Al Myers
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I agree!!
Even though this picture of Bob Peoples was taken when he was older, you can still tell that it is him by his body position. He had the “perfect anatomy” for deadlifting – long arms, high hip base, and shoulders that seem to “lengthen” when the bar is at arms’ length holding a heavy deadlift. This characteristic is also present in the pictures of him pulling when he was younger.
Bob Peoples did most of his training in his “basement dungeon gym” by himself on his farm. He is PROOF that you don’t need a high-tech fitness center to build good ole fashioned strength!!!! Al
The fun thing about lifting at the Ambridge BBC is that all of their stuff is OLD, and not in a bad sort of way. Most is still in amazing shape and is used by the gym members in daily training. I’m talking about good ole York bars that are 50 plus years old, deep dish York 45s, and that full Jackson DB set. This stuff is would be worth a fortune to collectors!
I do know Thom DOES NOT have a Jackson DB, but would like one. Roger would as well, as he commented to me that his oldest son is named Jackson!
I always hate to see meet directors lose money on a competition. I know because that has happened to me on more than one occassion. There are ways you can help out when you know this has happened: buy up a few of those extra meet tshirts from him, put a little “extra” in the donation jar after the meet, or send a thank you card afterwards with a meet donation. These things can be done without drawing attention to the situation.
If Conan is telling the story – I am assured it will be a good one!! He is one guy that can tell a story even better than I can!!! LOL
ET – Speaking of Conan, do you think he would mind if I re-ran some of his classic stories from the KCStrongman site??? Some of those are SO CLASSIC they should be shared with the World. Of course, parts might need to be edited out to keep this website family friendly!!! haha
Jesse, I enjoyed watching Gabby lift at my record day. I could tell she was very intense and focused on her lifting. That quality will take her far in weightlifting, or any sport for that matter. My 3 daughters are vastly different in their attitude towards sports. My oldest daughter is such a perfectionist that she got her enjoyment from being successful, and doing the things needed to make her excel at whatever sport she did. My middle daughter is a gifted athlete, but isn’t as competitive minded. She does sports to spend time with her friends. My youngest daughter Molly truly enjoys any sport she does for the enjoyment of the sport. She always has a smile on her face as she competes, and never seems to get upset no matter how things turn out. Al PS I’m proud of all three of them!!!
The close grip bench press IS NOT an official USAWA lift and SHOULD NOT be included in the USAWA Official Record List.
Welcome to the USAWA!
Lance did an excellent job of describing the USAWA. Most competitions are held in the midwest (Kansas & Missouri), as well as Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Massachusetts.
The best way to get involved is to attend one of these meets if you can.
Al
Adam did this lift with ease. I know he has lots more in him. This coming summer he is going to the World Grip Comp in England and while he’s there, he’s heading up to Scotland to take a shot at the actual Dinnie Stones. I told him afterwards that I would put down a hundred dollar bet that he’ll lift them!!! Al
David put on an amazing all round meet this weekend! I was very impressed with the facilities at The Movement. They have a few strength “toys” that I don’t even have!! They have a club full of young strong lifters, and I’m sure we will be seeing much more of them in the future of the USAWA!
When I have more time, a full writeup of the weekends activities will be front page news in the USAWA Daily News. Al
Jesse, Good choice!
The Pendlay NexGen has got good reviews. I know you will be pleased with it. Plus, it has more “name recognition” than the Powermax Bar. I don’t have a NexGen bar yet so I’ll be interested in hearing how you like it. I have the first generation Pendlay, and then his second good bar the Pendlay Elite Olympic Bar, as well as the Pendlay Power Bar and a Pendlay Womens Olympic Bar (THAT would be a good present for Gabby sometime). The Pendlay Elite is very similiar to an Eleiko Olympic Bar. Even the knurling feels the same. The sleeves are SUPER SMOOTH rotating. I know Glen “stole” (or should I say mimicked which sounds better) several design features off of Eleikos. It may be the best of the three designs – but that is just my opinion. Al
Another point I want to make here.
Every gym should have a few “junk bars”. These are the bars you use for lifts in which the bar is very abused, and might end up bent. This way you don’t ruin a good bar doing something it wasn’t intended to be used for. (like MOST of the all round lifts!).
In the past we (at the Dino Gym) have went through several “junk bars” a year. When they get bent I pitch them on the junk pile north of the gym and buy another one. I consider these bars as “throw away” bars and just a normal casualty of heavy lifting. But the past few years we have been using a junk bar that has held up surprising well. This bar is the Midwest Power Bar from Solid Bar. It is a cheap bar as well. Right now we have two of them in use (one with center knurling and one without) and they are still staight as an arrow! Surprisingly they are manufactured only 30 miles from where I live!!!!
Bars, bars, bars… now that’s a topic I enjoy talking about! Most anyone who has been to the Dino Gym knows I have a weakness for good weightlifting bars. The other day I counted my bars in the gym and I have over 40 of them. That’s probably more than we need!!
I absolutely agree that different bars “fit” different lifts better than others. It is almost impossible to find a bar that is the BEST for all the lifts. If I had to make a choice on this – I would pick the Capps Texas Power Bar. This bar is a 1 1/8′ bar with good knurling, is moderately rigid, and has center knurling. Not a bad DL bar, decent bench bar, and ok squat bar. The center knurling lends it to being a good bar for one arm lifts. It can be used for the Olympic lifts, but doesn’t have the hand spacing marks for it. The sleeve rotation is like all Capps bars (not the best). But as an overall gym bar it has many uses, and takes abuse pretty well.
One of the BEST VALUES for the money right now is the Powermax Elite Olympic bar. It is a Malone bar (which I consider a premier bar manufacturer). This bar is very similiar to the first generation Pendlay bars (Malone made those as well), with the main difference the Powermax bar is Zinc plated. It is a 28.5mm bar, no center knurling, with great sleeve rotation. Perfect Olympic bar for the all rounder. It carries a lifetime guarantee. In fact, I just bought a couple of them yesterday from Gill Athletics!!! Al
Jesse, Check out this blog I wrote a while back on legal bars: http://www.usawa.com/tag/barbell-specifications/
I can’t believe you noticed that in the rulebook!!
That is indeed true, the spec rules for legal bars in the USAWA state they must be a minimum diameter of 28 mm. That is in print in the rulebook.
When the rulebook was re-written in 2009, I went through these bar rules and thought I had stopped this madness. Before this time, the rules on bars for the USAWA must have been some IWF specs from the 50’s, because NO BAR now would have fell within “being legal” in the USAWA rulebook. I thought I made the bar rules “very liberal” with specifications so practically every bar would be legal, but obviously forgot about bars under 28mm. My Okie dl bars are 27mm, as well as many other types of deadlift bars. These smaller diameter bars have been used for years in the USAWA.
But rules should be followed, or the rules need changed. I will add this to the proposed rule changes for this year. Al
Business??? So you’re saying someone was getting paid???
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