Thom Van Vleck
Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
I’m not making it. I lost my “team”….and now I find out I have a work meeting at 1:00pm on Sunday…..
But the plus side is I’m talking to my guys about coming to the grip meet!!!!!
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderLet’s talk a bit about “WHY” we bring the bar down. Back in the day they lifted on wooden gym floors and stages were dropping a weight could cause serious damage. The weights were all cast iron and weren’t the bumpers of today. And to prevent damage to the bar and the weights.
If you bring the bar down where it lands solidly on both sides at the same time with bumpers, that’s “under control” to me as long as it’s on a platform sitting on concrete. So it’s the three factors above I consider….but I also think sportsmanship might play into that as well if someone slam dunks the weight…..I’d red light that.
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderHAHA…I agree, ET.
Judging is still a VERY subjective endeavor…even with all the rules. I bet I could red light 100% of lifts if I wanted to be a jerk and expand every rule beyond it’s intent.
What started this was a video of a guy dropping a Jefferson lift. I looked at that and saw something entirely different. I would have passed the first lift and warned the guy then redlighted the next attempt if he did it again. Had no bearing on what was a great lift….just a rule put in place to protect platforms and equipment from damage and never intended to be the definition of whether the lift was good or not.
I just wanted to stir the pot a little….haha.
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderDan….I just like how you threw in an explanation for why you have soloflex db’s. I would have done the same thing!
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderSomething I’ll mention here that I didn’t want to mention in the article was what happened to Wayne. After his first contest Bill Clark wrote of him, “Look out Russians…here comes Wayne Jackson”. My Uncle Phil said Wayne had the talent to be a world champ. But he was very introverted and had what we call our “family curse”…Depression. Wayne was my best buddy when I was a kid. When he was 20 he had a very severe depressive episode and was then on heavy medication the rest of his life. This no doubt impacted his progress because he never made much progress after that. Another thing was whatever he did in training…he’d do about 80-85% of that in a contest. Except on one rare occassion when he won his last State Title with a big Clean and Jerk. My Uncle Phil was there and was able to get him to drop the inhibitions and go all out. I can tell you I started training with him when he was 35 and he did some amazing things over the next 10 years before age started getting to him. He hurt his back at one point and was told surgery could correct it…but he was too fearful of doctors to do it and just lived with it. Wayne is my hero and he overcame a lot with his depression….I would even say the lifting is probably what saved him!
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderI have a neighbor with a huge front loader……
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderI never met him in person but talked to him on the phone. My Uncle Wayne lifted against Gary back in the day. I started to write some stuff on him but decided I am going to do a blog story on him! He’s an amazing guy!
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderI HAVE BEEN REDEEMED! HAHAHAH
My grandfather was doing that lift as far back as we can remember, which I just called my Uncle Wayne and he said the 50s. I recall my grandfather saying it was an Arthur Saxon lift as part of a combo as described in my story.
At any rate, I know this lift is pretty dang obscure, and I appreciate Al’s work on this, but I have submitted, thru the proper channels, a proposal to return this lift to it’s former glory…or at least make it the way it was originally intended. So I’m awaiting feedback from the rules committee. So far, so good.
Obviously, I have cabin fever when I spend this much time on the shoulder drop!
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderThanks, Chad. He’s a really interesting guy. Pretty amazing thrower and interesting person.
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderHAHAHA The shoulder drop is serious business…considering it has so many on here debating it!
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderGee, Al…I didn’t realize I was using a flim flam method….I think when I said I was going to bring it up at the next meeting I meant in accordance with the rules. I would never want to be a flim flammer…..HAHAHAHAHA
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderI’ll add a layer to this. You see, Al is not built to be a great thrower so he did everything he could to add to his abilities. For example, there was a study one time on shot putters that every inch in height added 8 inches to your distance simply with a higher release point. Most of the top guys are 6’3 to 6’6 and Al was short in comparison. In order to increase his radius on the spinning throws he developed a grip where the weight was held in the middle knuckles of his hand rather than the palm of his hand. If you look at the photo of him lifting the Dinnie stones you can see where he has that ring. So Al developed tremendous strength with that grip. Al was always looking for every angle and every way to develop his ability to lift more and throw farther. Right down to the way he gripped the weights.
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderI am going to propose that at the next meeting…I know it’s an obscure lift…but it does have a family history with my family! Thanks for the advice Chad.
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderI know locally I’ll have John O’Brien, myself, Mike McIntyre and possibly my brother and Mike Cramberg as loaders. I have entries from Lance Foster, Eric Todd, Dean Ross, Denny Habecker, Mike McIntyre in hand and I the last I knew Scott Tully and Mark Mitchell were coming. I will allow meet day entries just there won’t be a shirt! So come on up!
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-RounderThanks, I am getting to the age where I’m beginning to know more people that have died than are alive….that’s something I hadn’t pondered when I thought of getting older.
Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-Rounder -
AuthorPosts