[dwagman]

Al, my excuse for not doing the World Postal is that I don’t have the motivation to go balls out that soon after the 2nd Quarter Postal. I think I need to focus on my bodybuilding more at this point.

And ET, a beast like you shouldn’t be allowed to continually bend barbells anyway. So go ahead and procrastinate….

—
Dan

For Body Intellect Brochure click here: https://www.icloud.com/keynote/0fcsokZWooW_1B1uZmL1AI5fA#BI-DW

Those who are enamored of practice without science
are like a pilot who goes onto a ship without rudder or
compass and never has any certainty to where he is going.
Leonardo Da Vinci; 1452-1519

[dwagman]

Thanks Al, for the kind words. I was really motivated by being in a real meathead gym.

I have but one correction for you; you mentioned that Ruth was my certified official. Well, so was Jarrod. Please give Jarrod credit for judging me, too.

Oh, one more thing. I suppose the turnout was so limited due to nationals that same month. Didn’t we copy the nationals’ lifts for Postals during the summer months? That might be a good idea to do again so that people can at least use the Postals to see how they’d fare at nationals. Of course a counter argument would be that this might lead people to not come to nationals. You just can’t win, I suppose….

—
Dan

For Body Intellect Brochure click here: https://www.icloud.com/keynote/0fcsokZWooW_1B1uZmL1AI5fA#BI-DW

Those who are enamored of practice without science
are like a pilot who goes onto a ship without rudder or
compass and never has any certainty to where he is going.
Leonardo Da Vinci; 1452-1519

[dwagman]

Al, please don’t misunderstand my comment about bringing this up now, after the vote took place. I’m fully aware that you had raised this topic before the vote…I was the one asleep at the barbell.

My comment regarding finances was based on your financial report from nationals. I was saddened to read about a $1,000 loss and that it would take 5 years for the website redisign costs to be paid off. Overall, not good.

And at the same time, I’m one of those people you mention who doesn’t pay his membership until such time as I chose to compete. But that shouldn’t really matter too much since USAWA operates on the calendar year; last year I paid my membership when I competed a few days after X-mas, meaning I paid $25 for a 4-day USAWA membership in 2015. This year I paid my membership in April. At the end of the day, USAWA has 25 bucks either way.

At any rate, if Bill Clark could make that executive decision, I think you should send Ruth a bill for, say, $90 for all of the records she broke a few years back. That’ll learn ‘er!

• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by dwagman.

—
Dan

For Body Intellect Brochure click here: https://www.icloud.com/keynote/0fcsokZWooW_1B1uZmL1AI5fA#BI-DW

Those who are enamored of practice without science
are like a pilot who goes onto a ship without rudder or
compass and never has any certainty to where he is going.
Leonardo Da Vinci; 1452-1519

[dwagman]

Go Rocky! 🙂

And since we’re on this Net thing…do you realize that in the grey border on top of a message you post, there is a Edit function (along with Reply and Quote) you can click on? You can’t see it, however, unless you highlight that area. It might be a good idea to change the font color to, perhaps black, so that those links can be seen. That’s one of the reasons I ended up with all of those posts, I didn’t see the Edit function.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by dwagman.

—
Dan

For Body Intellect Brochure click here: https://www.icloud.com/keynote/0fcsokZWooW_1B1uZmL1AI5fA#BI-DW

Those who are enamored of practice without science
are like a pilot who goes onto a ship without rudder or
compass and never has any certainty to where he is going.
Leonardo Da Vinci; 1452-1519

[dwagman]

I’m too much of a meathead to actually care how much a bar or plates exactly weigh…just load it up. But that Seca scale has a fantastic feature that helps my brain not use glycogen my muscles need…you can step on that scale, hit the TARE button, step off the scale, grab a plate and step back on the scale, and it tells you how much that plate weighs down to a 10th of a pound or kg. Cool, eh?

• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by dwagman.

—
Dan

For Body Intellect Brochure click here: https://www.icloud.com/keynote/0fcsokZWooW_1B1uZmL1AI5fA#BI-DW

Those who are enamored of practice without science
are like a pilot who goes onto a ship without rudder or
compass and never has any certainty to where he is going.
Leonardo Da Vinci; 1452-1519

[dwagman]

ET, some decades back a reporter asked Arnold why he didn’t wear super tight shirts and pants around town like all the other bodybuilders. He responded by telling the reporter something like this…

If I drive a Ferrari, I don’t have to drive around town speeding like an idiot like the guy in a BMW…I know I have the fastest car. I’m the best bodybuilder in the world and so I don’t have to wear tight clothes everywhere I go.

Words to live by. Facebook and the like is just for wannabees….

—
Dan

For Body Intellect Brochure click here: https://www.icloud.com/keynote/0fcsokZWooW_1B1uZmL1AI5fA#BI-DW

Those who are enamored of practice without science
are like a pilot who goes onto a ship without rudder or
compass and never has any certainty to where he is going.
Leonardo Da Vinci; 1452-1519

[dwagman]

OK Al, FIRST THINGS FIRST…

So that 180-pound db cheat curl I failed at when you judged me on your RD; I just got done doing it for 2×2…after 90% 3-RM x2x3 barbell strict curl (real curl style, not the all-round way) and concentration curls 90% 3-RM x2x3. My Al nightmares are over!!

You know, I don’t completely disagree with anything you had to say, either.

Can you believe it?!

Are we getting old, or what? LOL

I suppose my main problem is with having a rule limiting the lifts a person can do on a RD. You have Ruth, as an example, who went out there to set some standards for 50 kg’ers with 41 records. Then you have Thom back in 2009 cranking out 32 records! I think that’s just awesome. That same year you, Al, broke 11 records at the JWC RD. This is all L-E-G-E-N-D-A-R-Y lifting to me…and should be encouraged.

Pad that record book and dare anyone to wipe your name from that book! YEAH!!

But I also see the other side, which is poor Art having to sit through John McKean breaking 14 records in 2014 and 10 in 2011. But rather than limiting the number of records a lifter can attempt outright, perhaps it would be better to give the meet director the power of telling lifters when enough is enough?

On the other hand, RD’s could also be used to help USAWA’s financial woes. Although I’ve always thought it’s a wonderful gesture to have meets without an entry fee, I also feel that it’s fiscally irresponsible and detrimental to the organization. From a RD perspective, then, what could be done is have the lifter pay for his/her records. As an example, a RD could have a basic entry fee that covers up to 5 records. Then a lifter could have a choice to pay, say, $10 for each additional 5 records.

I suppose you’re right, Al, that this rule could be changed. In the mean time, however, I feel as though this thread and discussion should’ve taken place before the vote, not after. I have not been a good USAWA “citizen.”

• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by dwagman.

—
Dan

For Body Intellect Brochure click here: https://www.icloud.com/keynote/0fcsokZWooW_1B1uZmL1AI5fA#BI-DW

Those who are enamored of practice without science
are like a pilot who goes onto a ship without rudder or
compass and never has any certainty to where he is going.
Leonardo Da Vinci; 1452-1519

[dwagman]

Like ET, I wasn’t at the meeting either, and so my voice means little now. Suffice to say, the new rule is the new rule and that’s that.

With that said, however, I actually don’t understand what the fuss was all about. I mean, if there’s a beast out there who can break 10+ records in a day, I feel that person should be encouraged not only to break as many records as possible, but also to ensure that he/she continues with USAWA and breaks even more records in the future. Besides, isn’t the entire purpose of records to create the drive and motivation to break ’em?

Another consideration that would speak against this rule is “making the RD worth it.” I mean, to make it to a RD usually involves a great deal of travel. So, if a lifter can only go for 5 records after that much travel, he/she just might not do it at all, in which case USAWA loses, not the lifter.

The argument about setting up lifts, in my mind, isn’t a solid one as I’ve been to several RD’s and have witnessed the record-setting lifter setting up the equipment his-/herself. In addition, when you do several related lifts there’s really no set-up consideration, e.g., bp-fia and bp-reverse grip; various deadlift versions; finger lifts; etc.

Some time back Al had mentioned on this topic that he felt that if a lifter goes all out, he/she couldn’t really do more than 5 lifts anyway. While I personally agree with that–I got my ass kicked with Al judging me at one of his RD’s with repping weight in the cheat curl-db and I still have nightmares about Al laughing at me–I do think that this depends on the type of lifts performed; clearly grip stuff isn’t systemically as demanding as a Steinborn, People’s, clean and press, etc. But gender is also a consideration….

Gender specific physiology would have to be considered. Research is clear that when it comes to maximal resistance training, a woman’s physiology is less stressed than a man’s. Put another way, men get smoked much sooner than women. With that said, this new rule would add a sex-based bias as a woman could do 10 lifts with significantly less physiological demand as a man doing the same lifts.

Frankly, I find it far more perturbing that a group of lifters in England can set new world records with basically every lift they attempt at any competition. Who else in the world has that option? On a scale of priorities, I think THAT is far more important to discuss than a lifter attempting more than 5 USAWA records on a RD.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by dwagman.

—
Dan

For Body Intellect Brochure click here: https://www.icloud.com/keynote/0fcsokZWooW_1B1uZmL1AI5fA#BI-DW

Those who are enamored of practice without science
are like a pilot who goes onto a ship without rudder or
compass and never has any certainty to where he is going.
Leonardo Da Vinci; 1452-1519

[dwagman]

RJ, this is interesting as I’m wondering how this particular study defined agility. It would be helpful if you could provide a full citation so that I can look that up. The definition, i.e., the operational definition, you see, is absolutely key because that ensures that the discussion is based on the same idea and concept–or not.

The first thing to consider is how in sport science research agility is defined. Agility refers to a person’s ability to move forward and backward, and laterally with great speed and ease. Put another way, if you can change direction quickly, you’re considered agile. With that definition in mind, you’d have to ask yourself whether a weightlifter, who competes in the clean and jerk and the snatch, is actually being agile. The answer would be no. Therefore, I’d be interested in how the scientists defined agility.

As it relates to age, however, what has been well-researched via credible science (which, by the way, the Russians/Soviets have not provided and thus it should be rejected in its entirety, which is, admittedly a dangerous absolute to state, but largely true) is how in strength and power athletes the first thing that tends to “go” with age is power, i.e., the ability to lift weight, or move, with explosion and speed. Strength, the ability to generate force, is much less impacted by age.

The sport of weightlifting (clean and jerk, snatch), is heavily dependent on the ability to generate power, so that sport, and in general lifts that require a great deal of power, would be impacted more than lifts that do not, such as jump squat vs. squat, one-armed snatch vs. press, clean vs. deadlift, etc.

It’s important, however, to distinguish between chronological age and age-in-sport. Chronological age means very, very little in terms of strength performance and even power production, particularly when the athlete trains based on scientific principles. In that instance, chronological age becomes nearly meaningless, at least until into high age, and in terms of age-in-sport more time tends to actually favor the athlete, though eventually high age (defined as 70’s and up) would eventually take its toll.

And with this, how the lifter trains, or has trained in the past, becomes a much, much more important issue than age, regardless of how you want to define that. With poor training approaches that have relied on myth and conjecture as opposed to scientifically determined ways by which the neuromuscular system responds to the training stimulus, age takes its toll. This can be easily seen in athletes whose lifting performances have decreased over the years, injuries crept in, etc. Perhaps the most important consideration is that injury is entirely nondependent on age, but certainly does impact performance in a big way.

—
Dan

For Body Intellect Brochure click here: https://www.icloud.com/keynote/0fcsokZWooW_1B1uZmL1AI5fA#BI-DW

Those who are enamored of practice without science
are like a pilot who goes onto a ship without rudder or
compass and never has any certainty to where he is going.
Leonardo Da Vinci; 1452-1519

[dwagman]

Hey Tom, so John Coffee and his gym are still around, eh? That’s awesome.

I was in Atlanta a few years back for the American College of Sports Medicine’s annual conference to stay up to date on the latest strength training developments and decided to train at Coffee’s with an Atlanta powerlifting friend of mine. It was such a GREAT gym…but I’m wondering if it’s still like a bomb fell on it. I remember having to search the entire gym for a matching set of dumbbells because lifting equipment was just thrown all over the place. I had to do the one-armed dumbbell Farmer’s walk all the time…perhaps USAWA should adopt that lift and call it the Coffee Lift…hehehe

—
Dan

For Body Intellect Brochure click here: https://www.icloud.com/keynote/0fcsokZWooW_1B1uZmL1AI5fA#BI-DW

Those who are enamored of practice without science
are like a pilot who goes onto a ship without rudder or
compass and never has any certainty to where he is going.
Leonardo Da Vinci; 1452-1519

[dwagman]

NO WAY! Denny and I were just e-mailing back and forth yesterday about the 4th quarter postal. Damn, how quick it can happen.

Denny, get back under that barbell soon!

—
Dan

For Body Intellect Brochure click here: https://www.icloud.com/keynote/0fcsokZWooW_1B1uZmL1AI5fA#BI-DW

Those who are enamored of practice without science
are like a pilot who goes onto a ship without rudder or
compass and never has any certainty to where he is going.
Leonardo Da Vinci; 1452-1519

[dwagman]

Hey Ben, aren’t you the perceptive one. But Al made another mistake. You recall where I talked about Ruth’s 17 maximal attempts, but then there are only 10 listed? Well, Al completely overlooked the second score sheet Ruth submitted. Now, in Al’s defense I can put forth a hypothesis as to what happened ever so innocently…

Last time at Dino’s I saw a pink sliver of material sticking out of Al’s power stairs. Since nobody was around, I decided to investigate and lifted ’em up slightly only to find that pink sliver of material was a pair of posing trunks that were caught under a case of baby oil. I had inadvertently discovered Al’s hiding place for his bodybuilding and posing paraphernalia.

So my theory is that Al was posing at the same time he was working on the results and his oily fingers slipped on the keyboard deleting Ruth’s second page of results. And since he was so enamoured by his shiny muscles it completely slipped his mind.

Well, as to Grip Champs, I’m not sure. I’m a bit afraid that our closet bodybuilder meet director might have chalk contaminated with baby oil. Don’t we have a rule about that…

—
Dan

For Body Intellect Brochure click here: https://www.icloud.com/keynote/0fcsokZWooW_1B1uZmL1AI5fA#BI-DW

Those who are enamored of practice without science
are like a pilot who goes onto a ship without rudder or
compass and never has any certainty to where he is going.
Leonardo Da Vinci; 1452-1519

[dwagman]

Thom, it seems as though my joshin’ ’round has offended you. That was not my intent and I apologize.

—
Dan

For Body Intellect Brochure click here: https://www.icloud.com/keynote/0fcsokZWooW_1B1uZmL1AI5fA#BI-DW

Those who are enamored of practice without science
are like a pilot who goes onto a ship without rudder or
compass and never has any certainty to where he is going.
Leonardo Da Vinci; 1452-1519

[dwagman]

Thom, glad you can laugh about this. Wew. And don’t worry, I won’t be climbing any ladders or step-stools, I’ll just kick you in the knees first and bring you down to my level. HA!

And Al, arguing? Us? NEVER! I just view it as an opportunity to enlighten many of the readers who train akin to a guy participating in the 2015 Daytona 500 with NASCAR’s great Buck Baker’s 1957 car sans ANY of the automotive engineering advancements. Of course he’s gonna be left in the dust. Nobody in NASCAR would even contemplate doing something so silly, which makes me sometimes wonder about so many weight trainers.

Yeah, yeah, I know Thom, you’re gonna say that I just have good genetics. But Thom, science has been able to determine that much of it is actually the other way around; how you train has a direct impact on your genes and what signals they then send through your body thus determining your gains and thus also making it more important than ever to train based on the latest science and not something from 1954, or 2010, or something from the 19th century.

Over to you, Al…hehehe

—
Dan

For Body Intellect Brochure click here: https://www.icloud.com/keynote/0fcsokZWooW_1B1uZmL1AI5fA#BI-DW

Those who are enamored of practice without science
are like a pilot who goes onto a ship without rudder or
compass and never has any certainty to where he is going.
Leonardo Da Vinci; 1452-1519

[dwagman]

Al, thanks for the offer, but it appears as though Thom is in a vulnerable and sensitive state, perhaps due to male menopause, so perhaps it is best that we provide him with caring, understanding, and love in his time of fragility.

—
Dan

For Body Intellect Brochure click here: https://www.icloud.com/keynote/0fcsokZWooW_1B1uZmL1AI5fA#BI-DW

Those who are enamored of practice without science
are like a pilot who goes onto a ship without rudder or
compass and never has any certainty to where he is going.
Leonardo Da Vinci; 1452-1519

[Author]

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