Tag Archives: Chad Ullom

Team Championships

by Al Myers

MEET ANNOUNCEMENT

2013 USAWA TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

I'm a little reluctant to share this picture, as I don't want to discourage participation in the Team Championships. But Team lifting can be a different challenge - and when things go bad - there can be a disaster! It's pretty easy to tell how this lift ended for Chad and I as we were preparing for the Team Champs a few years back!!! Not good and it was all Chad's fault.

Every year the Dino Gym has an annual weekend celebration which we call the DINO DAYS.   It usually includes competitions of different kinds, and lots of good food and socializing!   This year will be no exception to that.  It is a gym affair, but the invite goes out to anyone else who wants to show up and be part of the fun.  Also, as has been the case the past few years, the USAWA Team Championships will be held at the Dino Gym that same weekend. 

The Team Championships are different than any other type of meet that you can enter.  It involves having a teammate that joins you in lifting – with BOTH of you lifting on the bar at the SAME TIME!  Team Lifting has three categories for Team Lifts:  2-Man (male & male), 2-Female (female & female), and Mixed Pair (female and male). The weight class the team is entered in is the weight class of the heaviest lifter, and the age group the team is entered in is the age class of the youngest lifter.  An exception is if a Junior lifter is teamed with a Senior (20-39 age) or Master Lifter (great than age 40).  In that case, the age class designation will be designated as open.

This is a fun event to compete in.  As I’ve said before – if you have a bad day you can always blame it on your partner!  And if you have a great day – you can take all the credit!   This is one of the “signature events” in the USAWA since it is one of our Championship Events, and the winners will be declared the USAWA Team Champions for the year. 

ENTRY FORM – TeamChampionships2013

USAWA Officials Program

by Al Myers

Chad Ullom has just been promoted to a LEVEL 2 USAWA official. Chad has been one of the "top three" most active USAWA officials in IAWA competions over the past 5 years. In this picture, Chad (on left) is officiating at the 2012 Gold Cup in Glasgow, Scotland.

One thing that has happened over the past three years has been the development of an USAWA Officials Program.  The program started in mid-2009 with the initial guidelines. Since then the program has been improved with rule amendments requiring additional criteria.   I finally feel that we now have a TOP NOTCH officials program, and that is something to be proud of.  Before 2009 several programs had TRIED to be initiated, but failed.  Anyone at that time could be an official in an USAWA meet, without any qualifications.  The previous rulebooks had NO guidelines established for becoming an official, other than a couple vague lines such as these, “all officials must be approved by the USAWA”, and “the general secretary shall maintain a list of the national officials”.  That’s it.  There’s no point in having rules/laws if they’re ambiguous, and are not enforced.  Now if you want your lifts to count you MUST be officiated by a certified USAWA official that is listed on the Officials List.  If this does not happen – the lift/meet was not official, and all invalid results will not be reported in the meet results on the website as well as no records being established.  That’s “the bite” for not following the USAWA rules.

I’m VERY EXCITED to report a couple of “firsts” that have just occurred within the Officials Programs.  Ruth Jackson has just successfully passed the USAWA Rules Test and will become the first USAWA member to undergo the Practical Training Session in becoming an USAWA official.  This change was just passed at the past USAWA meeting as further development of the Officials Program.  She will have one year to accomplish this training.  The development of the Officials Program has been a gradual plan to allow for it’s success, with additional requirements being added yearly.  I have felt that the reason the previous official programs have failed were because of a couple factors, 1. requiring “too much” to begin with that NO ONE wanted to abide by, and 2. No penalties/ramifications for not participating in the program (afterall, before you could STILL be an official in all meets with the SAME privileges as someone certified ).  The IAWA(UK) has ALWAYS been WAY AHEAD of us with their officials program, and have required practical training for years before an IAWA(UK) official could be certified.  Now I feel our officials program is as good (if not better!) than theirs. 

The second “first” is that Chad Ullom has become the first member to apply and be granted  Level 2 certification.  Congrats Chad!  This requires an official to be qualified in TWO CATAGORIES , thus the name Level 2.  Level 2 officials are required to have passed the testing requirements, AND  the experience requirements.  Level 2 USAWA officials are considered the TOP TIER of USAWA Officials, and have Lifetime Certification. 

All the details of the USAWA Officials Program are outlined in the USAWA Rulebook and on this website under “Officials List and Rules Test”

 https://www.usawa.com/officials-2/

The Most Sexy Bald Men in IAWA

by the DINO MAN,  AUTHORITY ON BALD WEIGHTLIFTERS

Just when you think the USAWA website has stooped to a new “all time low”, I try to take things a little deeper.  Thus today’s story. You know – our organization is loaded with bald lifters.  Several of these All-Round muscle-men got chrome-domes that radiate sexy.  It is a proven fact that baldness is a sign of vitality and virility (I think I read that in Mens Health…).   I have been known to shave my head for a big meet every now and then – just to give myself that extra BOOST of testosterone that comes from having a sweaty shiny crown!!!   I think is about time that these bald guys get a little recognition, so I conducted a survey of the MOST SEXY BALD MEN in IAWA.  Of course, I couldn’t make this decision by myself  so I assimilated a panel of women to make this big decision so it’s totally impartial on my part.  I collected pictures of all the good looking bald guys in IAWA and presented them to the panel to make a ranking.  I’m only going to reveal the TOP FIVE, but there were over 20 pictures entered.  Just in case you wondered – only lifters that have competed in the IAWA Gold Cup or the IAWA Worlds within the past 3 years were entered.  I’m keeping the identities of this panel a secret – as I don’t want them to get any complaints personally for not being picked,  or worse yet, words of passion  from a bald headed romeo.

Let the countdown begin to NUMBER ONE!!!

5.  Graham Saxton, ENGLAND

Graham Saxton

This burly built muscle bound man oozes sexyness from his shiny noggin.  I want to mention that Graham wasn’t always bald (I have pictures of him sporting a full head of hair and a beard!), but that was before he became handsome.  

4.  John Gardner, ENGLAND

John Gardner

I was somewhat surprised with Big John making the top five.   However, as one of the panelist remarked, “he looks like a big teddy bear to me”. Another lady said she would just love to rub his head, as she was sure it would bring her good luck.

3.  Chad Ullom, UNITED STATES

Chad Ullom

Chad was the only American to make the top five.  Comments from the panel ranged from, “he looks like a crazy man”, to “I bet he knows how to have fun”. 

2.  Andy Tomlin, SCOTLAND

Andy Tomlin

I expected Andy to make it to the top of this competition.  Andy has the perfect bald head – it’s perfectly shaped and it looks like he doesn’t even have to shave it!!  It’s always glossy.  I suspect that he waxes it. 

1.  Peter Phillips, AUSTRALIA

Peter Phillips

Peter didn’t just win the voting majority of the panel for top spot, he had TWICE as many votes as anyone else!  That makes Peter the SEXIEST BALD MAN IN IAWA.   I know Peter – and from what he has told me he is also quite the romantic.  When in Perth last year, he took several of us to this peaceful little stream outside of the city.  It was a beautiful quiet spot.  Peter told me, “this is the place I like to bring  a Sheila and enjoy a nice bottle of wine.”  I just know his perfected bald head probably helps out the romance.

CONGRATS to all bald men in IAWA!!! This is your day!!!!

COMING SOON FROM THE DINO MAN – the men in IAWA with the best hair!!

2012 Postal Meet Series

by Al Myers

2012 USAWA Postal Series Champions - Gabby Jobe (left) and Chad Ullom (right).

For the second year now, the USAWA has recognized the “overall” winners from the USAWA Postal Series, which consists of the 4 quarterly postal meets offered throughout the year. I will give a review of how this is scored.  For each meet entered a participant receives points depending on their placing which then “adds up” to a final year total, that determines the Postal Series ranking.  The points earned are based on the number of entrants in each postal meet.  For example, if 10 lifters are entered, the winner receives 10 points and the last place finisher receives 1 point.  This way EVERYONE who enters is guaranteed to earn at least a point toward their year end total.  The Postal Championships are worth DOUBLE POINTS, because it is the Championship afterall and is the pinnacle of the yearly postal meets.

This year was a great year for the USAWA Postal Series.  I am glad to see how this program has taken “a foothold” in the USAWA.   Much of this is due to the efforts of John Wilmot, who FINALLY was given an official title by the USAWA.  Last year at the annual meeting of the USAWA, John was appointed by the membership the official title USAWA Postal Meet Director.  This position was added to the USAWA bylaws outlining the duties which John has done an excellent job of upholding. John sends out certificates to each winner following the individual postal meets, and provides me with a tallied result sheet in a timely manner to be published on the website.  I want to mention as well that this entire program is ran on a “shoe string” budget.  Heck – there’s not even a budget since there is no entry fees charged to the entrants and thus NO INCOME to fund it!!!

Now for the BIG WINNERS of the 2012 Postal Meet Series:

WOMEN – Gabby Jobe

MEN – Chad Ullom

WOMENS TOP THREE PLACINGS

1.  Gabby Jobe –  5 points
2.  Molly Myers – 3 points
3.  Bri Ullom – 2 points

MENS TOP TEN PLACINGS

1.  Chad Ullom – 66 points
2.  Orie Barnett – 56 points
3.  Troy Goetsch – 51 points
4. Bryan Benzel – 47 points
5.  Sam Rogers – 39 points
6.  Eric Todd – 36 points
7.  Jesse Jobe – 30 points
8.  Joe Ciavattone Jr. – 28 points
9.  Tim Songster – 25 points
10.  Les Cramer – 25 points

Altogether, there were 24 total lifters that competed in at least one of the Postal Series Meets.  This included 21 men, and 3 women (or girls!).  I always want to mention the lifters that competed in ALL of the postal meets offered during the year – this year that included 6 lifters!  So special recognition for this commitment goes to Chad Ullom, Orie Barnett, Sam Rogers, Denny Habecker, Gabby Jobe, and the Postal Meet Director himself John Wilmot.

It was a great year for the USAWA Postal Meets!  I hope the coming year will yield the same (or better!) response.  Within the next few days I will release the details and entry forms for the upcoming 2013 Postal Meets.

Dino Gym Challenge

by Al Myers

2013 DINO GYM CHALLENGE
“PRESENTING AN OLD TIME STRONGMAN POWERLIFTING MEET”

Group picture of the participants in the 2013 Dino Gym Challenge.

MEET REPORT:

I was expecting maybe 10 or 12 lifters for the annual Dino Gym Challenge – but then to my amazement lifters kept showing up and showing up!!  The total number of entrants came to 21 lifters!!!!  That’s only a few off what entered the World Meet that I promoted last fall!!!  I was very excited to see this, as it shows the interest that lifters have in the “new” Old Time Strongman Competitions.  This meet was promoted as an “Old Time Strongman Powerlifting Meet” because it contained three OTSM lifts that are partial-lift deviations of the three powerlifts (Squat, Bench Press, and Deadlift).  The meet included two Official OTSM lifts (the Anderson Squat and the Peoples Deadlift) as well as one exhibition lift (the Hackenschmidt Floor Press).  The Hack FP  “went over” really real with the lifters and I hope that it will become approved as an official OTSM lift this year. 

The three officials of the Dino Gym Challenge holding their souvenir beer mugs - complete with Dino Gym logo!! These mugs were given as the awards to all participants. (left to right: Chad Ullom, Thom Van Vleck, LaVerne Myers)

One thing that I GREATLY appreciate with the Dino Gym members is how we always “come together” to support each other in our promoted events.  Putting on any competition requires lots of “behind the scenes” work, and manpower on the day of the event. Even though we had more lifters show up than expected, things ran very smoothly because there was enough “helpers” to make it happen.   Often after meets the attention is always on the lifting performances, but things wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t for those facilitating the meet.  In this meet report I want to mention these guys first (they’re often the last mentioned).  The USAWA OTSM Chairman Thom Van Vleck is first on my list to thank.  Thom has been promoting the yearly OTSM Championships, and he has made a effort to be at most ALL of the OTSM meets in the USAWA, offering leadership and support.  He took on the hardest event to officiate (the Anderson Squat) for the day.  Chad Ullom, who normally doesn’t miss an opportunity to compete, sat this one out so he could be one of the needed officials of the day.  He officiated the Peoples Deadlift as well as loaded that event the entire day.  LaVerne Myers officiated the new OTSM event, the  Hackenschmidt Floor Press.  LaVerne has been a very important official in the club, and does an outstanding job.  He is very professional in his officiating and keeps things on pace.  His group finished before Chad’s and Thom’s in every rotation!!!  I also want to thank Mike Murdock and Tyler Cookson for helping spot and load throughout the day.  This help allowed me to focus on the daily details, keeping the scores updated, and taking lots of pictures.  Finally, I want to mention and thank my wife Leslie who made the lunch for everyone and puts up with me for stressing over every “little detail”. 

Dan Wagman pressing 435 pounds, which was the top Hackenschmidt Floor Press of the meet.

Now onto the lifting performances.  The IAWA World Champs Dan Wagman and Ruth Jackson made their appearance from Colorado, and added another overall victory to their USAWA resumes. Both performed outstanding in all of these OTSM events.  Dan “put up” the top Hackenschmidt Floor Press of the day with 435 pounds. Newcomer Mike McIntyre lifted 410 pounds in the FP.  Mike is a member of the JWC, and at 29 years of age, has his best lifting years still ahead of him.  KC Strongman Eric Todd also lifted 410 pounds in the FP.  That’s THREE lifters over 400 pounds!!! 

I was very interested to see the big lifts in the Anderson Squat. I was hoping to see several lifts over 800 pounds – and that I did!! Eric Todd became the first USAWA lifter to ever go over 900 pounds (with a lift of 903#).  ET has been “making his name known” in the USAWA this past year with winning the Heavy Lift Champs last spring, and setting the ALL TIME neck lift record at Worlds.  His second place finish in this stellar-packed field of lifters show that he is also a top contender in any future OTSM competition.  John O’Brien of the JWC upped his personal record in the Anderson Squat to 810 pounds. I want to mention that John did this after losing over 30 pounds of bodyweight. This bodyweight loss while maintaining his same strength helped him with the formula adjustment and aided him to get third place overall at this meet. I say this because he “just edged” out Alan English by one point!!!   Alan is a Dino Gym member who I have FINALLY got to compete in an USAWA competition. He is a gifted strength athlete who has lots of strongman victories to his name.  I hope that this meet has inspired him to compete more in the USAWA, because if he does, you will see several great things out of him in the future.  Rounding out the top five was another Dino Gym member, Scott Campbell.  Scott finished off his day with the second highest Anderson Squat, with a lift of 881 pounds.  Scott is a seasoned Highland Game Athlete who has strength that he doesn’t really know he has. 

Dino Gym member Chuck Cookson had the top Peoples Deadlift of the meet with this 800 pound lift!

I got a couple of other lifters that I want to mention.  First – Chuck Cookson.  Chuck started the meet off by putting up the top Peoples Deadlift of the day – 800 pounds!!!  However, he opened a little too high on the Anderson Squat (800 pounds!!!) and couldn’t get a lift in.  If he would have got in an Anderson Squat, he would have placed much higher in the overall.  I want to thank Art Montini and Denny Habecker for making the trip from Pennsylvania to compete.  It’s always inspiring to watch these two lift in meets.  I would like to know how many USAWA meets these two have competed in throughout the years. They seem to always be at USAWA events, and have been doing this for 25 years!!! I really doubt if there are very many other lifters in the USAWA that have competed as many times as these two.  I want to thank a couple of Jobe Steel Jungle lifters who made the trip – Tim Songster and Dan Bunch. I really appreciate it when lifters travel to my meets from out of state. This includes Dean Ross from Oklahoma.  I did a quick count and lifters from six states competed in this meet.  That’s simply amazing!!!

As always, I still have lots more to report on but I got to draw a conclusion to my meet report at some point.  Tomorrow I’ll reveal the results from the challenge between the Dino Gym and the Hoghton Barbell Club.  Also, I still have the results from the shooting competition that went on after the meet to report on. That’ll be coming later this week.  Again, I want to thank EVERYONE who competed, helped out, or just showed up to watch.  This will go down as one of the best Dino Gym Challenges of ALL TIME. 

MEET RESULTS:

Dino Gym Challenge
Dino Gym, Abilene, Kansas
Saturday, January 19th, 2013

Meet Director:  Al Myers

Officials (1 official system used):  Thom Van Vleck, Chad Ullom, LaVerne Myers

Scorekeeper:  Al Myers

Loaders:  Tyler Cookson, Mike Murdock

Lifts:  Anderson Squat, Hackenschmidt Floor Press, Peoples Deadlift

WOMENS DIVISION

LIFTER AGE BWT SQ FP DL TOT PTS
Ruth Jackson 51 107 286 160 319 765 1180.1
Jera Kressly 28 219 319 0 379 698 593.2

EXTRA ATTEMPTS MADE FOR RECORD:

Ruth Jackson: Anderson Squat 308#
Ruth Jackson: Hackenschmidt Floor Press 180#
Jera Kressly: Anderson Squat 352#
Jera Kressly:  Peoples Deadlift 399#

MENS DIVISION

LIFTER AGE BWT SQ FP DL TOT PTS
Dan Wagman 50 185 738 435 677 1850 1917.6
Eric Todd 38 262 903 410 717 2030 1573.1
John O’Brien 44 262 810 380 554 1744 1419.0
Alan English 29 231 694 320 702 1716 1418.1
Scott Campbell 38 287 881 325 654 1860  1378.8
Mark Mitchell 52 316 672 365 624 1661 1329.4
Tim Songster Sr. 45 205 501 285 554 1340 1251.8
Mike McIntyre 29 273 600 410 604 1614 1225.5
Darren Barnhart 45 302 628 340 624 1592 1221.1
Dave Glasgow 59 252 507 250 504 1261 1195.4
Doug Kressly 33  276 540 320 604 1464 1106.1
Scott Tully 37 313  600 320 604 1524 1086.2
Dan Bunch 48 360 551 275 624 1450 1055.3
Denny Habecker 70 198 331 215 349 895 1052.9
Dean Ross 70 273 402 180 379 961 955.9
Ben Edwards 37 217 440 225 449 1114 951.4
Art Montini 85 175 209 120 306 635 895.2
Chuck Cookson 43  275 0 300 800 1100  865.7
Lance Foster 47 330  402 180 554 1136 851.9

 EXTRA ATTEMPTS MADE FOR RECORD:

Denny Habecker:  Anderson Squat 352#
Denny Habecker: Hackenschmidt Floor Press 225#
Denny Habecker: Peoples Deadlift 369#
Dan Bunch: Peoples Deadlift 649#
Dan Wagman: Anderson Squat 782#
Dan Wagman:  Peoples Deadlift 707#
Dean Ross: Peoples Deadlift 399#
Lance Foster: Hackenschmidt Floor Press 190#

EXTRA LIFTS MADE FOR RECORD:

Dan Wagman: Curl – Cheat, Reverse Grip 204#
Dan Wagman: Vertical Bar Deadlift – 1 Bar, 2″, Left Hand 180#
Dan Wagman: Vertical Bar Deadlift – 1 Bar, 1″, Left Hand 217#
Dan Wagman: Vertical Bar Deadlift – 1 Bar, 1″, Right Hand 217#
Ruth Jackson: Bench Press – Right Arm 44#
Ruth Jackson: Bench Press – Left Arm 44#
Ruth Jackson: Bench Press – Feet in Air 110#
Ruth Jackson: Bench Press – Hands Together 93.5#
Ruth Jackson: Holdout – Raised 33#
Ruth Jackson: Holdout – Lowered 33#
Ruth Jackson: Deadlift – Right Arm 181.75#
Ruth Jackson: Deadlift – Left Arm 181.75#
Ruth Jackson: Deadlift – Ciavattone Grip, Right Arm 90#
Ruth Jackson: Deadlift – Ciavattone Grip, Left Arm 90#

NOTES:  All lifts recorded in pounds.  BWT is bodyweight in pounds.  TOT is total pounds lifted.  PTS are adjusted points for bodyweight and age correction.

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