New Lift – Bent Over Row

by Al Myers

Al Myers training the Bent Over Row.

Another new lift that was approved at the 2010 National Meeting by the membership was the Bent Over Row.  This lift was proposed by John McKean of the Ambridge VFW Barbell Club.  The Bent Over Row  is an ole’ fashioned training exercise that has been part of training programs for years – but NOW is an official USAWA lift so it can now be done in competition and contested for records.  I was glad to see John propose rules for it that are consistent with how the lift is usually done in training.  The Bent Over Row is a tremendous upper back exercise.  John had this to say about the Bent Over Row when he proposed it as a lift to the USAWA, “This lift uses a combination of legs, hips and back.  It is a true all-round movement! This is an absolutely GREAT exercise certainly deserving its due as a very heavy weight, total body, competition lift.”

We do not have a lift even similar to the Bent Over Row in our extensive list of Official Lifts. I like to see lifts like this get approved – lifts which are basic movements and not just some “trick lift”, “gimmick lift”,  or a lift with a slight deviation of another official  lift (which isn’t really anything new).

The Rules for the Bent Over Row

The lift will start at the lifter’s discretion with the bar placed on the platform in front of the lifter. The lifter will grip the bar with an overhand grip with the palms of the hands facing the lifter. The width of grip spacing and feet placement is of the lifter’s choosing, but the feet must be in line with the bar. The body must be in a bent over position at the waist. The upper body must not straighten past 45 degrees parallel to the platform at any time during the lift or it is a disqualification. The legs may be bent during the lift and upon the completion of the lift. The bar is lifted to touch the abdomen or torso by bending the arms. The bar must touch the abdomen higher than the belt, or the navel if a belt is not worn. It is a disqualification if the belt supports the bar at the abdomen upon the finish of the lift. The lift ends by an official’s command when the bar is held motionless at the abdomen or chest.

I will definitely be doing the Bent Over Row at the Ledaig Record Day this weekend, and hope to be the FIRST one to set an official USAWA Record with it.  The Bent Over Row will be included in the updated USAWA Rulebook which will be available the first of August.

Who Holds the Oldest Record in the Record List?

Quiz of the Week

by Al Myers

Who holds the oldest record in the USAWA Record List?

USAWA Patch

This should be an easy quiz – all you have to do is look through the USAWA Record List and find the answer.  It shouldn’t take long – since there are  just slightly over 9000 records to look through! I only need the name of the lifter who has the record (not the lift or exact date the record was set).  So if you want to guess – go ahead!!

Winner receives a new USAWA Patch.

Rules:  Only one entry per day.  First correct answer sent to me at amyers@usawa.com wins.

We have a winner!

Dave Beversdorf, of Columbia Missouri, correctly gave the correct answer to the Quiz of the Week.  The answer is Steve Schmidt, who on September 20th, 1987 performed a 270 pound Pullover and Press with wrestler’s bridge at a record day in Clark’s Gym.  Steve was in the 100 kg weight class.  That is a record that will probably withstand the “Test of Time” – no one has came close to it since!  Dave also pointed out the OLDEST COMPETITION  to me that is in the Record List.  On October 11th, 1987 records where recorded from the Backbreaker Meet that contained such legendary names as Bill Clark, Ed Zercher I, Ed Zercher II, and Ed Zercher III.

My Ford 8N Tractor

My tractor looks "almost" like this one, just add rust, dirt, and dents!

by Thom Van Vleck

Yesterday I picked up my recent purchase.  A Ford 8N tractor.  This particular tractor was purchased in 1948 by a really good friend’s grandfather.  I’ve “known” this tractor my entire lift and after being in his family for three generations he has sold it to me.  I like to think it’s because he knows I’ll take care of it and treat it well…..and I’ll use it!  I got  several attachments as it has a PTO (Power Take Off: a shaft that is driven by the motor that can spin and power the attachments) and a three point hitch (a hydraulic lift that attaches those extra implements to the tractor).  I got a post hole digger, a blade, two brush hogs, and a hoist that amounts to a wedge that can be put on the end of the tractor to haul loads and lift heavy things….kind of a powered hand cart!

Now, here’s the thing, at this point you may be wondering what tractors have to do with strength and is this just a way for me to rub in my good fortune of getting a “new” (if you can call a 63 year old tractor new) toy.  Well, I might be bragging a little, but there is a point.  When I got it, I spent about three hours driving it around, getting a feel for it.  The first thing I noted is that it had what we called “Armstrong Power Steering”…….or basically no power steering at all!  You get an arm workout driving this thing around!  It’s been so long since I had anything without power steering I forgot what a job it can be.  Then I remembered that each back tire has a separate break so you can make a tight turn easier by only braking the inside tire. Then I decided to try and figure out all the attachments.  I figured it would be fairly easy, back the tractor up, hook up the hydraulic driven 3 point hitch and away we go…not so easy.  I would have to shift and move stuff to get the hitch to line up and the post hole digger had to be put on end…..and that thing weighed 200lbs easy!  But I wanted to get it all down so I worked away until I had them all figured out.

At this point, I had a really good sweat going. I ended with the blade.  I figured I’d get a little work in and blade my drive.  The blade wasn’t getting enough of a bite as it wasn’t heavy enough.  It has a place to put weights on so I went and pulled out 150lbs of old block scale weights I have and loaded them on and that did the trick. I use a tractor fairly regularly that belonged to a guy that was leasing part of my property for cattle.  But since he retired last year, him….and his tractor…..are gone so this purchase was a must.  The difference is that newer tractor is a lot less work!

I had been around 8N’s and other classic small tractors on jobs years ago pulling stumps, large stones, etc.  I had forgotten what a workout it can be just operating one.  Kind of like a power lawn mower…way easier than the old push types (like we had when I was a kid) but still a job to push around the yard a hundred laps!!! I like hard work, I actually like to do about an hour or two of hard work before a work out.  Warms me up better than anything else and gets me going.  I can see me using this tractor a lot and in the process this “work saver” will work me out in new and different ways and warm me up for bigger and better workouts.  Plus, there’s nothing more satisfying than to get a little work done, have a killer work out, and then take a shower, have a big meal, and then bask in the accomplishments of a good day!

Ernie Beath – The Patriotic Highlander

by Al Myers

Ernie Beath and his 201# record in the French Press at the 2010 USAWA Club Challenge at the Ambridge VFW BBC. This lift was performed in front of several seasoned officials, one of which is John McKean located to the right in the picture.

I really enjoy watching YouTube Videos of weightlifting.  Some are quite entertaining, some clearly show how you shouldn’t lift weights, but occasionally you will find one that demonstrates a strong lifter that KNOWS how to lift weights. I especially like to follow YouTube Videos of lifter’s I know – and one of my favorites  is by USAWA member Ernie Beath.  Ernie is ALWAYS putting up big weights in some kind of lift.  Last spring I got to witness first hand at the USAWA Club Challenge Big Ernie setting the best French Press of All-Time in the USAWA with a lift of 201 pounds.  Well, in one of his latest videos he is hitting a French Press with 230 pounds!  His YouTube Account is called the PatrioticHighlander – or just check out his amazing videos by clicking here:  PatrioticHighlander

History of Formulas used in the USAWA

by Al Myers

When you KNOW it's time to blame the formula!

This past week on the USAWA Discussion Forum a lively debate got started on the fairness of using Formulas in comparing athletes for overall placings. The USAWA is unique in doing this compared to other lifting organizations which prefer to just give awards for different divisions or classes.  Sure these other organizations might use a Formula to award a Best Lifter, but the USAWA uses a formula to determine the overall ranking of every athlete in the competition, from the top to the bottom.  No OTHER organization does this!!  We now use the Lynch Formula to make the “handicap” adjustment for bodyweight differences and use a Age Allowance Percentage for Junior Lifters and Lifters age 40 and above.  I am NOT going to give my viewpoint and opinion on the fairness of using formulas  in this article, as that is better left for the Discussion Forum.  Instead, I would like to review the history of formulas used in the USAWA, and give insight to how these different formulas were derived.

The main All-Round competitions that occurred prior to the USAWA (1987)  were “odd lift” meets promoted by Bill Clark out of Missouri.  These meets were contested under the direction of the Missouri Valley Weightlifting Federation, the Region IV division of the USWF.  The formula used at that time to determine rankings was the Schwartz Formula. Numerous old Zercher Meet results verified this. The USAWA really began in the summer of 1987, with the first official records recorded for the USAWA in the fall of 1987.  At this point the USAWA adopted the use of the O’Carroll Formula for bodyweight adjustment and it was used extensively in the USAWA in 1988.  The Zercher Meet in 1988 used the O’Carroll Formula.  The National Masters Weightlifting Program started using the Sinclair Formula at this time, and even used a unique formula developed by Joe McCoy that adjusts for bodyweight AND age at the 1987 National Masters Olympic Lifting Championships directed by USAWA Hall of Famer John Vernacchio. It was called the Sinclair-McCoy Formula and ONLY applied to Olympic Lifting totals.  The FIRST USAWA National Championships directed by John Vernacchio in 1988 used the O’Carroll Formula. I did find a few old USAWA meet results from the late 80’s where the Sinclair Formula was used for All-Round Meets.  The Sinclair Formula was developed by Canadian mathematician/weightlifting enthusiast Roy Sinclair.  He used the weightlifting results from the Olympics as his data base to determine the coefficients for his formula. Another interesting formula brought forth from the IAWA in the early 90’s was the Blindt Formula, developed by British lifter Adrian Blindt.  It didn’t correct for bodyweight, but for the lifts involved.  Each lift had its own factor.  The idea was this would make it more fair, in example, to compare a lift where lots of weight can be lifted, like a Hip Lift to a lift where much less weight is lifted, like a Press.  This formula was never used in the USAWA, but was used in some IAWA competitions.  I remember it was used in the IAWA World Postal Meets promoted by the Australians a few years back.

However, by the early 1990’s most all USAWA results started using the Lynch Formula, which we still use today.  The Lynch Formula was developed in 1988 by Ian Lynch, a lifter from England. The Lynch Factors (or coefficients)  have not changed since its inception.  I know this because I found an old Lynch Chart from the early 90’s and compared it to today’s Lynch Chart and it’s the same.  No updates and no modifications.  Recently, we have been faced with a problem using the Lynch Formula, and that problem is the highest bodyweight factor on the Lynch Chart is 150 kilograms.  It is not uncommon nowadays to get a lifter that weighs over 330 pounds, and we have no way to correct for them!  In the past when this happened the meet director would either  “estimate” a Lynch Factor for them or just give the athlete the highest bodyweight correction on the chart. I don’t think EITHER of those solutions are acceptable – and thus I began to try to find the “original Lynch Formula” so the chart could be extended for higher bodyweights.  I inquired several places and couldn’t find any leads.  Finally, thanks to Tom Ryan and our IAWA President Steve Gardner, Ian Lynch was located and I could go right to the source of the Lynch Formula!  Unfortunately, the exact formula and method of reproducing it has been lost.  However, Ian Lynch was very helpful in sharing some details and information on why the Lynch Formula was developed and used in All-Round Weightlifting.  The Lynch Formula is very similar to the O’Carroll Formula with the differences being that the Lynch Formula is slightly more favorable for lighter lifters. In a sense, it “leveled out the curve”  on the light end of the  O’Carroll Formula.   Both the Lynch and O’Carroll Formulas were derived using body factors whereas the Schwartz and Sinclair Formulas are based on Olympic lifting performances or World Records for Olympic Lifting.  I think this makes the Lynch Formula more applicable to All-Round Weightlifting. It sure doesn’t make sense to me to use a formula based on the two Olympic Lifts, and then expect it to correlate to over the 200 lifts we do in All-Round Weightlifting!  Ian Lynch had this to say about the development of the Lynch Formula from the O’Carroll Formula considering body factors , ” The O’Carroll Formula assumed all lifters non-muscular weight was constant, ie bones etc. That didn’t work well particularly for lighter lifters.” That must have been the reason for the points being adjusted slightly in favor of lighter lifters.

Just out of curiosity I “recalculated” the results of last year’s World Championships using the Sinclair and O’Carroll Formulas.  This is how it would change “the top ten”:

Lifter BWT Lynch Pts. Sinclair Pts. O’Carroll Pts.
Mark Haydock 122.9 764.3 1005.2 771.1
Al Myers 114.7 763.1 978.5 768.6
Chad Ullom 104.3 749.8 936.2 758.9
Roger Davis 81.6 736.6 896.9 737.0
Denny Habecker 86.1 661.1 805.3 661.9
John Monk 79.8 658.3 802.1 658.4
Bill Spayd 107.9 655.3 825.0 659.1
Scott Schmidt 119.7 598.6 779.3 603.6
Art Montini 78.2 588.9 718.3 589.1
Josh Haydock 66.9 582.2 724.6 565.7

This group of lifters make up an interesting data base for this comparison, because lifters of different body weights are represented (from 66.9 kgs to 122.9 kgs).  Not much changes in the placings between the three formulas being applied except for Bill Spayd.  He placed 7th overall using the Lynch Formula, but would have been 5th using the Sinclair Formula. You can really see how the Lynch Formula favors lighter lifters compared to the O’Carroll Formula.  Just compare Mark Haydock (at 122.9 kgs) to Josh Haydock (at 66.9 kgs). Mark’s Lynch Points are LOWER than his O’Carroll Points while Josh’s Lynch Points are MORE than his O’Carroll Points.  John Monk, at 80 kilograms, has the bodyweight that gives the same points using both the Lynch Formula and the O’Carroll Formula.  The Sinclair Formula MUCH favors heavier lifters.  Just look at the top four placings where the bodyweights of the lifters decrease with each placing. It is  pretty close using the Lynch Formula, but with the Sinclair Formula the point gap widens much more with each subsequent placing.

This doesn’t answer the long debated notion that “formulas are not fair”, but I hope that it provides some insight to how the formulas work and why we use them in the USAWA.

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