The One and Only Heavy Lifts!

By Christopher Lestan

As I began my career in the USAWA in 2018 I only knew of the lifts such as the Ciavattone deadlift, or the Jefferson deadlift. Lifts that I could relatively understand and see mentally through my experience with Powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting. These times were simple and I loved it. I would head to Franks Barbell and do 1-4 lifts that would fit in the “push” or “pull” exercise categories. I seemed to gain a grasp on the whole idea of the USAWA and the lifts until Frank Introduced me to the Heavy Lifts.

Now for a time, I had heard of the “Neck lift”, for I would see awards in Franks basement that would say “700lb NECK LIFT” or something along those lines. Frank would also tell stories bout these “heavy lifts” and often was interesting to listen to because it seemed like a mythical lift. Something that was done in the past and only stories from the men and women who were present could tell about the tales.

Then one day I came into the gym. Set my bag down. Put on my converse and started to warm up for that day’s workout. Frank came into the gym but with a different look in his eyes. He had some excitement in his eyes. Some flare. I was curious so I had to ask him what was on his mind.

“What are we doing today Frank?”, I said gently.

He starred into my eyes and said calmly “Time to train the neck lift.”

Now before I could fully understand what was just said I said “Okay”. But then the whole sentence processed through my brain and then I quietly gasped “…. the neck lift….”. My whole day was turned upside down. Today was the day I tried this legendary lift. The day I decide to be calm and collective or look at Frank and tell him my C2-C3 in my spinal cord was hurting.

He pointed towards the corner of the gym and said “can you grab the harness and the heavy-lift bar”. I quickly stumbled over there and saw what looked like a medieval torture device. Then I turned my head to the barbell for the Heavy Lift. Now if you have never seen one of them well they are simply massive. I believe Franks is over 100 pounds. After starring at the medieval torture device and the pipeline for about 2 minutes I dragged them out to the platform. Then I just looked at them. I was lost. What was I supposed to do with them?

“Put 45s on the bar, and put the harness on your head,” said Frank. He then went on to explain which side the head harness should be, and the proper technique for the neck lift. After all the explaining I attempted my first ever neck lift….. and did it not feel good. For those who haven’t experienced the feeling of a neck lift imagine a massive amount of force being pulled from the back of the head. Now this sensation lasts about 1-2 seconds before you get the “down signal”.

The whole workout was centered on active and singles. The heaviest we went to that night was 300 pounds for a top single. The next week only consisted of me being super tight in my trap area and feeling like I got hit by a truck.

A classic example of what a neck lift looks like! This is 700 during training last year!

A classic example of what a neck lift looks like! This is 700 during training last year!

The next lif introduced to me was the Hang and Thigh lift. Now, this lift requires more of a leg drive in the extension part of the lift. However, if your hands are not strong then it will be challenging to get the lift off the ground in general. My introduction to this lift was when I was doing a typical deadlift workout. I was months away from my next competition and was doing the standard light reps but the emphasis on form. After I was done I was going to do rows however, Frank had other plans. He had me take out the Heavy Lifts barbell again along with something that looks like it came from a metal factory. It was a handle with chains on it. Again it looked like a device used in England in 1250.

After about 5-8 sets of Hang and Thigh singles, I woke up the next morning feeling super tired and sore. My whole back was weak feeling, and my glutes weirdly enough were extremely achy.

The last lift that I learned from Frank from the Heavy Lifts was the Hip Lift. This lift is less intimidating and more about power through the legs. There is a belt worn around the hip that attaches to the Heavy Lift bar itself. After attaching the chains together all you do is push with the legs and try to lift the weight about 1 inch from the ground. Now when I first tried this lift I loved it. I have strong legs so this type of lift suited me. However, the next morning my legs were screaming for help. The 1 inch off the ground doesn’t seem like much, yet the amount of stress on the legs is what really kicks in the soreness.

Now I know what you are thinking… WHY WOULD YOU TRY THESE LIFTS. Well, personally I love the idea of a challenge and something new. Additionally, like a lot of these, lifts the is history. These lifts were a staple in the 80s and 90s of the USAWA and IAWA and would be even part of National and Worlds. The amount of fatigue that would set after these lifts after Day 1 of a Worlds weekend would definitely affect the performance of some lifters. Another reason why I love these lifts is they really teach you how to control fatigue. You can’t just one rep max every week with these lifts. There is an art form to the quality and quantity of the workouts with these workouts. Lastly, they are just cool. How many you know personally that can lift hundreds of pounds with a lift named the Neck lift? Or even hip lifted a 1,000 pounds? I can answer that and it’s 0.

When the opportunity arises try these lifts. It’s very difficult to find the bar and harnesses to perform them. But I am telling you they are a blast to try and even perfect!

Contest Memories

By Eric Todd

I was inspired by the article Chris Lestan wrote called “The Excitement and Memories of Competition Prep.” Since things have been rather slow of late, I thought I might do a few articles about some of my more memorable contests/contest preps.  I have competed many, many times across a number of strength disciplines.

I am going to gloss over my first experience a little.  It was the Show-Me State Games powerlifting meet, which was actually a push/pull.  Training had gone OK, but a week prior, I  badly sprained my ankle by stepping in a hole, so I only did the benchpress, and performed poorly there.  So, not a tremendous experience, but though I did not realize it at the time, it is more than likely the first time I was at a meet with Bill Clark.  I do remember holding my pause for an inordinate amount of time.

What I was really excited to train and compete in was strongman.  While I always did well moving the weights in the weightroom, I always found functional strength to be more of my forte.  So, when I decided I wanted to try my hand at it, I found a contest in a small college town in northeast Missouri called Canton.  The meet was called Tri-States Strongest Man.  I sent in my entry and started training for the events.

The events in this contest were as follows: Farmers walk/sandbag carry medley, truck pull, crucifix, tire flip for reps, and atlas stones. Access to equipment as well as training advice at that time was minimal.  I got a tractor time (maybe 300 pounds) from a tire repair place in town.  I took the inner tube out of it  and used that as a dirty, makeshift harness by which to practice pulling my brothers broken down car up and down the driveway (that car was later converted into my shooting car).  Crucifix I was able to simulate in the weightroom with dumbbells.  I did make my first atlas stone at that time using the play ball and plaster of paris method for making the mold.  Somebody on one of the old forums said you can do farmers walks with ez curl bars.  So, one day in the high school when no one was around, I gave that a shot.  Needless to say, it was not a suitable substitution.

So, contest day rolled around.  We drove out the night before and arrived in town at around 10:00.  We pulled in to the contest motel  to check in.  The office where I checked in was clearly the living room of the older couple who owned the motel.  The old man snoozed on the davenport as his wife checked us in. I got  a decent night’s sleep, and when I got up, I decided to find the park where the contest was being held since I had never been there before.  Since this was the contest motel, most of the competitors stayed there.  As I left my room, my attention was drawn to a group of the competitors at the edge of the parking lot.  There were some MONSTERS in this group.  As this contest only had a lightweight class and a heavyweight class, and anyone 225# or less was a lightweight, I knew I was going to be competing against some of those behemoths. I instantly felt out of place, as though I had made a tragic error.  I thought to myself that no one knew me, so no one would notice if I just slipped back into the car and drove home (not unlike Melvin did after a couple of events-but that is another story).  I decided against it, and stuck it out. The contest was rather eye opening.  I saw competitor after competitor fail on the 800 pound tire.  I got 2 flips, which was good for second place.  I got third in the crucifix and the atlas stones, being one of only 3 to load all of them. I did find out that day that grip was going to be my Achilles heel and grip events my nemesis.  I must have done 20 some deadlifts with 250# farmers walks, only to end up 5 feet short of the finish line.  But, in my first contest I took 4th place among the giants, and figured out I belonged.  The other thing I found remarkable was what appeared to be fantastic camaraderie among the competitors.  They were all cheering for each other, even though they were competing against each other.  It is what drew me to the sport initially, and ended up being what kept me around it for so long. Anyhow, that is the story of how I got my start in strongman; however, it was my second meet that pretty much hooked me for good. (to be continued)

2020 Postal Series

By Al Myers

The USAWA has 4 postal meets per year (March, June, September, and December), with the last one being designated as the Postal Championships. All these together make up the Postal Meet Series. Each postal meet a lifter competes in generates points for him/her, that total up for the final Postal Series Ranking.

The way the points are generated is pretty simple. I take the overall placings of the meet and then reverse “the count” for the points earned for each lifter. I.E – if three lifters compete lifter number 1 gets 3 points, lifter number 2 gets 2 points, and lifter number three gets 1 point. The Postal Championships is worth “double points”. Obviously then, as more lifters enter more points can be earned for winning the meet, and ALL lifters earn points regardless where they place overall. Just entering will earn points toward the Postal Series Ranking.

Overall there was good participation in the USAWA Postal Meets last year. A total of 39 lifters competed in the various postal meets, which is 10 more lifters than competed last year. The first Postal Meet had 19 lifters, the second had 25 lifters, the third had 31 lifters, and the Postal Championship drew 24 lifters. Several lifters competed in ALL of the postal meets last year and they deserve to be recognized.  These lifters are the GRAND SLAM WINNERS:  Eric Todd, Abe Smith, John Strangeway, Denny Habecker, Dave DeForest, Barry Pensyl, Dean Ross, Bill Clark, RJ Jackson, Elizabeth Skwarecki, Sylvia Stockall, Phoebe Todd, Lynda Burns

Now for the overall rankings for the 2020 USAWA Postal Series!

2020 POSTAL SERIES SUMMARY

Postal Meet Winners

POSTAL MEET MEN WOMEN
1st Quarter Postal John Strangeway RJ Jackson
2nd Quarter Postal Abe Smith Elizabeth Skwarecki
3rd Quarter Postal Jeff Ciavattone Amorkor Ollennuking
Postal Championships Eric Todd RJ Jackson

GRAND SLAM WINNERS: Eric Todd, Abe Smith, John Strangeway, Denny Habecker, Dave DeForest, Barry Pensyl, Dean Ross, Bill Clark, RJ Jackson, Elizabeth Skwarecki, Sylvia Stockall, Phoebe Todd, Lynda Burns

Final Postal Series Rankings

WOMENS DIVISION – TOP TEN

PLACING LIFTER MEETS ENTERED POINTS
1 TIE RJ Jackson 4 33
1 TIE Elizabeth Skwarecki 4 33
3 Sylvia Stockall 4 30
4 Lynda Burns 4 17
5 Phoebe Todd 4 16
6 Natalie Collins 1 10
7 Janet Thompson 3 9
8 Amorkor Ollenuking 1 8
9 Olivia Collins 1 4
10 Crystal Diggs 3 3

MENS DIVISION – TOP TEN

PLACING LIFTER MEETS ENTERED POINTS
1 John Strangeway 4 76
2 TIE Abe Smith 4 71
2 TIE Eric Todd 4 71
4 Denny Habecker 4 56
5 Dave DeForest 4 55
6 Barry Pensyl 4 52
7 Barry Bryan 3 41
8 Tony Hose 3 39
9 Al Myers 2 34
10 TIE Christopher Lestan 1 30
10 TIE John Carter 2 30

It was very CLOSE for the overall winner in the Women’s Division, and ended up being a tie between RJ Jackson and Elizabeth Skwarecki.  Sylvia Stockall was very close behind these two, only trailing by 3 points. A total of 11 women competed in the various postal meets (the most ever) so for the first time we had a TOP TEN for the Women’s Division.

The Men’s Division was very close as well, with John Strangeway taking the title of Overall Champion of the USAWA Postal Series.  Behind him was a close tie for second with Abe Smith and Eric Todd.  The strength and depth of the Mens Division was the best ever, and it took competing in every postal meet to make the top five overall.  A total of 28 men entered at least one postal competition which is the most ever.

I want to thank everyone who participated in our Postal Meet Series.  This participation is what keeps our Postals going every year. I also want to mention and give credit to our Postal Meet Director Denny Habecker who makes all this happen.  A full historical archive of the past Postal Meet Series is kept on the website, under “history”.

2021 Postal Series

By Al Myers

The entire 2021 Postal Series Meets has been announced.  The USAWA has had a long history of promoting postal meets, and for the last several years have hosted a Postal Series, consisting of 4 quarterly Postal Meets with the last one being the USAWA Postal Championships.

The promotion of these meets are done by the USAWA, under the direction of the Postal Meet Director Denny Habecker.  All scoresheets are to be sent to Denny as he does the formula calculations for the final meet standings. There is no entry fee to enter the USAWA Postal Meets. The Postal series is sponsored by the USAWA.  However, you must be a current member of the USAWA to participate.

Postal Meets are a great way to get introduced to All Round Weightlifting. Denny picks a variety of different lifts for each meet.  Rules for the lifts are found in the USAWA Rule Book, which is available for free download from the website.

Now for the lifts of this years Postal Series!

1st Quarter Postal Meet – January 1st to March 31st
Bench Press – Feet in Air
Curl – Cheat, Dumbbell, One Arm
Deadlift – Fulton Bar, Ciavattone Grip

2nd Quarter Postal Meet – April 1st to June 30th
Pullover and Press
Curl – Reverse Grip, Strict
Deadlift – One Arm

3rd Quarter Postal Meet – July 1st to September 30th
Push Press – From Racks
Clean and Jerk – Dumbbell, One Arm
Deadlift – Stiff Legged

Postal Championships – October 1st to December 31st
Press – Dumbbell, One Arm
Snatch – One Arm
Habecker Lift

All entry forms for the USAWA Postal Meets are found in upcoming events in the right column of the website homepage.

The Excitement and Memories of Competition Prep

By Christopher Lestan

Since there haven’t been any in-person competitions I think it would be fun to reflect on when the time comes when in-person competition becomes normal again.

The preparation for competition is what stimulates the regular strength athlete and soon becomes all they can think about for the next couple of months. The training schedule, reps, and sets are all determined 8-12 weeks out from the day of the competition. The journey from the beginning of prep when you write down goals you want to achieve. Then at the end of the competition prep you recall on what you have written down to see if you achieved your goal or goals.

That is the beauty of competition. The journey! Everyone has as prep that they remember like the back of their hand. The prep that pushed that individual to the brink, or maybe have to overcome some sort of adversity during prep. Those are the  memories that stick with us the most. The moments that we recall as defining us or redefining us as people. It’s what makes competition prep almost seem like magic.

My personal competition prep that sticks out to me to this day was my first Heavy Lifts Nationals back in 2018. I had just finished competing at College Raw Powerlifting Nationals and as soon as I got home I went to Frank Ciavatone to start training. Now normally I give myself a decent 8-10 weeks before a major competition. This allows myself to peak for the day of completion with phases of hypertrophy, strength, and power. However, during this time Heavy Lift Nationals was only 4-5 weeks away. Thank goodness I have one of the greatest Heavy Lifters of all time Frank Ciavatone. I remember we talked for hours on end deciding what to do for the prep and how to get ready. Finally, he made the decision (because he’s the coach and I am the athlete) to do 1-2 workouts a week of the Neck, Hand and Thigh, and Hip lift.

During that time I learned so much about timing of training, and how to control intensity. I learned how to be a listener whenever Frank gave some advice or technique tips. I learned how to recovery from the lifts, for the style of recovery is vastly different from recovering from powerlifting workouts. I loved every minute of it. It was one of the best 4-5 weeks of training of my life because Frank taught me so much about how to get ready for these lifts. I guess it worked in the end because I achieved all of my goals by the end of 5 weeks and found a new love for the Heavy Lifts. This time of my life sticks out to me because of how much I learned from Frank about the lifts, and also I was allowed to push myself in a different discipline of strength sports.

As I said before… Everyone has these types of memories. Maybe it was your first Powerlifting competition? Or the time you deiced to do a strongman competition? Or the first All-Around Weightlifting Competition. All different stories that come with different memories!

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