[murdo01]

I think that the idea of having the bar set at forearm length, with the elbow on the floor, + 2″ if needed. Taking the bar from a rack and lowering it to the floor would activate a “stretch reflex” which is what is supposed to be eliminated if I understand the purpose of these lifts. Maybe having the bar handed to the lifter with the upper arms and elbow on the floor, forearms perpendicular to the floor, would act like an infinately adjustable block. Plus no lowering of the bar should be allowed. I consider these lifts to be assistance exercises designed to strenghen a specific range of motin, in which the lifter may or may not be able to use more than in the parent lift.

Murdo

[murdo01]

A great initiation for the Ledaig Heavy Athletics, ie Dave Glasgows new weightroom. I don’t know how many records were set, but that is really not that important. There were some big numbers put up by several of the lifters, and the atmosphere was as it always is on record days. What was really exciting was the debut of “uncle” Ken Glasgow in the 75-79 100kg class. He set several records and even took out one of Rudys records in the one arm deadlift. Good on ya, Ken. Dave, I think you need to look at the lifts for the team championship and get Ken to come to the meet with you. I think that he and Rudy would make an awesome pairing. They are an excellent match in weight and stature, and based on Ken’s lifts today, in strength as well.

I honestly forgot about the new records changes until towards the end of the meet, and had a hard time convincing Dean that he was already a Century Club member. I don’t think anyone but myself had read the blog about the record list changes, so it was somewhat confusing to everyone. Chad had an idea (correct) about the changes, but wasn’t aware that the change had been made.

Congrats to Chad, Ben, Dean, Dave, Larry and KEN, Dave again for what will be an awesome facility when the finishing touchs are applied. Dave and Larry worked long and hard to get the room ready.

Mike

[murdo01]

There were some big lifts, indeed. And more that won’t show in the results as they were made after the competition round, one that stands out was Joe Costello’s 300# dumbell shoulder. The Dinnie Lift stopped when there was no more room on the pins to add more weight, crazy!
I want to give a shout out to my buddy, Rudy Bletscher. Not because he bested me, AGAIN, but for his really good lifts. Rudy had a 130 Anderson Press, which is a really good number for him because overhead pressing is his weakest point, and he raised his Dinnie Lift number from 255 in January to 410 Sunday. Out freakin standing Rudy. Maybe his great lifts came from celebrating his 76th Saturday, or maybe it was the fact KState beat Texas Tech. Whatever the mojo was, good on ya Rudy.

Murdo

[murdo01]

The weekend was HOT, as was the throwing and lifting. Folks, it’s not everyone who gives a present to everyone else for his birthday, but Dave is not everyone, but a special person indeed. HE, and the whole Glasgow clan made it a wonderful weekend, opening their home and their hearts to everyone. THANKS to all of you.

Murdo

[murdo01]

Al, iagree wholeheartedly with you on the deadlifts. My dl workouts, when I do one, are usually a set of five Reeves (
grip bonus), Jefferson, and Hack. Then add weight and sets of 2. What have I accomplished, a wide grip set, a normal over-under grip (jefferson0 and a double overhand narrow grip (hack), and the three effect the legs and hips differently. Trap bar dl’s happen on occasion, usually partials from milk crates. These are usually followed by seated or bent over rows. Bench presses, all grips are usually done with feet in the air because on most benches my feet don’t reach the floor. I’ve always benched this way. It’s almost like a strict curl, if you can slip a hand under your back you have excessive back bend.

What I think sometimes gets missed is the fact that the USAWA variants force lower limits on the lifts, reducing the potential risks to joints and tendons. Admittedly, there are tremendous poundages lifted, but probably not as much as without ‘form’ restrictions.

Murdo

[murdo01]

Issue 1 – Powerlifting. Didn’t we just have a powerlifting contest in March (Eastern Postal)? There were 3 lifts, a bench, a squat, and a deadlift, and aren’t those the three lifts contested in a PL meet? The USAWA has several variations of each of these lifts, and if you don’t have the basic strength/technique in the basis for these lifts you are’nt going to be proficient in the variants. The beauty of the USAWA is in the variations, are you willing or able to make the little adaptions required. It seems that the greatest concern in this issue is ovet the name of the contest, whether to call it a powerlifting meet, or an USAWA name!

Issue two – champions, plagues, torphies etc. that’s where this discussion started. National Champions, four – Women’s, Men’s Open, Men’s Masters and Overall, based on Lynch points, no age adjustment. The Lynch points (as good or as bad as one might think it is) takes care of the weight class differences. Trophies or medals just for “showing up” are meaningless unless you need to have a shelf full to prove your self to others. Don’t get me wrong, I like the multiple weight and age classes of the USAWA, but there can be only one best on a particular day. Personally, I have four records I look at, my personal best, best in my age/weight class, best in my age class, and best of weight class overall. All of these are compared by lynch points. How much do I need to lift to have a better lynch on a particular lift to set a record, that’s the target to aim for. That’s the beauty of record days, you can have as little as one target, best of age/weight, or up to three, all the previous listed targets. Regular meets give you an opportunity to set personal bests if you aren’t at a level to meet the standards set by others, but the quest is to meet those standards.

Best lifter awards are a little like medals for showing up. If you are the only person in your class, they don’t have a lot of real significance, unless you happened to break several records that you can put on the certificate. The real rewards are not trophies and the like, but the experience, happening, atmosphere, or however you want to describe it. The intangibles are the real reward.

Murdo

[murdo01]

Sunday morning about 10:20 walked into Clark’s gym with Dean Ross. Dave Beversdorf was doing the Eastern Postal and setting up for a 500# 12″ base squat, which he made look pretty easy. He moved on to do a 400# alt grip bench with a lot in the tank. His one hand db dl wasn’t great, but better than he had predicted fo; himself. A few minutes later Al Springs, Thom and his Uncle Wayne, Al Myers and Rudy showed up, and after a few minutes the show was on.

And a show it was, Al S. kept the older group in the groove with his experience in the lifts. He said he hadn’t lifted for awhile, but he still put up respectable numbers. I don’t know what he thought about Dean and I as we do a lot of “trash talking” to each other, especially about ‘sandbagging’, Rudy doesn’t talk trash, but he always says, “Gosh fella’s, I don’t think I can do anymore than that”. We put another 100# on the bar and he makes it with ease. Rudy truely is amazing! Dean had competed in Thom’s highland games the day before, and the lifts were all new to him. Dean is so damn powerful, he didn’t come close to his potential, but with a little training will put up some real numbers, especially in the heavy lifts. He had twinged his knee the day before, but still put up good numbers. I was glad to see Rudy take the overall, Al tries to set us up as a competitive pair, but in reality there is no attempt by either to “beat” the other. We just discuss what weight we’ll do next, and go to it. I flamed out on a couple of lifts going for a PR, but that’s no big deal. No risk, no reward, no fun.

All that being said, Rudy watch out, I’m going to train to push you harder buddy! And Ross, I expect you to kick my arse like you do in the highland games. Just don’t screw up your knees training.

Murdo

[murdo01]

As great as the grip day was, the record day exceeded it in many ways. The lifters spanned an age range of over 6 decades, and there were many outstanding lifts in all age groups. Part of the appeal of a record day is you go in with a somewhat preconcieved notion of what you want to try, but at the end of the day you find you’ve only done one or two of the lifts you’d planned. With 2 or 3 different lifts going on at the same time, you look over and say, “Hey, I’d like to get in on that lift over there” even if you have never ever seen it done or given it any thought. I also like the fact that there is very little “sandbagging” or leaving much in the tank on most efforts, although I will admit that I did so on a couple of lifts. At the end of the day I think most of us had pretty much ‘shot our wads’ and were ready to get somewhere to crash and relax (sleep) and hope to be able to get about the next day.

Murdo

[murdo01]

Not advocating any new lifts, however I find the “recliner press” interesting. Personally, I do quite a bit of lifting in a beat up recliner. I have a 3’+ piece of 1″ pvc (broken hammer hamdle) that I run through a kettle bell and do bench (more like a floor press), pullover, skull crushers and some other movements in the recline position. Don’t use a lot of weight, but high reps (up to 50). A nice thing is you can slide the KB a little off center and work a “weak” side or protect an injured or sore joint. I do this almost daily, as the lack of viable TV programming encourages this behavior. I call it my resting workout.

I also found John McKean’s reference to Isometric workouts interesting. I used to do a lot of these, and still do on occasion. I do more pushing against pins now, but not trying to push the bar thru the pin, just explode to the pin with 2-4″ movements. Did this with presses from chest, and eye level, a week or so ago, and worked up to 150% of my best press for sets of 5. Kicked my behind, the next day I was sore all over, and I do mean all over, calves, glutes, traps, and all else. It was great!

Murdock

[murdo01]

Dave,

What do you think about having this day also being an opportunity to qualify lifts for the National Postal Meet in December? Lifts would not necessarily need to be record attempts, however.

Mike Murdock

[murdo01]

Rudy is the man, no doubt in my mind. In all of the lifts he was at or near personal best poundages, one heck of a partner. Al had said he pulled an easy 250 DL a few days before the meet, but when we got together Rudy said “Don’t tell Al, but that was about all I can do”. On the two man trap bar lift we had just done 495, so Rudy was near his best. But he suggusted putting a 45 on each side, making an equivalent of 292 1/2 for each. He didn’t worry that it would be 40+ lbs over “all I can do”. The first attempt we were out of sync a little, but on a second pull the bar came up smoothly. Great lift! I thought we might do 500+, but 585 was way over my expectations. I think that our lifts might stand as standards for 70+ for some time. What might have been our numbers if we trained seriously!

Thanks Rudy, for showing up to lift with me. You were my choice for a partner, and I couldn’t have picked a better man.

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