The USAWA Hall of Fame Program

by Al Myers

Finally, the USAWA has revived the USAWA Hall of Fame Program.  This has been a long process that has taken over one year to accomplish.  This process started at the 2009 National Meeting when the ad hoc committee of Denny Habecker, Dale Friesz, and Dennis Mitchell was established to investigate and make recommendations on the Hall of Fame Program at the 2010 National Meeting.  Upon hearing the committee’s suggestions at the 2010 meeting, the membership voted to allow the newly elected Executive Board to “iron out the details” and once every Executive Board member was in agreement, the new Hall of Fame Program would be implemented immediately.  Well, I’m proud to say that the Executive Board has already accomplished this task and the USAWA once again has an active Hall of Fame Program. Thanks needs to be given to the committee that worked tirelessly in providing different choices of Hall of Fame Programs to the membership at the meeting, and to the Executive Board of Denny Habecker, Chad Ullom, Scott Schmidt, Dennis Mitchell and myself for working through the final details.    The Board looked at every aspect of this new program, and discussed each point extensively so the best program possible would be implemented.  The new Hall of Fame Program criteria is laid out very clearly, and is a very simple system.

This New Program is different in some ways than what was used before.  In the early days of the USAWA,  Hall of Fame nominees were selected and voted on by the membership at the National Meeting.  No specific criteria was required to be nominated, just a nomination from someone at the meeting.   In 1997, the USAWA decided to go to a points system for Hall of Fame induction.  The committee of Chris Waterman, Frank Ciavattone, Denny Habecker, and John Vernacchio were put in charge of developing this system.  Once it was developed and accepted by the membership, Chris Waterman was designated as the official person to oversee the program.  Part of his responsibility was keeping track of everyone’s points as they applied to the Hall of Fame criteria, and once 1000 points were reached, he would present that individual for Hall of Fame induction.  Chris Waterman did an outstanding job of keeping track of everyone’s points with this tedious system. It required him to accurately record and maintain a list of ALL members and their HOF  points at all times. The problem arose when he retired in 2003 and the USAWA did not delegate someone else to take over his duties of maintaining the Hall of Fame Program and thus the program “died” until now.

In the new Hall of Fame Program, an individual may be nominated in one of two ways – either on Merit or on Honor.  To be nominated on Merit, 1000 points must be reached.  Twelve categories are laid out in the Nomination Form in which an nominee may accrue points.  These categories include such things as participation in National and World Meets, placing in the top five at National and World Meets, participating in other meets such as local meets or postal meets, serving the USAWA as an officer, being a Meet Director, being a Club Founder, and even  points are awarded for current USAWA records held.  It pretty much covers everything!  One of the differences from the previous point system is that with the new system it  is harder to reach 1000 points.  Less points are awarded in the different categories than before. Another big difference is that the New Hall of Fame Program will rely on the membership to make nominations, instead of just one person “keeping track of everything”.  I think this is important in that it will allow the Hall of Fame Program to self-perpetuate, by being independent of one individual or a committee.  The second way of being nominated is on the basis of Honor. No point criteria is required to be nominated this way.  This allows the USAWA the ability to award Hall of Fame Membership to someone the organization feels  deserves it, who  may not have been involved directly with the USAWA.

I am very pleased with the development of this new USAWA Hall of Fame Program.  I like it’s  simplicity. I like how “clear cut”  and specific it is in regards to the point criteria. I like how it relies on the membership for presenting nominees.   It also allows  an individual to monitor their own points in pursuit of the highest award the USAWA has to offer, and by this, provides a “source of inspiration” to all USAWA members.

The new Hall of Fame Nomination Form is found under the section “Forms and Applications”, or you can view it here at HOF Nomination Form.

Meet Reminder – The World Team Postal

by Al Myers

IAWA President Steve Gardner taking a big squat down deep!!

This is the time to start thinking about “getting your team around” for the World Team Postal Meet promoted by the IAWA President Steve Gardner.  Last year this postal meet was a huge success for the IAWA.  For those of you that are new to the USAWA, the IAWA (International All-Round Weightlifting Association) is the international organization the USAWA belongs to.  The IAWA oversees the international competitions such as the World Championships and the Gold Cup.  This IAWA World Team Postal Meet gives us (the USAWA) the opportunity to compete in a World competition without ever leaving the confines of our own gym!  There really is no excuse not to enter this one.  The format is for teams of three to enter, but Steve has opened it up to individuals as well to enter.  The results will contain both  the placings of the 3-person teams and the individual rankings.  So, even if can’t find two other team members, compete and send in your results. I want to remind you of some “differences” between this meet and other USAWA meets:

1.  You MUST have two USAWA certified officials (who both pass your lift) judge your lifts instead of just one official.

2.  You are allowed FOUR attempts instead of the typical three attempts allowed.

3.  Scoring age adjustments will be done according to the IAWA age allowances, which is slightly different from the USAWA age allowances.

All of the lifts Steve picked for this postal competition are easy to perform without much specific training.  All you got to do is line up a training day where everyone in your group can be present, and DO the lifts!  The specific entry information is located in the section “USAWA Future Events “.  The deadline for submission is the last day of September.

One Tough Character – Mike Murdock

by Al Myers

Mike Murdock, at 70 years of age, performing a record lift in the Bent Over Row with a lift of 205 pounds.

Last weekend at Dave’s Highland Games and Record Day, one person really stood out to me.  That person was Mike Murdock.  Mike is 70 years old and I know very few guys his age would have been able to withstand the rigors of last weekend.  Dave picked the HOTTEST DAY of the summer for his weekend affair, and for those not familiar with the Kansas heat, don’t know what heat really is.  It topped 100 degrees F (and with high humidity) on both days and EVERYTHING was done outside, including the lifting.  Mike was there for both.  He threw the entire day on Saturday and then returned to set a few USAWA records on Sunday.  It didn’t seem like it fazed him one bit!  Saturday night after the games, I asked Mike if he was coming back the next day, and he said, “Yep, and I’m going to be the first one to set a record in the Bent Over Row!”  (this was in response to my BOLD statement last week in a story where I said I was going to be the first).  Well, Amber Glasgow beat both of us to it the next day when she set the FIRST record in the Bent Over Row with a lift of 115 pounds.  Of course, I remarked to Mike how he  felt not being the first and he replied, “It’s ok, at least it wasn’t YOU!”  That’s the spirit I like in All-Round Weightlifting between competitors!  Everyone giving each other a hard time, but at the same time truly wishing your competitors the best of luck.  Mike has been a long-time supporter of the events I have held at the Dino Gym.  He is always there, and when he’ s not competing he’s helping out in some way.  Mike Murdock is indeed ONE TOUGH CHARACTER!

Also, congratulations to Mike Murdock for becoming an USAWA Official.

New Lift – the Turkish Get-Up

The starting position for the Turkish Get-Up.

by Al Myers

This is the only new USAWA lift approved at Nationals that I haven’t highlighted yet with a story.   It is a very unique lift in many ways.   The Turkish Get-Up  is NOT really a new lift as it was a favorite with old-time strongmen, and has been around forever.  It at times was called the “One Arm Get-Up”, and often trained by lifters that also specialized in wrestling, gymnastics or hand-balancing. Guys like Sig Klein loved it.  I first heard of the Turkish Get-Up several years ago when I read Brooks Kubik’s book Dinosaur Training.  In it he described the benefits of this exercise – how it strengthens the stabilizer muscles, improves flexibility, and  increases core strength.  The book mentions the old-time strongman Otto Arco and how he could do a Turkish Get-Up with MORE than his own bodyweight.  That is impressive!

During the rise from the platform, the lifting arm must remain straight.

We have two similar USAWA lifts to the Turkish Get Up – the Half Gardner and Full Gardner.  However, the Turkish Get-Up is a different lift in a couple of ways.  The TGU starts on the floor – the Gardner lifts start standing.  The TGU requires the use of a dumbbell or kettlebell – the Gardner lifts require use of a bar.  It is the “missing link” to the Gardner Lifts. I have mentioned this before but I am going to repeat it again.  This formula “sums” up these three lifts:

Full Gardner = Half Gardner + Turkish Get-Up

Last weekend at the Ledaig Record Day, several of us got to be the first ones to put a Turkish Get-Up record in the USAWA Record List.  This included  Dave Glasgow, Amber Glasgow, Chad Ullom and myself.  The TGU is a very popular exercise for trainees outside of the All-Round crowd.  Just “goggle” Turkish Get-Up and you will see what I am talking about.  The Cross-Fit trainees love this exercise!  But now since the TGU is an official lift of the USAWA, we are the ONLY weightlifting organization that maintains records for it.

Chad Ullom demonstrating the steps of a Turkish Get-Up with a 70 pound kettlebell at the Ledaig Record Day.

The Rules for the Turkish Get-Up

A dumbbell or kettlebell is used for this lift. The lift begins with the lifter lying on his/her back on the platform holding the implement in one hand above the body with a straight arm perpendicular to the platform. Once in this position, an official will give the command to start the lift. The lifter must rise to a standing position, holding the implement overhead with a straight arm throughout. The lifting arm must stay perpendicular to the lifting platform. The lifter may use the free hand to brace against the body or the platform during the execution of the lift, but must not touch the implement or the lifting arm. The implement may rotate in any direction. Once standing with the implement overhead, the implement motionless and the lifter’s feet in line with the body, an official will give a command to end the lift.

The Turkish Get-Up will be included in the updated USAWA Rulebook coming the first of August!

A New Lift – The Foot Press

by Al Myers

Dave Glasgow, Newcomer of the Year for the USAWA, performing a Foot Press with 1050 pounds at the 2010 Dino Gym Challenge.

Last January at the 2010 Dino Gym Challenge, I presented a meet in Arthur Saxon’s memory which I called the Arthur Saxon Pentathlon.  The meet contained five of Arthur’s favorite lifts.  Only one of the lifts in this meet was not an official lift of the USAWA – the Foot Press. This lift was popular with other Old Time Strongmen such as Hermann Goerner, Warren Lincoln Travis, and Milo Steinborn.  It was often performed in their Strongman Shows, usually with people from the crowd sitting on a plank resting on their feet to provide the weight needed to complete the stage act.  The USAWA does not have a lift similar to it.  I would consider  the Foot Press as the “Heavy Lift” version of the Leg Press.  This lift can be done in pretty much any gym that has a Vertical Leg Press or Back Lift Apparatus.  It was a “big hit” at the Dino Challenge as an Exhibition Lift, and because of that I presented it to the USAWA to be approved as a new official  lift. I was glad the membership approved it at the National Meeting.

Our mission statement states, “The USAWA was formed to continue the long standing tradition of old-time weightlifters like Eugen Sandow, Louis Cyr, Arthur Saxon, Hermann Goerner, Warren Lincoln Travis, and many others. We strive to preserve the history of the original forms of weightlifting, which in the past has been referred to as “odd lifting”. Many of the lifts we perform are based on stage acts or challenge lifts of old-time strongmen.”  The Foot Press is an excellent example of a lift that fits our mission statement!!

Rules for the Foot Press

An apparatus is used in which weight is loaded onto the feet only while the lifter is laying on his/her back on the floor/platform with the legs vertical and perpendicular to the floor. The apparatus used must allow the weight to rise without providing any leverage to the lift, but may be guided in a tract. It is also acceptable to use a plank resting on support platforms. The lift starts at the lifter’s discretion. Hands may be placed on the legs or any part of the apparatus, but must not be used to push directly against the weight being lifted. The hands may remain on the legs throughout the lift, and upon the finish of it. The weight lifted must clear the supports and be held motionless, at which time an official will give a command to end the lift.

The Foot Press will be included in the 4th Edition of the USAWA Rulebook that will become effective August 1st, 2010.

Trivia on the Foot Press: Arthur Saxon best reported Foot Press was 3200 pounds.

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