I feel I have read this research in one of your journals. This could also apply to some men as well, depending on their age, strength levels, and prior training emphasis.

At the meeting when Art proposed this, he picked the number 5 because that is what he has always limiting his record days to. My issue with all this is not truly with a number that low, but with lifters who main goal is to set a record number of records instead of records.
We are a democratic organization. This rule can always be changed if come next year lifters feel that 5 is too low.

As for World Records, those can be set at any sanctioned USAWA meet/record day if 3 certified officials are present to officiate the lift. In the USAWA we allow the “one official system” to be used which qualifies a lift for USAWA record, but the IAWA(UK) has always required three officials in all competitions. Our problem is a lack of certified officials. This problem could be solved if more stepped up and became certified USAWA officials so three officials could be used in all competitions.

[Al Myers]

Good post ET, your views here are pretty much the opinions of those at the meeting. I agree that it is a shame this rule had to be made, but this problem has only begun in the past few years. Before that lifters did not become “recond mongers” at record days. No one was setting 20 plus records at record days then. I know I am probably a big part to blame for this – as it really started when I started keeping track on everyone’s record count!

[Al Myers]

haha Thanks Tom I’ll get that typo changed. I’m actually surprised you read all that. I bet most gave up after the first 500 words!

[Al Myers]

Thanks Denny! Every year that project is always a big one for me. It’s not a hard project, just takes some time to compile all the new website information, meet result pdf’s, and new blogs into a book. But I feel it’s an important thing to do for our organization as it provides a written history book of the previous year. I know all the information in the book is available on our website now, but I’m a little “oldschool” and trust information will be preserved better in a written publication than somewhere “in the clouds”. We are very fortunate to have most all of our past history in written form, much to the thanks of Bill Clark and his Strength Journal. I have been putting the Year in Review book together since I have taken over as secretary (2009) so there is no gap between the ending of the Strength Journal and the beginning of the Year in Review.

I know a good project for me now is to make all these Year in Reviews Books available on the website for free download. That way if someone wants to have all of them in printed form they could simply download them and print them off.

[Al Myers]

James, I really enjoy your stories on your strongman Archaelogy FB page. You should be submitting stories for the USAWA website as well! I know everyone in the USAWA would really appreciate it! Al

[Al Myers]

WOW TIMO!!

That is one of the most impressive lifts I have ever seen with the fingers. Congrats on this great accomplishment, as I know you have worked hard on achieving it.

I sure hope you can make it to Kansas next fall for the IAWA Gold Cup. If you can make it you have an invite to stay at my place. I’ll even pick you up at the airport and since I’m in the US you don’t have to worry about me driving the wrong direction around round abouts (like when you were riding with me in England haha)!

Again – GREAT JOB! I would love to see you pull on my 28mm Okie DL bar which has better knurling than the Eleiko bars.

[Al Myers]

Years ago Thom and I talked about this issue which lead to me to weigh all my plates. I was very surprised as most all of them (which included the milled plates) were off. Some over a pound one way or the other. Because of this I invested in a set of Certified Ivanko competition plates which are within 10G of accuracy. I weighed them as well and they were spot on! So I have Thom to thank for this big investment!

But weight is weight – and even with inaccurate plates if their weight is known and they are loaded appropriately there’s not an issue.

Inaccurate plates really show up in the chain lifts with bar tilt. 5 pounds more on one side will mess up your balance. I was first aware of this lifting at Clark’s Gym years ago doing the heavy lifts. But Ole Clark had a way of dealing with it – he would simply put a 5# “balance plate” extra on the one end to even out the load!

[Al Myers]

I’ll be thinking of you – good luck!

[Al Myers]

Ben,
You know I love my grippers! I have well over 20 grippers from various makers in the gym and I train them often.

I do see a few problems having grippers as an official lift of the USAWA.

First of all each one is different in regards to difficulty – thus no consistency. As you mentioned in your post we could come up with a “measuring device” that could measure closing strengths. But even that poses problems. Differences in grippers such as spread, length, and type of spring make closing harder even with the same closing force. I have noticed this in the measuring of my grippers (my old #3COC measured very close to my newer #3, but is much harder to close, especially thru the mid range) Another problem is that there is no way to make incremental increases like all the other USAWA lifts. You can’t add a pound or kilo. You are reliant on the gripper in question.

I know having grippers as a official lift of the USAWA might help memberships and revenue to the organization. But then again, I don’t think the goal of the USAWA has ever been to try to increase memberships. It’s more about preserving the history of the old time lifters and the all round lifts they practiced. This is pretty obvious by the fact that the most common and popular lifts (snatch, C&J, squat, bench, and DL) are forbidden in our rules to be official lifts of the USAWA.

Thank you Ben for bringing this subject up. And again – I LOVE CLOSING GRIPPERS!!!
Al

[Al Myers]

I seen that as well. I never did get to met Mike Archer but I know that he has been a big part of the history of the IAWA/IAWA(UK). The guys that knew him speak very highly of him and he was much respected. Thanks for passing this on Tom.

[Al Myers]

Tom, Thank you for sharing this. Tommy Kono is one of the greatest US lifters ever! Al

[Al Myers]

Congrats ET!!!

[Al Myers]

It’s looking to be a very good turnout for the Dino Challenge this year! I have been notified by Mary and her group that they will be here as well. I’m betting Dave and Chad will be here also. I may even lift in this one if I can talk my dad into officiating it!

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