The Dumbbell Walk

by Al Myers

Darren Barnhart, of the Dino Gym, performing the Dumbbell Walk last Saturday at the Dino Gym.

Often in the Dino Gym when the workouts are over, different odd training toys get pulled out for impromptu challenges.  This happened the other day in the gym with an official USAWA lift, the Dumbbell Walk.  The Dumbbell Walk is one of the most unique and strange lifts in the USAWA Rulebook.  Years ago when I first read the rules on it, I thought “now there’s an odd one”.  This lift is surrounded with mystery.  How did it come about?  I took a little time and looked through all my collection of back Strength Journals, books, and other mostly irrelevant strength information.  I could not find one single bit of research on it!  Who came up with it?   It was one of the original lifts in the USAWA, meaning it was part of the group of lifts that got “adopted” with the first rules were adopted.  It is an official IAWA lift as well as is included in the IAWA(UK) Rulebook.

The rules for the Dumbbell Walk are as follows from the USAWA Rulebook:

A distance of 10 feet will be marked out on a surface before the walk. The dumbbell and lifter must be behind the line at the start. The handle of the dumbbell must be 3 ½ inches in diameter. The lifter must hold the dumbbell with one hand only. The lift begins at the lifter’s discretion. It is recommended to straddle the dumbbell during the walk, however, the lifter may carry it to the side. Once the lifter lifts the dumbbell and begins the walk, the dumbbell must not touch the walking surface before the finish line or it will be a disqualification. The dumbbell may be lifted to any height during the walk, but it must always be hanging at arm’s length downwards. The lifter must put the dumbbell down under control completely past the finish line for the walk to be complete. The non-lifting hand must not touch the dumbbell or lifting hand and arm during the walk. The non-lifting hand may be placed on other parts of the body. It is acceptable for the dumbbell to accidentally touch the legs or body during the walk, provided it does not aid in the walk.

This is the 3.5" dumbbell handle that must be used for the Dumbbell Walk.

This is one of only two USAWA lifts where a distance must be covered in the execution of the lift (can you name the other?).   It has been contested only once in USAWA competition – at the 2010 Dino Gym Record Day.  Only myself and training partner Darren Barnhart have a USAWA Record in the Dumbbell Walk.  At this record day a Challenge ensued between us and Darren edged me out, 100 pounds to 95 pounds.  I’m pretty sure the reason the Dumbbell Walk has not been contested more often in competition is due to the special dumbbell required, with the 3.5″ diameter.

This is an outstanding grip exercise.  I think I might even put it in next year’s Grip Challenge at the Dino Gym.  It is also one of those grip exercises where when you add just a little bit more, say only 5 pounds, and the exercise goes from easy to impossible!

This is a YouTube Video of Darren performing the Dumbbell Walk with 100 pounds at the 2010 Dino Gym Record Day.

Big MISTAKE!

by Thom Van Vleck

Thom Van Vleck overhead pressing with one hand a 110 pound anvil. By looking at this picture it is easy to imagine the consequences if something "goes wrong" and the anvil slips out of Thom's open grip and falls on Thom's head. My advice is to always train a new lift before attempting max poundages and leave crazy strongman stunts like this to the professionals. (photo and caption courtesy of the webmaster Al Myers)

In this article I will detail what I see as the biggest mistakes I see new guys make as they enter into the world of the USAWA.  Others might have an opinion and I”m not saying that I am right about this being “the” biggest mistake….but I think everyone would agree this can be a problem.

I entered my first “odd lift” meet 30 years ago, and since then I have been to many USAWA meets as well as all kinds of strongman, highland games, powerlifting and Olympic lifting meets.  I have also done over 200 strongman performances.  During that time I have seen guys witness a lift or feat of strength for the first time and say, “Can I try that”.  They then try something they have never done before and go 100% in the effort.  That, in my opinion, is a BIG MISTAKE!  Sure, most of the time you’ll be OK, but it’s that one time that will end a season, or worse, a lifting career.

Recently, a friend of mine was in a strongman contest that included a steel bar bend.  He sent me a video of his effort….that resulted in a  muscle tear that he is now getting surgery for.  He was trying to bend it behind his neck and dropped his elbows and ended up in a a position like someone trying to close a “pec deck” machine.  Having bent literally hundreds of steel bars in various shapes, I cringed as soon as I saw it and soon enough he dropped the bar and winced in pain!  He had never bent a steel bar before and had no plan on how he was going to bend it.  I bend them all the time in our strongman shows and practiced this many times before ever doing it in front of a crowd or a contest where the pressure is on to go all out.

The nature of the USAWA makes it the “worst” for this kind of mistake.  Other sports have a much more limited “range” of lifts which means they get practiced much more often.  You can’t train hundreds of lifts, you can only have a strategy to train all around strength.  I know Al Myers often trains one pressing movement, one pulling type movement, and one squat type, constantly mixing the specific lifts up.  I also know Al will train a particular lift until he knows exactly how to do it and exactly how much he can expect to do on it before he enters a meet.   I’m not sure if he was always a smart lifter, or if he became one as a result of many injuries (that’s how I got smart), or both.  But I do know Al is a smart lifter who knows exactly what his ranges are come contest day.  He not only knows this for safety reasons, but for strategy as well!

How often have you seen someone make a lift they have never tried before, say, “that was easy”, then say, “Throw on a couple 45’s” and then be buried by it!  It’s the nature of many of these lifts.  At best, it’s embarrassing, at worst, you get seriously hurt.  My point is that you NEVER want to go right to a maximal effort the first time.  The USAWA is full of fun, new, exciting….and dangerous….lifts.  But they are only dangerous when you don’t know what you are doing!   Take the time to learn the lift, warm up plenty, practice the lift before the meet, and pick your poundages wisely!  Live to lift another day!  Listen to the old timers….they are still lifting for a reason!

STAN PIKE – “I WAS BORN TO WORK”

BY DAVE GLASGOW

STAN PIKE LIFTING THE INVER STONE.

IN 2006, I WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO FINALLY VISIT SCOTLAND, THE ANCESTRAL HOME OF MY PATERNAL GREAT-GRANDFATHER, JOHN GLASGOW. THIS HAD BEEN ON MY ‘TO DO’ LIST FOR SOME TIME AND WHEN IT DID COME TO FRUITION, I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED IN ANYWAY OTHER THAN THE FACT THAT I RAN OUT OF TIME MUCH TOO QUICKLY.

THE THING THAT STRUCK ME THE MOST DURING THIS TRIP WAS THE RUGGEDNESS OF THE LAND, THE TOUGHNESS AND ENDURANCE OF THE FOLKS THAT INHABITED IT AND THE ADMIRATION OF THESE PEOPLE FOR STRONG INDIVIDUALS. IT WAS AT THE WORLD MASTERS HIGHLAND GAMES, IN INVERNESS, THAT I WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO RUN ACROSS AND VISIT WITH ONE OF SCOTLAND’S STRONGMEN. STAN PIKE.

WHAT IMMEDIATELY GETS YOUR ATTENTION ABOUT STAN, WHEN YOU FIRST MEET AND SHAKE HANDS WITH HIM, IS THAT TO DO SO IS AS IF YOU ARE SHAKING HANDS WITH A GRIZZLY BEAR!! I HAVE MET ONLY ONE OTHER PERSON IN MY LIFE THAT HAD SUCH HANDS AS HIS!! THESE HANDS, I FOUND OUT MORE RECENTLY, COME FROM A LIFE OF HARD WORK AND HARDER PLAY.

STAN WAS BORN IN NORTHEAST ENGLAND. HIS LINEAGE IS IRISH, NORSE AND AUSTRIAN. FROM A VERY YOUNG AGE, HE BECAME ACQUAINTED WITH BACKBREAKING, TEDIOUS WORK. THE SON OF A COAL MINER, HE WAS REQUIRED, EVERY DAY, TO PROVE HIMSELF.

“You wanted to be a man, especially in a mining community. You proved yourself being a man by being strong and tough. That was the way I was brought up. The lads that I used to work with were also strong, and part of the joy of the day was getting hold of each other and beating each other up”. – Stan Pike

THE LIST OF JOBS HE HAS DONE IN HIS LIFE WOULD TAKE FAR TO LONG TO PUT TO PAPER, HOWEVER, JUST SUFFICE IT TO SAY THAT STAN HAS HAD TO WORK FOR A LIVING HIS WHOLE EXISTENCE. THE OCCUPATION HE HAS REMAINED AT FOR THE LAST 30+ YEARS IS BLACKSMITHING!! JUDGING BY THE QUALITY OF HIS WORK, ONE WOULD BE TEMPTED TO SAY THAT BLACKSMITHING IS NOT WORK TO HIM, BUT RATHER A CALLING. HIS WORKS ARE, TRULY, REMARKABLE! HE ALSO HAS THE PRIVILEGE OF HAVING A SEVENTEENTH CENTURY FORGE FROM WHICH TO CRAFT HIS WORKS!

HOWEVER, THIS ARTICLE IS NOT ABOUT STAN’S WORK, BUT HIS PLAY!! STAN HAS HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN BOTH STRENGTH AND AEROBIC ENDURANCE INVOLVING KETTLEBELLS, BICYCLING, WEIGHTLIFTING, MARTIAL ARTS AND THE SO-CALLED ‘MANHOOD’ STONES OF SCOTLAND; NAMELY THE DINNIE STONES AND THE INVER STONE.

STAN PIKE LIFTING THE DINNIE STONES.

ACCORDING TO WRITTEN RECORDS, STAN IS THE OLDEST PERSON TO LIFT THE ‘DINNIE STONES’ UNASSISTED (WITHOUT STRAPS). AT THE AGE OF 58!! THIS IS A COMBINED WEIGHT OF 785lbs.!!

FOR THOSE OF YOU NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE DINNIE STONES, THEY ARE TWO LARGE, IRREGULAR SHAPED STONES THAT, IN ORDER TO LIFT THEM, ONE MUST STRADDLE THEM AND LIFT THEM BY WAY OF RINGS PERMANENTLY AFFIXED TO THE STONES. THE COMBINATION OF STRADDLE, RINGS, WEIGHT AND THE AWKWARDNESS OF THE POSITION ONE HAS TO GET IN, MAKES THIS A VERY IMPRESSIVE FEAT OF HAND AND LIFTING STRENGTH, INDEED!

BY STAN’S OWN ADMISSION, HE STATES THAT SOME MAY QUESTION HIS RIGHT TO CLAIM HE “TRULY” LIFTED THE STONES, AS HE DID NOT COME TO A COMPLETE LOCK OUT AT THE TOP OF THE LIFT. I WILL LEAVE THIS ARGUMENT FOR OTHERS. AS ONE CAN SEE BY THE PICTURE, THERE IS PLENTY OF AIR BETWEEN THE STONES AND THE GROUND. I, FOR ONE, HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THE VALIDITY OF THE LIFT.

AS A SIDE BAR, STAN HAS LIFTED THE FAMED “INVER STONE” (AN EGG SHAPED, RATHER SMOOTH STONE OF 265#) SO MANY TIMES THAT HE IS ON A FIRST NAME BASIS WITH THE STONE!!

TRAINING FOR THE MONUMENTAL TASK OF THE LIFTING OF THE STONES WAS BY WAY OF A BASIC PROGRAM OF CONVENTIONAL WEIGHT LIFTING AND KETTLEBELL WORKOUTS. HIS WORKOUTS ARE TO THE POINT, WITH NOTHING FANCY ABOUT THEM. HE TRAINS AS HE WORKS. HARD AND STRAIGHT FORWARD. BELOW IS A SAMPLE OF HIS SYSTEM:

WEEK ONE

MONDAY

KETTLEBELL WARM UP

CONVENTIONAL DEAD LIFTS 5 X5

HACK LIFT

STIFF LEG DEADLIFT

DINNIE RING DEADLIFTS (BEING A BLACKSMITH, HE MADE HIS OWN RINGS THAT HE USES ON A REGULAR OLY BAR.)

GRIP WORK

WEDNESDAY

KETTLEBELL WARM UP

INCLINE PRESS 5 X 5 TO MAX

SEATED SHOULDER PRESS/OLY BAR 5X 5 TO MAX

SEATED DUMBBELL PRESS 10 X 10 WITH MODERATE WEIGHT

GRIP WORK

FRIDAY

REPEAT MONDAY’S WORKOUT

WEEK TWO

MONDAY

REPEAT THE SHOULDER WORK OUT

WEDNESDAY

REPEAT THE DEADLIFT WORKOUT

FRIDAY

REPEAT SHOULDER WORKOUT

STAN PIKE LIFTING THE DINNIE STONES AGAIN!

WITH THIS SYSEM, HE IS HITTING THE DEADLIFT WORKOUT TWICE A WEEK ONE WEEK AND ONCE THE NEXT, ALTERNATING WITH THE SHOULDER WORKOUT. HIS GRIP WORKOUT IS DONE AT EACH SESSION WITH “HOLDS” AND WRIST ROLLER BEING THE BULK OF THE WORKOUT.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO USE KETTLEBELLS, STAN IS AN AVID ADVOCATE OF THE KETTLEBELLS. HE AND HIS GOOD FRIEND, BOB BEAUCHAMP, WROTE A MOST EXCELLENT BOOK ON THE HISTORY AND PROPER USE OF THE KETTLEBELL. HE IS RECOGNIZED AS THE PERSON WHO “RETURNED” KETTLEBELL USAGE TO THE U.K. AND GIVES CLINICS AND DIRECTS COMPETITIONS ALL OVER BRITAIN.

FINALLY, I ASKED STAN WHAT HE CONSIDERED TO BE HIS FINEST ACHIEVEMENT. I WAS PLEASANTLY SURPRISED BY HIS REPLY!!

“I don’t consider anything I have personally done to be of any significance at all, I am only pleased to be still here doing what I do.  I have plans for some other stuff as I get older.”  – Stan Pike

WHAT A FANTASTIC, REFRESHING ATTITUDE!! I SEE STAN AS A GUY WHO IS NOT AT ALL SATISFIED WITH HIS ATHLETIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND, IN HIS OWN MIND, HAS ONLY BEGUN TO SEARCH HIS OWN BOUNDARIES AND LIMITATIONS.

“I believe if you lie back and let life take you over, it will and you’re not going to get anywhere. I’ve always pushed myself to the limit but now I’m approaching 60, it’s starting to hurt a little bit.” – Stan Pike

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT, STAN! GO GET IT!

SLAINTE!!

2011 Nationals: Guaranteed FUN!

by Thom Van Vleck

Just a reminder that we are just 3 months out from the USAWA Nationals this year.  I am working hard to make this event memorable in many ways.  It’s my goal to make it the “BEST EVER”!  But that will only happen if YOU come!  It’s the people that make the USAWA special and I NEED you to come to Kirksville this year!

I am getting some donations and I’m working hard to spend every penny of it to make sure this is a good time, but the entry money also goes a long way in making this meet special.  If you have never done this type of thing before, let me tell you, the MORE advance notice you have about who’s coming to the meet the less waste you will have (ordering too many shirts, too much food, etc) and the more efficiently money can be spent on those who come.  So make the commitment today, send me an entry and a check, and trust me when I issue this challenge:

If you can look me in the eye when this contest is over and tell me that it was the WORST you have ever been to, I’ll give you your entry money back (and of course, you have to give back any awards, shirts, or other goodies you got….that’s only fair).  So, have you ever been to a contest with that kind of guarantee?  And you can’t say worst if it’s the ONLY one you’ve been to!

Send in your entry today!!!!!  Thanks!

My Grandfather Clyde Myers

by Al Myers

My Grandfather Clyde Myers deadlifting 100 pounds at the 2006 USAWA National Championships. He is the oldest lifter (at age 90) to have EVER competed at the USAWA Nationals.

Yesterdays lead in question of  “who was the oldest USAWA member to ever compete in an USAWA National Championships?”  brings me to a story I would like to tell.  Actually, this is a story I have wanted to tell for a long time but just now am ready to tell it.   This lifter was none other than my Grandfather Clyde Myers. Gramps competed at the 2006 USAWA National Championships at the age of 90.  I was the promoter of this meet, and he really wanted to compete to show his support to me and our organization.  Grandpa was not a lifetime weightlifter,  but his years of manual labor as a farmer built his strength beyond that of “normal people” his age.  He was very active up till his death at age 92, on August 5th, 2008.  He was born on September 30th, 1915.   The last 8 years of his life he lived with me and my family.  Grandpa was always a very active man, and seemed to always be in great physical shape.  Now living with me, he started to take interest in my weight training.  Nearly every week he would spend time in the gym with me, and often he would do some light weight training.  He began to love exercise.  I know he would have been a great weightlifter if he would have had the opportunity to lift when he was younger.  But in his day the notion of physical exertion for the “fun of it” or for “health reasons” was looked down upon by those in the farming community.  Farming was so physically exhausting at that time it was felt you should be saving your strength for the work at hand, and use it for something beneficial, like providing a living for your family.    I remember as a kid when I first started weight training Grandpa didn’t understand why I would be wasting my time picking up a barbell when all I really needed to do was go out in the plowed field with him and pick up rocks all day!  That was the way he was brought up.  It wasn’t until he retired and was living with me till he discovered what  “physical culture” really meant.  His days of hard farm work was behind him and he soon realized that exercise was the “spice of life” and that if he spent his days doing some light weight training and exercise he felt better.

Clyde Myers with his World Record 2-Hand Pinch Grip of 66 pounds at the 2006 Dino Gym Record Day.

Grandpa Clyde usually did my record day every year, and joined the USAWA because of it.   He liked the idea of breaking or setting records and since he was in an age group where it is slightly easier (not too many records in the 85 and 90 age brackets) to get a record,  it was a sure thing he was going to “come away” with a few.  He especially liked the grip lifts because he could lift weights in these lifts comparable to younger age groups.  His best USAWA records are a 66# Pinch Grip, 118# Right Hand 2″ bar Vertical Bar Deadlift, and 134# 2 bar 2″ Vertical Bar Deadlift.   All of these records were set in the 90-94 age grouping, 80-85 kilogram classes.  He also was very proud of his grip strength in the Hand Dynamometer.  A Hand Dynamometer is a hand held device that measures your grip strength in pounds and kilograms.  Dale Harder has made this device well known in his books as he keeps track of ranking lists with it.  In one on his latest books, Strength and Speed published in 2009, he lists Clyde Myers as the best of ALL-TIME in the One Hand Dynamometer with a grip reading of 42 kilograms for someone over 90 years of age.  He also holds the ALL-TIME World Record in the One-Hand Partial Deadlift for a lifter over the age of 90, with a fine lift of 205 pounds.  In this lift, a chain and handle is attached to a bar and the bar is only lifted an inch or so off the floor.  This record is also included in Harder’s book.  His 66# Pinch Grip is also listed as a World Record for lifters over 90.  It is interesting to note that the 80 plus age group Pinch Grip World Record is held by the famous Australian Strongman Harry White, with a lift of 72 pounds.  I witnessed this lift of Grandpa’s as I judged it at one of my record days and I can tell you it was a sub-maximal effort.  He had never done a Pinch Grip before and I loaded it up for him thinking it would be “about right” for him and he did it easily.  He didn’t try anymore. In fact, he only took that one attempt and it was the World Record!!   When his records came out in Dale’s listings, he was very proud of it and made me make a photocopy of it so he could show his friends!

I was quite surprised when he said he wanted to enter the Nationals I was hosting.  I didn’t pressure him at all to do it.  Besides my little record days, this was the only official meet he ever entered.   Several of the lifts in this meet were very difficult – lifts like the Steinborn and the one arm Snatch.  I was a little worried that he wouldn’t be able to EVEN do the lifts!  But he surprised me and won Best Lifter for the over 90 age group (uncontested of course) and received a nice plaque for his efforts.  Again, this made him feel very good about what he had done, and it was well deserving, because he did what no one else has ever done, and that is competing in a difficult National Championships in the USAWA over the age of 90.  Others may eventually do it, but he will always be the first.

Grandpa in front of the Dino Gym Sign, which he drew and painted.

Most people don’t know this outside of the Dino Gym, but my Grandfather was a self-taught artist and was the one who drew the Dino Gym Logo.  I told him what I wanted and he went to work.  It was done entirely free hand and his first copy was the one we used!  It was perfect from the start.  The Dino Gym contains the original sign which he created.  When I first had T-Shirts made with the Dino Gym Logo on them he was amazed.  It was the first time (and only time) that one of his drawings was on a shirt!  That means alot to me now, and I often wonder how he would feel if he knew how many lifters are wearing the Dino Gym Shirts around today.

My Grandfather was very eccentric in lots of ways (I know I am too – so that’s where it probably came from!).   He was also an inventor and craftsman and built lots of interesting and unique things in his life. As he got interested in physical exercise he decided to “invent” an exercise device that catered to the elderly.  Most older people can’t do the exercises (like riding a stationary bike or walking on a treadmill) that younger people can do.  Grandpa designed and built a very interesting seated machine that allowed a combination of cardiovascular training, flexibility training and resistance training all  at the same time.  He “marketed” it to the local nursing homes and sold several of them.  I’m sure some are still in use today helping elderly patients in physical rehabilitation.  He picked a novel name for it – as he called it “The Exerciser”!  He considered himself the testimony of it and would always do the demonstrations himself when selling a unit.  How can anyone argue with the sales pitch when a 90 year old is making it look easy and appears in great shape???   He trained on it three times per day – every day.  The Exerciser kept getting more complex as he kept adding new parts to it to do different movements.  (I’m sure this story explains a little about myself for those that have seen my Dino Gym).  Grandpa always wanted to get a patent on it but never took the time to make that happen, as he was too busy thinking of the NEXT thing he wanted to build.  This was just one of the many original things that he built in his lifetime.

My Grandfather Clyde Myers was also an outdoors man, and loved to spend his free time fishing. We spent several hours together on the bank of a pond with our hooks baited waiting for a big catch. He is the reason I am also an outdoor sportsman.

Grandpa died the day I got back from the 2008 USAWA Nationals in Columbus, Ohio.  I was very worried about leaving as I knew he was in bad shape and might not last until I got back.  The day before I left he assured me that he would be alright until I got back, and for me to go “give it my all” at the meet.   He was always very supportive of my lifting efforts and would listen to all the details of the meets.  Well, the day I got back he passed in his sleep.  He was one of the most influential men in my life, and helped shape me into the man I am today.  There is not a day that passes that I don’t think of him and miss him, but I know his heart was with The Lord and I will see him again.

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