Tag Archives: Chad Ullom

About the Secretary and Treasurer positions

Hey everyone! Beth Skwarecki here, the new Secretary of USAWA. At our 2024 national meeting, the membership voted in a new rule that splits the Secretary/Treasurer (formerly one position) into two, a Secretary and a Treasurer. I’d like to explain that change, and include some information on how members will interact with these two roles.

Why the change was needed

Briefly: because the Secretary/Treasurer did a ton of work. While the bylaws list five duties performed by the President, four performed by the Vice President, and three performed by At-large board members, there are a whopping fourteen duties assigned to the Secretary/Treasurer.

This may be a suitable workload for some people in some circumstances (honestly, I am impressed by everybody who held this position in the past!) but in 2024 we are a growing organization. Due to this growth, our Secretary/Treasurer has had to deal with increasing numbers of meet sanctions, concerns from membership, etc, while still doing the work of keeping our finances in order.

Eric spoke to me earlier this year to ask if I would be interested in the Secretary/Treasurer position if he were to step down. Upon discussion, we decided to make a proposal to split the roles. This proposal was presented at the national meeting and passed unanimously.

I’ll give an overview of the proposal here, but you can read the full thing in the 2024 national meeting minutes. Several items in the rulebook and bylaws had to be amended, but the most important ones were Article 5, defining the board, and Article 9, defining the duties of the Secretary/Treasurer.

The board still has five members (Article 5)

The Executive Board of the USAWA was, and still is, a group of five people. Under the old bylaws, the board contained these specific five positions:

  • President
  • Secretary/Treasurer
  • Vice President
  • At-large member #1
  • At-large member #2

With the change, passed during the 2024 national meeting, the board still contains five people, but the four officer roles are separated so that the Secretary and Treasurer are no longer required to be the same person. Any two roles may be combined, so that in the future we could go back to having a combined Secretary/Treasurer if the membership so desires. Or, for example, we could have a President/Secretary and a Treasurer/Vice President plus three at-large members. Any board positions not filled by officers shall be filled by At-large members. There must always be at least one At-large member.

After the membership passed this change to the rules, Eric Todd stepped down as Secretary, while retaining the role of Treasurer. He then nominated me (Beth Skwarecki) to become the new Secretary. (This vote also passed unanimously.) I was already an At-Large member of the board, so the five board seats still belong to the same five people. Next year will be an election year, so this could change. Currently the board seats are as follows (and the positions are elected in this order):

  • President (Denny Habecker)
  • Secretary (Beth Skwarecki)
  • Treasurer (Eric Todd)
  • Vice-President (Chad Ullom)
  • At-large member (Abe Smith)

Duties of the Secretary and Treasurer (Articles 9 and 10)

The section of the bylaws describing these duties has now been split, with financial duties going to the Treasurer and duties relating to forms, applications, and communication being the purview of the Secretary. Both positions still serve on the board and attend meetings as described in the bylaws.

These are pretty straightforward, but as a member, here are the major things you need to know:

  • Meet sanction applications should be sent to the Secretary; if approved, payment should be sent to the Treasurer. (We also removed the requirement for a physical signature on the meet sanction form, so applications can be submitted to the Secretary by email.)
  • The Treasurer shall maintain the bank account, negotiate contracts, and perform all other financial duties.
  • The Secretary shall maintain records, such as the membership roster and meeting minutes.
  • The Secretary shall receive complaints and grievances under Article 20, Part C. We also corrected a grammatical error in that rule, so that it now correctly states:

Any appeal, grievance or complaint by a member must be directed in writing to the USAWA Secretary, who will then present the issue to the Executive Board to be decided by majority vote. Failure to follow this protocol will result in appeals, grievances and complaints not being officially recognized.

The rulebook will be updated soon with these and other recent changes. I also plan to write a few more articles explaining other changes that were (or, in the case of knee sleeves, were not) passed by the membership. Please direct any questions or official communication to me at bethskw@gmail.com.

Lifter of the Month – Chad Ullom

By Al Myers

The USAWA Lifter of the Month for January 2019 is Chad Ullom.  Chad was the overall best lifter at the Dino Gym Challenge, which was the only competition held in the month of January within the USAWA.  The Dino Gym Challenge is currently the longest running annual competition in the USAWA held at the same location every year.  This year celebrated the 16th year of the Dino Gym Challenge (started in 2004).

By winning the best lifter award at the 2019 Dino Challenge, it made Chad the lifter who has won the best lifter award at the Dino Gym Challenge the most times.  This was his 6th overall win (2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2019).

Updated Goerner’s Club

By Al Myers

Chad Ullom lifting 310 pounds in the Middle Fingers Deadlift, and joining the USAWA Goerner's Club.

Chad Ullom lifting 310 pounds in the Middle Fingers Deadlift, and joining the USAWA Goerner’s Club.

I always notice outstanding lifts from meet results when I’m updating the Record List.  Every meet has a few that stand out amongst the rest. At the Dino Gym Challenge a few weeks ago Chad Ullom made a lift of 310 pounds in the Middle Fingers Deadlift.  It was done on a fourth attempt so it would be easy to miss as it’s hidden in the “footnotes” of the meet results.  Of all the Finger Deadlifts I’ve considered the Middle Finger Deadlift as the KING of the finger deadlifts as the most weight can be lifted with this long strong digit.

Years ago I’ve dubbed a GOERNER’S CLUB and have kept track of the lifters that are in it.  Chad’s great MF DL at the Dino Challenge gets him into this exclusive club of finger gripsters.

I have written blogs in the past about the Middle Fingers Deadlift and the famous old time German Strongman Hermann Goerner. I want to share again part of a story I’ve written before.

David Willoughby in his book The Super Athletes listed Goerner as having done a MF deadlift of 140 kilograms (308.5 pounds) around 1925.  I have always considered this the mark to beat to be outstanding in the middle fingers deadlift.  Now, compared to what Hermann has reported in his other finger lifts, this lift of his seems to be a sub-maximal effort.  None the less, it is a very good lift (and is actually believable compared to some of his other claims).   However, this 308.5# middle finger deadlift is not listed in Hermann’s autobiography by Edgar Mueller’s Goerner the Mighty.  I have read this book several times, and I don’t ever remember seeing this lift listed.  Mueller does talk in one chapter about the wide deviations of grips that Hermann uses for his deadlifts, and mentions a middle finger overhand grip  deadlift (of which he lists Goerner as having worked up to 220 pounds), but nothing about using an alternate grip as we allow in the USAWA for the Finger Deadlifts.

I’ve always considered  Goerner’s Middle Finger Deadlift of 308.5 pounds as the mark to be considered outstanding at this lift. Only a handful of USAWA lifter’s have achieved it in USAWA competition and are part of the USAWA “Goerner’s Club”.  This is the short list:

1. Kevin Fulton 400 pounds – 1999 SuperGrip Challenge
2. Dan Wagman 316 pounds – 2017 Iron Warrior RD
3. Ben Edwards  315 pounds – 2016 USAWA Grip Championships
4. Chad Ullom 310 pounds – 2019 Dino Gym Challenge
5.  Bill DiCiccio 309 pounds – 1994 IAWA Gold Cup

On a sidenote of Chad’s 310# Middle Finger Deadlift, is that it broke an outstanding record held by Joe Garcia of 305 pounds.  I hated removing Joe’s name from the record list as he was so close to being in the Goerner Club – and now his great lift will be left unremembered (except for me and him of course!). I feel for you Joe as I was close once with a 300# MF lift that got removed from the Record List as well by James Fuller.

The ALL TIME master of the Middle Finger Deadlift in the USAWA is Kevin Fulton.  In addition to his 400 pound lift, he is without a doubt the man who exceeded 309 pounds in competition more than anyone else.  I tried to count all the times he has done it, and after I got to six I gave up as no one else is remotely close!

 

Dino Challenge

By Al Myers

2019 Dino Gym Challenge
“Dale Friesz Memorial Meet”

Group picture from the 2019 Dino Gym Challenge

Group picture from the 2019 Dino Gym Challenge

The weather turned cold and the forecast looked bad, but 5 brave lifters made their way to the Dino Gym Challenge this year.  I’m sure this would have been a very well attended meet this year if not for the bad weather as I had several lifters cancel their attendance because of concerns of the bad road conditions.   I’ve always known that’s a risk I take having this meet in January – but the show goes on!

Best Lifter Chad Ullom (right) receiving his award from meet director Al Myers (left).

Best Lifter Chad Ullom (right) receiving his award from meet director Al Myers (left).

This year the meet was dedicated to the late Dale Friesz.  All the lifts contested were among Dale’s favorites.   It provided a great variety from finger lifting to the Neck Lift.  It gave everyone a challenge for sure!

Chad Ullom won the BEST LIFTER award.  The highlight lift for Chad was his 310 pound Middle Finger Deadlift.  That’s the most he has ever done, and is one of the best MF deadlifts ever done in the USAWA.

I want to thank Chad, LaVerne Myers, Dean Ross, Brandon Rein, and Calvin Heit for competing.  It was another great meet at the Dino Gym!

MEET RESULTS:

Dino Gym Challenge
January 19th, 2019
Dino Gym
Holland, KS

Meet Director: Al Myers

Meet Scorekeeper: Al Myers

Official (1-official system used): Al Myers

Lifts: Finger Lift – Ring, Deadlift – Fulton Bar One Arm, Deadlift – One Arm, Deadlift – Middle Fingers, Neck Lift

MENS DIVISION

Lifter Age BWT RF DLF1 DL1 MFDL Neck TOT PTS
Chad Ullom 47 239 114R 160R 365R 270 500 1409 1235
LaVerne Myers 74 230 100R 170L 204R 172 260 906 1012
Calvin Heit 16 159 100R 120R 204R 192 190 806 909
Brandon Rein 23 153 69R 100R 162R 172 240 743 781
Dean Ross 76 244 74L 95R 152L 132 240 693 762

EXTRA ATTEMPTS FOR RECORD

Chad Ullom: Middle Finger DL 310
Dean Ross: Finger Lift Ring 84L

NOTES: BWT is bodyweight in pounds.  All lifts recorded in pounds.  R and L designate right and left.  TOT is total pounds lifted. PTS are overall adjusted points.

RECORD DAY LIFTS

Al Myers – 52 years old, 232# BWT
Pinch Grip DL Right Hand 125#
Pinch Grip DL Left Hand 125#
Pinch Grip Strict Right Hand 55#
Pinch Grip Strict Left Hand 55#
Deadlift Fulton Bar Right Arm 182#

LaVerne Myers – 74 years old, 230# BWT
Pinch Grip DL Right Hand 125#
Pinch Grip DL Left Hand 125#
Pinch Grip Strict Right Hand 55#
Pinch Grip Strict Left Hand 55#
Finger Lift – Ring Left 100#

Neck Lift

By Eric Todd

With the Heavy Lift Championship on the Calendar for May 5, I was under the assumption that people were going to be wanting to start training.  So, I thought I would do a series on how to execute each of the heavy lifts.  They are like no other lifts out there, where the lifter is capable of lifting monstrous poundages.

This particular article will focus on the first lift to be contested that day, the neck lift.  When I first heard of the neck lift, I envisioned the lift I did in high school with a neck harness I bought at Champs Sports with a 45# weight looped through the chain.  I was concerned, as I knew there was no way I could lift hundreds of pounds like this, even though that is where the records stood.  As luck would have it, it was not that lift at all, and I was capable of more than I thought.

The rules of the neck lift are as follows:

A Heavy Lift Bar is used in this lift. A neck harness is also used, which fits over the head. Any style of neck harness is acceptable, provided that it is held in place entirely by the head during the lift. The neck harness must not contact the neck or trapezius muscles. A pad, such as a towel, may be placed between the head and the neck harness. An adjustable chain and hook is attached to the neck harness so it may be attached to the Heavy Lift Bar. The lifter assumes a position with the Heavy Lift Bar in front of the lifter or the lifter may straddle it. The feet must parallel and in line with the torso. Width of feet placement is optional. The feet must not move during the lift, but the heels and toes may rise. The lifter may adjust the chain length to his/her preference prior to the lift. The lifter must not touch the chain or straps of the neck harness with the hands during the lift, but the chain or straps may touch the lifter’s body. Hands may touch the body during the lift, but must be free of contact upon completion of the lift. The lift begins at the lifter’s discretion. The lifter is allowed one test lift to check the balance of the weight and to make adjustments to the chain length. The lifter will stand and lift the weights from the platform. The shoulders and torso do not have to be upright upon the finish of the lift. The legs must straighten, but the knees do not need to be locked. Once the weight is motionless, the hands free from the body, and the plates on both ends of the bar are off the platform at the same time, an official will give a command to end the lift.

Some people neck lift with a narrow stance, but I prefer a very wide one.  I point my toes outward right next to the plates.  With the harness on my head, and the hook in the loop on the bar,   I take the straps  and spread them out wide so they are more to the outside of my body rather than hanging down in front.  I also like to lift my arms up while executing this lift..  At this point, look up, lean back, and drive off your heels.  When both sides of the bar come off the ground at the same time, the official will give the down command for a good lift.  In the image below, you can see Chad Ullum and myself using very similar styles:

NeckChadET

As far as training for the neck lift, I imagine any kind of neck training could be beneficial, such as the neck harness I referenced above or a neck machine.  However, I am not sure there is any real substitute for actually neck lifting.  The technique takes some getting used to, and it is ideal to condition your neck for the feel of these poundages.  Check out the video of Chad’s record setting 900# attempt which was set at the Heavy Lift Championship that was held at York Barbell:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1HK4CjSnh4

1 2 3 … 18