2nd Quarter Postal

By Denny Habecker

MEET RESULTS:

2ND QUARTER POSTAL MEET

SmithPP

Abe Smith putting up a big clean and push press of 257 pounds.

We had a great turnout for the Postal again this quarter.  Abe Smith was the top male this quarter and Elizabeth Skwarecki  led the women. Clarks Gym and K.C Strongman each had 6 lifters participate followed by Dino Gym and Habecker’s Gym with 4 each. Thanks to everyone who participated .

MEET RESULTS

2nd Quarter Postal
April 1 thru June 30, 2020

The Lifts: Curl- Cheat, Reverse Grip, Snatch- Dumbbell, One Arm, Clean and Push Press

MENS DIVISION

Abe Smith            – 38   – 184 Lbs.    –  190  – 131 -L   – 257    – 578     –  541.99

John Strangeway  – 42  – 206.4 Lbs.  –  205  – 120- L    – 215    – 540      – 488.39

Eric Todd             – 45   – 253 Lbs.     – 200  – 105 -R    – 210    – 515     –  430.71

Tony Hose           – 51   – 227 Lbs.     – 165  –  85  -R    – 180    – 430      – 401.84

David DeForest   – 60   – 195 Lbs.      – 135  –  85 – R    – 145    – 365      – 400.84

Al Myers            – 53   –  225 Lbs.      – 155   -100 – R    – 135   – 390      – 372.70

Barry Bryan       – 62   – 186.6 Lbs.    – 100  – 74.4- R    – 150    – 324.4   – 371.04

Barry Pensyl      – 72  –  148 Lbs.       – 100  –   54 – L     – 90     – 244      – 364.52

Chad Ullom       – 48  –  220 Lbs.       – 155   – 100 -R     – 135   – 390       -360.69

Chris Todd        – 40  –  273 Lbs.       – 180  –   95 – R     – 190   – 465       – 356.74

Denny Habecker -77 –  183.8 Lbs.     – 105  –  35  – R     –  99    – 239       – 336.27

Aidan Habecker – 16  –  214 Lbs.    – 121.25 –  70 – R     –  99     – 290     –  275.14

LaVerne Myers   – 76  – 224 Lbs.      –  95     –  45 – L     –   75     – 215     –  267.28

Leroy Todd        – 9    – 70  Lbs.      –  30      – 15 – R      – 35     –  80       – 232.05

Dean Ross        – 77  – 215 Lbs.      –  75      – 40 – L      – 65     – 180       – 231.87

Lance Foster     – 54 – 349 Lbs.       – 100     – 55 – R      – 125   – 280       – 217.99

Bill Clark          – 87  -208 Lbs.       –  22      – 10 – R      – 22     – 54         –  82.17

WOMEN’S DIVISION

Elizabeth Skwarecki – 39 – 146.8 Lbs. – 108  – 66- R  –    118     -292        – 316.06

Sylvia Stockall        – 62  – 140 Lbs.   – 77    – 50 – R –    100    – 227        – 311.65

R.J. Jackson           – 58  – 106 Lbs.   – 80    – 50  -R  –    85     – 215        – 298.82

Lynda Burns          – 45  – 175 Lbs.   – 70     – 45- L    –   95     – 210        – 215.09

Phoebe Todd         – 9    – 94 Lbs.     – 37.5  – 18- R    –    40     – 95.5       – 197.39

Janet Thompson   – 62   – 180 Lbs.   – 60     – 20- R     – 55      – 135        – 157.73

Kylie Smith          – 13   – 146 Lbs.   – 47     – 20- R     – 47      – 114        – 154.55

Crystal Diggs       – 34   – 164 Lbs.   – 50     – 30- R     – 55       -135        – 135.79

Officials:

Abe Smith             – Bill Clark & Dave DeForest
Tony Hose            –  Bill Clark & Dave DeForest
Leroy Todd           – Eric Todd & Chris Todd
Phoebe Todd        – Eric Todd & Chris Todd
Kylie Smith          – Bill Clark & Dave DeForest
John Strangeway – Lance Foster
Eric Todd            –  Chris Todd
Dave DeForest    – Bill Clark
Al Myers            – Chad Ullom
Chad Ullom        – Al Myers
Chris Todd         – Eric Todd
LaVerne Myers   – Al Myers
Aidan Habecker  – Denny Habecker
Dean Ross         – Al Myers
Lance Foster      – John Strangeway
Janet Thompson – Bill Clark
Crystal Diggs     – R.J. Jackson

Lifters with Non-Certified Officials:

Barry Bryan
Barry Pensyl
Denny Habecker
Bill Clark
Elizabeth Skwarecki
Sylvia Stockall
R.J. Jackson
Lynda Burns

Dick Durante

By Denny Habecker

I just got the news yesterday of the passing of Dick Durante on June 4, at age 87. I know many of you may not have known Dick, because he didn’t lift in a great number of our meets. Dick lifted in a couple of our Nationals and at least one IAWA Worlds in addition to a few smaller meets. I knew Dick from my days as an Olympic lifer. He and John Vernacchio lifted for the legendary Holy Savior Club in Norristown, Pa. Dick was a competitor in my first competition in 1962. He was a veteran lifter at that time, pressing 270, snatching 220, and clean & Jerking 305 in the 198 lb. class in that meet.  Five years later he was pressing 320 in the HVY weight class. I didn’t really know Dick that well until in the 1980’s as a master lifter, I started lifting for John Vernacchio’s Valley Forge Club.We got to be good friends through our mutual friend John. Dick was  well liked, had a great sense of humor, and a man of many talents. He was a police officer, a restaurant owner, Navy veteran, electrician, & air conditioner tech. Dick and his wife Mary Ann invited us to their beach home on Long Beach Island, New Jersey many times, and showed us great hospitality and friendship . I also remember the great time I had  traveling to the Old Time Barbell and Strongman Banquet with Dick and John and a couple of their Holy Savior team mates . Rest in Peace Dick.

 

The Guessing Game – Box Squats Part IV

 

By Dan Wagman, Ph.D., C.S.C.S.

THE GUESSING GAME – BOX SQUATS

Part IV: Train Smart

The purpose for writing this series of articles was to illustrate why what appears to be very sensible training advice, doesn’t actually deliver. As with all things in life, you should also view training advice critically. The first question to ask about any training recommendation is by what physiological mechanism it’s supposed to work. The box squat’s proposed mechanism seems sensible—on the surface. With but a modicum of understanding about a muscle’s contraction mechanisms, you’d have to raise your eyebrows just enough to want to dig deeper before spending valuable time and effort on an exercise with dubious claims. Those raised eyebrows would then have your finger scrolling through research on your smartphone and you’d quickly learn that based on knowledge dating back to the 1930’s, it’s unlikely that the box squat will increase your squat ability. To summarize, research specific to that movement reveals the following:

  • The way in which your muscles work to perform a squat are enhanced the least by the box squat;
  • Muscle activity in the regular squat is far greater than in the box squat;
  • The forces generated in the box squat are weaker than those generated in the standard squat;
  • Speed of movement in the box squat is inferior to that of the squat;
  • Joint moments of the lower back, hips, and knees are significantly greater in the squat than the box squat;
  • The joint angles of the hip, knee, and ankle are significantly different between the two exercises and finally;
  • The above indicates that the box squat lacks the required specificity to be able to enhance your abilities to squat more weight.

Warmups and a Work Set

Please note that there’s no specific reason for why I chose to investigate the box squat. I could’ve chosen from any number of training recommendations to illustrate why their proposed benefits are fictional. I simply wanted to create a perspective and illustrate an approach that you can use to evaluate whatever training advice you run across. At the end of the day, recognize that you’re a strength athlete who spends tons of time in the gym in an effort to become the strongest person you can be. That’s not easy. You’re also an all-round weightlifter who’s challenged with learning, perfecting, and becoming as strong as possible in different lifts for each meet you enter. That’s not easy. Considering how you’ve self-selected into an area of physical accomplishment that challenges you every time you step into the gym, I would argue that you trying to determine just the minimum—what’s fact and what’s wishful thinking regarding training—is much easier and will take you no longer than what it’ll take to go through your warmups and then your first work set.

There’s no way Paul Anderson could’ve had a quick look at the American Journal of Physiology to see what he could do to increase his already fantastic squat even more. In fact, most athletes back then probably didn’t even know there was research being conducted on human muscle in an effort to understand not only how it works, but how you can get it to become stronger. But today, you literally hold that information in the palm of your hand. The most difficult part for you is to sift through the nonsense and uncover information that’s based on measurable and evidence-based facts instead. To be honest, you have to take responsibility for what training advice you follow. If you find yourself getting injured and not able to make long-term gains anymore, even though you’re healthy, don’t simply write it off as being older than what you used to be, or some other equally silly and unfounded notion. Take responsibility for your training decisions, review them based on exercise science the best you can, and allow yourself to once again experience the thrill of breaking PR’s. Isn’t attaining maximal strength in your red matter worth some effort in your grey matter?

And so, what about the main problem at the core of all of this—increasing your squat overall and more specifically blasting out of the hole? You guessed it, that has been researched and you could experience huge gains if you applied that information. No need for you to stumble through the dark with silly advice put forth by any number of self-proclaimed training gurus. Put that grey matter to work and enjoy the process of learning, putting it to work in the gym, and breaking PR’s.

MEETS POSTPONED

By Al Myers

The decision has been made by the USAWA Executive Board to postpone all meets till further notice.  This includes temporally suspending accepting sanction requests for new competitions/events.

The meets postponed (I say postponed instead of cancelled as we still hope to be able to host some of these in the fall) are the Heavy Lift Championships, the Lebanon Valley Record Day, and our USAWA National Championships.  The second quarter Postal Meet will still be contested.

Also, I have decided that the IAWA Old Time Strongman World Postal will be cancelled this summer.

These were hard decisions to make but it is the responsible thing to do in these trying times.

HEAVY LIFT CHAMPIONSHIPS POSTPONED!

By Eric Todd

This decision has not been an easy one for me.  It came with lots of time and deliberation (and coaxing from mama).  I detest living as though I am afraid of something which I am not.  However, it felt imprudent at this time to go on with the heavy lift championships next month as planned.  I don’t want to be the guy responsible for other people getting sick.  At any rate, we are postponing this indefinitely.  Notice I said “postponed” and not “cancelled.”  This meet has been contested annually since 1994.  I don’t wish to see that run end, particularly on my watch!  So, it is my intention to still host this meet in 2020.  Hopefully this pandemic foolishness will slow down, and we can go back to living like free people. I will keep membership informed, but I will most likely be looking at a date in the fall that does not conflict with nationals/worlds.  I will also be contacting those athletes from whom I have already received entries to see what you want me to do with your entry fee.  You can apply it toward the meet later in the year or I can tear up you check.  Your choice. In the meantime, as my optimistic club members recognized, this just gives us more time to train for it in order to put up huge totals.  In the meantime, stay safe everybody!

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