Grip Championships

By Al Myers

MEET ANNOUNCEMENT –

2020 USAWA GRIP CHAMPIONSHIPS

LaVerne Myers performing the Rim Lift at the 2018 IAWA Gold Cup in Eastbourne England.

LaVerne Myers performing the Rim Lift at the 2018 IAWA Gold Cup in Eastbourne England.

The USAWA Grip Championships will be here soon.  This has become an annual event in the USAWA over the past 10 years, and is one of the signature, championship events of our organization.

LaVerne, the meet director for the Grip Championships, has just sanctioned and revealed the details for this year’s Championships.  He has picked a fine selection of grip lifts that should provide a good challenge to everyone.

After the competition, there will be an exhibition challenge in the Rim Lift.  This is not an official USAWA lift but is an IAWA-UK official lift. A couple of years ago LaVerne and I performed it in the Gold Cup in England and really enjoyed the lift.  It is a great grip lift that emphasizes a pinch grip.  Below is the IAWA-UK rule for the Rim Lift which we will  follow in this challenge.  This lift will not be part of the Grip Championships scoring as it is not an official lift of the USAWA.

E33     RIM LIFT

The lifter will deadlift, hacklift or straddle a loaded barbell whilst holding only the rims of the discs. The maximum sized discs for the is lift are 18 inches. On the inside the discs must be flat and smooth, and on the outside the rim cannot be deeper than 1inch. The lifter must not grasp any handles, holes or specially prepared areas, only the thumbs on the smooth inside and the fingers on the outside rim. Any bar can be used as the distance between the collars is optional. Whatever style of lift the lifter chooses the lift will always be finished in the correct fashion, with an erect posture. On completion the referee will signal to replace the bar.

Causes for Failure:

  • The causes for failure for the deadlift, hacklift or straddle will apply, depending on the style elected.
  • Failure to achieve the correct fully erect finishing posture.
  • Lowering / replacing the bar before the referees signal.

As you may notice it is similar to our Reeves Deadlift but has several differences thus making it a completely different lift.  If the Rim Lift is well received by the lifters LaVerne is considering putting it forward as a new USAWA lift.

MEET DETAILS:

Meet Director:            LaVerne Myers  785-479-2264

Meet Date:                 Saturday, February 8th, 2020  1:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Location:                    Dino Gym, 1126 Eden Road, Abilene, KS 67410

Sanction:                    USAWA  – Membership required

Weigh-ins:                  12:00-1:00 PM the day of the meet

Divisions:                   Juniors, Women, Masters, and Open

Awards:                     None

Entry:                        None – But please give advance notification if attending

Lifts:

Vertical Bar Deadlift – 2″, One Arm

Deadlift – Fulton Dumbbell, One Arm

Deadlift – 2 Inch Dumbbells

Deadlift – One Arm, No Thumb

Club Championships

By Al Myers

MEET RESULTS –

2019 USAWA CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS

USAWA Club Champions - Ledaig Heavy Athletics

USAWA Club Champions – Ledaig Heavy Athletics

The battle of the USAWA Club Championships was heated at the Ledaig Club on this past Sunday.  As been the case these past few years, the Club Champs have been a “2 horse race” between the hosting Ledaig HA Club and the Dino Gym.  The victory has been an even split over the past 6 years – with each club standing at 3 wins while the other club was the runner up.   So this year was GAME SEVEN to see who would would reign supreme of the best of 7.  HATS OFF to Dave and the Ledaig HA Club as they put the smack down on my Dino Gym Club.

I always really enjoy going to Dave’s.  He has built the ultimate home gym.  He has a power rack that would make any HS strength coach drool over, plus loads of steel plates and seasoned bars.  As you look around his gym everything sweats strength.  As been the tradition of the Club Championships each club brings club members with the top three performers in each event being the “scorers”.  This gives an advantage if you bring several lifters as if someone has an off event it doesn’t hurt the team score.  But this year Dave and I could only manage to barely fill our roster of 3 lifters so every lift  of every lifter was important.

Runnerup Club - the Dino Gym

Runnerup Club – the Dino Gym

I once seen a T-shirt that had the printing of “Youth and Skill are no match for Old Age and Treachery”.   Well – this pretty much sums up Dave. He definitely schemed up some  “fast ones” on me for this club championships.  All above board of course so I’m not saying he cheated or anything like that. First of all I noticed he picked up a RINGER for his club that caught me by surprise.  He didn’t even pre-register him before the meet thus keeping his secret intact until it was time to show his cards on meet day.  For those of you who don’t know Eddie “THE DYNAMO KID” Johnson you will after this meet.  Eddie is a gifted Highland Game athlete who made his first venture into the All Rounds at this meet. His explosive strength is off the charts and he lifted fantastically.  He’s so athletic he just takes to the All Round Lifts with ease.

But then the treachery continues.  I have worked hard to get John “THE HOSS” Douglas to join the Dino Gym Club this past year, and he was been a solid addition to my club.  I’ve even made big promises to him like I’d give him a gym tshirt and give him a sandwich when he comes to the Dino Gym.  So I was feeling good.  But “lo and behold” Dave steals him back from me and he’s there representing the Ledaig Club!!! How did Dave do that???  I still pondering how that happened.

I actually felt like it was close after the first couple of events.  Ole Dean and Dad were pushing hard on their lifts.  But then Dave puts in this special rule about using your non-dominate hand in the Clean and Jerk with the Dumbbell for the 3rd event and it starts to get “in our heads” a little, and after a big discussion of what really constitutes your non-dominate hand Dave just says “use the hand you conscious tells you too”.  I pretty much knew it was over for us then as Dad and Dean were scratching their heads in confusion as to which arm to use.

But his treachery is not over yet!!!!  His next trick had to be one for the ages. I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’ve never seen this type of sabotaging your opponents before.  At this point Dave declares it’s time for lunch before the last event the Dumbbell to Shoulder. He had his good buddy Gomez come in with his food truck and he freshly baked the best pizza you’ve ever had and brings it into the gym for us to eat. It’s piping hot and  the tasty aroma just fills the gym. He followed that up with homemade bread pudding with his special whisky sauce. Plus Dave brings in a sampler pack of Sam Adams to just add to the temptation.  The Dino Gym Club was doomed at that point.  Dean ate so much pizza he couldn’t tie his shoes, ole Pops was just sitting on the bench in a food coma, and I was polishing off my second beer.  The whole time Dave just sat in his big chair with a smile on his face not eating a thing!!!!

Great meet and great times!  But now I’m calling for the best of nine.

Meet Results:

2019 USAWA Club Championships
Ledaig Heavy Athletics Club
Rainbow Bend, Kansas
Sunday, December 8th, 2019

Meet Director: Dave Glasgow

Official (1-official System used): Dave Glasgow & Al Myers

Meet Scorekeeper: Al Myers

Meet Caterer: Gomez with his amazing pizza

Lifts: Curl – Cheat, Reverse Grip, Deadlift – 2 Bars, Clean and Jerk – DB, Dumbbell to Shoulder

1. Ledaig Heavy Athletics – 2197.6 Adjusted Points

LIFTER AGE BWT Curl DL C&J DB
Dave Glasgow 66  249.5 160 370 86.5L 134
Eddie Johnson 28  269.5 225 410 139.5L 214
John Douglas 56  310.5 200 310 86.5L 214

2. Dino Gym – 1834.5 Adjusted Points

LIFTER AGE BWT Curl DL C&J DB
Dean Ross 77  236 95 210 30L 80
LaVerne Myers 75 229 120 270 35L 99
Al Myers 53 233 155 450 30L 99

Notes: BWT is bodyweight in pounds.  All lifts recorded in pounds. R and L designate right and left arms. Adjusted Points were calculated using age and bodyweight corrections.

Lift for Leroy RD

By Eric Todd

MEET RESULTS –

Lift for Leroy Record Day

New member Jeff Rigby sets the tone with a big bent press

New member Jeff Rigby sets the tone with a big bent press

“Lift for Leroy” is over and done and was a great success.  I feel like we boosted Big Leroy’s spirits enough to avoid another one of those sympathy “throw yourself down the stairs” episodes this time around.  We started off with the Postal Championship lifts.  10 members participated in this portion of the meet.  There was some fantastic lifting, but I will leave that part to Denny’s write-up for that meet.

Once we completed the three lifts for the Postal Championship, we started in with the “Lift for Leroy” record day.  Eleven lifters completed at least one record lift in this portion of the meet. There were many national and world records broken.  I would like to thank everyone who supported this meet.  We had lifters from age 7 to age 77.  We had local lifters and lifters from as far away as Utah. (I would really like to thank Jeff Rigby making the pilgrimage to the Turney area.  He brought some real old time all-round flair with classic lifts such as the bent press and the turkish get-up) The camaraderie was fantastic, the day went smooth, and the lifting was stout.

I would like to mention that the youth infusion into the KCSTRONGMAN all-round club has been absolutely refreshing.  Nikolai Lucht, age 7, just joined.  He is the son of Mike Lucht who is a long time KCSTRONGMAN member from the old strongman days.  That brings us to 3 lifters under 10.  KCSTRONGMAN can be credited with reducing the mean age of USAWA membership by like 50 years!!!  Aye, but I digress.

Results are as follows:

MEET RESULTS:

Name of Meet: Lift for Leroy Record Day

Location of Meet: Turney, MO

Date of Meet: December 7, 2019

Meet Director: Eric Todd

Meet Announcer/Scorekeeper: Eric Todd

Both the one official system and the three official system were utilized.  The system that was used is denoted next to each lift.

Meet Officials: Eric Todd, Lance Foster, John Strangeway, Chris Todd

Loaders/spotters: All lifters

All Records and bodyweights are recorded in Pounds

Lifter
Lance Foster Age 54 weight 346
Deadlift-Inch Dumbbell 1 arm- Left 80 3 officials
Finger lift-Index-Right 95 3 officials
Finger lift-ring-Right 95 3 officials
Lifter
John Strangeway Age 41 weight 207
Deadlift-Inch Dumbbell 1 arm-Left 132 3 officials
Squat-Front 470 3 officials
Finger Lift-Ring-Right 205 3 officials
Finger lift-Middle-Left 230 3 officials
Anderson press 275 3 officials
Lifter
Mike Lucht Age 37 weight 238
Bench Press-Fulton Bar 315 1 official
Lifter
Ben Edwards Age 44 weight237
Deadlift-Fulton-Ciavattone grip 325 1 official
Vertical Bar-1 bar-2″-Left 208 1 official
Lifter
Jeff Rigby Age 42 weight 287
Bent press-bar-left 175 3 officials
Bent press-bar-right 155 3 officials
Turkish Getup 135 3 officials
Gardner-Full 115 3 officials
Lifter
Dean Ross Age 77 weight 231
Clean and press-Fulton bar 60 1 official
Clean and press-middle fingers 45 1 official
Holdout lowerd 25 1 official
Seated press from rack 55 1 official
Seated press from rack-behind neck 55 1 official
Lifter
Greg Cook Age 62 weight 255
Deadlift-stiff legged 405 1 official
Lifter
Chris Todd Age 40 weight 269
Pullover-straight arm 75 3 officials
Lateral raise lying 70 3 officials
Clean and seated press 140 3 officials
Bench press-fulton bar 265 3 officials
Deadlift-stiff legged 250 3 officials
Lifter
Leroy Todd Age 8 weight 68
Bench press-fulton bar 35 3 officials
Cheat curl 2 dumbells 20 3 officials
Vertical bar-1 bar-2 inch-left 26 3 officials
Jackson press 20 3 officials
Continental to belt 45 3 officials
Lifter
Eric Todd Age 44 weight 252
Jackson press 210 3 officials
Seated press-from rack 175 3 officials
Vertical bar-2 bars 1″ 265 1 official
vertical bar-1 bar-1 inch-right 160 1 official
Press-dumbbell-1 arm-left 100 3 officials
Lifter
Phoebe Todd (FEMALE) Age 9 weight 88
Bench press-feet in the air 35 3 officials
Bench press-fulton bar 40 3 officials
vertical bar 1 bar-1″-right 65 3 officials
vertical bar 1 bar-1″-left 65 3 officials
vertical bar 1 bar-2″-left 53.5 3 officials

 

 

Memorial Record Day

By Denny Habecker

MEET RESULTS –

2019 Memorial Record Day

We had a great turnout for the first Memorial Record Day, with 8 lifters taking part. I was really impressed with the variety and difficulty of the lifts that were done.  Christopher Lestan, Zachariah Marhamo and Ryan Bingham came down from Massachusetts, Lou Tortorelli came in from New Jersey, Elizabeth Skwarecki from Pittsburgh, Barry Pensyl from Easton, and Aidan Habecker and I rounded out the group. The officials were Barry Pensyl, Chris Lestan and Denny Habecker.

RESULTS:

2019 Memorial Record Day
Habecker’s Gym
Lebanon, PA
December 7th, 2019

Meet Director: Denny Habecker

Officials (1 official system used): Barry Pensyl, Denny Habecker

Lifts: Record Day

Elizabeth Skwarecki – 39 yrs. 140 Lbs.  [ FEMALE 65KG. – Open]
Bent Press – Dumbbell – Left  –  66 Lbs.
Bent Press- Dumbbell- Right  – 77 Lbs.
Snatch from Hang                – 88 Lbs.
Dinnie Lift                          – 355 Lbs.
Bench Press – Fulton Bar     – 132 Lbs.

Aidan Habecker – 16 yrs. 208 Lbs  [95 Kg. 16-17]
Judd Clean and Jerk          –  44 Lbs.
Lano  Lift                        –  22 Lbs.
Miller Clean & Jerk          –  44 Lbs.
Snatch – Fulton Bar         – 121 Lbs.
Vertical  Bar – 1″ – Right  – 198 Lbs.

Ryan Bingham  19 Yrs.  – 300 Lbs.   [ 125 Kg. +  – 18-19]
Deadlift – 12″ Base        –    550 Lbs.
Deadlift – Ciavattone Grip – 387 Lbs.
Hand & Thigh                  – 700 Lbs.
Hip  Lift                          – 1022 Lbs.
Habecker Lift                  – 154 Lbs.

Zachariah Marhamo  21 Yrs. – 231 Lbs. [ 105 Kg. – Open]
Clean & Press                      – 176 Lbs.
Deadlift, Ciavattone-Right    – 253 Lbs.
Deadlift – Ciavattone Grip    – 407 Lbs.
Habecker Lift                      – 242 Lbs.
Hackenschmidt Floor Press  – 342 Lbs.

Christopher Lestan   23 Yrs – 285 Lbs. [ 125 + Kg. – Open]
Dinnie Lift                         – 600 Lbs.
Deadlift, No Thumbs          – 387 Lbs.
Habecker Lift                    – 154 Lbs.
Zercher, One Arm- Left     – 143 Lbs.
Zercher, One Arm- Right   –  66 Lbs.

Lou  Tortorelli  – 53 Yrs.  239 Lbs. [ 110 Kg. – 50-54]
Curl- Strict                       – 110 Lbs.
Deadlift – Trap Bar            – 425 Lbs.

Barry Pensyl  – 71 Yrs.  -150 Lbs.  [70 Kg. – 70-74 ]
Allen Lift                               –  33 Lbs.
Clean & Jerk -One Arm- Right – 51 Lbs.
Good Morning                        – 110 Lbs.
Press, Dumbbell, Right           – 40 Lbs.
Snatch- One Arm – Left          – 55 Lbs.

Denny Habecker – 77Yrs. 185Lbs. [ 85Kg. – 75-79]
Deadlift- Dumbbell- Right                 – 176 Lbs.
Clean & Press Behind Neck               – 110 Lbs.
Clean & Seated Press                       – 88 Lbs.
Clean & Seated Press Behind Neck     – 88Lbs.
Vertical Bar – 1″ – Right                    – 105Lbs.

Time to Renew

by Al Myers

Hard to believe that another year of the USAWA is coming to an end!  This has been a great year for our organization.  Now is the time to renew your USAWA membership so you can take advantage of a full year’s membership.  I want to remind everyone that membership in the USAWA is for “the calendar year”.  Thus the logical time to renew membership is at the beginning of the year – January FIRST!

I have already started recording the 2020 membership on the membership roster.  Also, I include the “date beside the name” to remind everyone when you joined.  I want there to be “special distinction” of those that register early.  Any registration before January 1st, 2020 will receive that date as their date of registering.  I hope this encourages early registration.

Individual Membership Applications are found at the top of the website in the “About Us” under “forms and applications”.    Please fill out the application fully in ledge-able print, and sign it.  Make checks/money orders out to the USAWA and send them to me (address on form).  Once I receive the application (with the $25 fee), I will list your name on the Membership Roster.  It doesn’t get any easier than that!!!

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