Tag Archives: Denny Habecker

Habeckers Gym: Club of the Year

by Al Myers

Habeckers Gym won the 2010 USAWA Club of the Year Award. (left to right): Denny Habecker, Al Myers, and Thom Van Vleck.

The only USAWA Award that was preannounced before the awards banquet was the 2010 USAWA Club of the Year.  However, I still think a few words should be said about Habeckers Gym, which is the USAWA Club of the Year for 2010.  Habeckers Gym is a club ran by our USAWA President Denny Habecker. Points are generated throughout the year for various activities and events that add to a club’s total, with the club gathering the most points declared the Club of the Year.  The previous year’s Club of the Year is not eligible, but has the honorable distinction of presenting the award to the new winner.  I was honored (the Dino Gym was the 2009 USAWA Club of the Year) to be able to make this presentation to Denny and Habeckers Gym.  Our club program has grown considerable this past year with many new clubs involved, thus the competition for this award is getting stronger.   I really believe the future success of the USAWA hinges on increased club activity, and Habeckers Gym is the example to follow. 

As I said, several factors play into gathering points for a clubs total.  Club membership is a big part of it.  Each USAWA member that lists on their membership application the club they are part of adds one point to the tally.  Habeckers membership during 2010 included these 5 members: Denny Habecker, Judy Habecker, Barry Bryan, Andrew Hess, and Kohl Hess.   Points are also accrued for those club members that participate in the big events – Worlds, Nationals, and the Gold Cup.  Promoting sanctioned events and competitions also gain points for the award total, and bonus points are earned for putting on big events which the Habeckers did in 2010 with the promotion of the National Championship.  

A runner-up Club of the Year Award was also given.  Again for the second year in a row, Ambridge VFW BBC was the recipient.

USAWA Records from Past Nationals

by Al Myers

Denny Habecker "padded" his lead in the most USAWA Records set at the National Championships with this Zercher Lift of 231 pounds. It broke the record held by Andy Komorny from the 2003 Nationals of 230 pounds.

As promised, today I am going to highlight those USAWA Records that were set at National Championships. To me setting a record at Nationals is a much harder endeavor.  The pressure of competition is on, the judging is the best it gets, and the day of competition is long.  It is not like a record day where you can warm up as you please, and then take your time to pace yourself for a maximum effort in achieving a new record.  That is easy compared to “taking down” a record on a big stage like the National Championships.  Truthfully, there should be a separate list just for records established at the Nationals because of the difficulty it takes of getting a record at this meet. When I watch the Olympics I always notice that there are Olympic Records (which are separate from American and World Records) for the events.  I’m sure the reasons for this are the same as what we have -because it is way more difficult to set a new World or American Record at the Olympics, and there is merit to setting an Olympic Record as well.  (Maybe I can talk our Record Chairman Joe Garcia in setting up a different Record List just for records set at the National Championships???)   Irregardless, I looked over our USAWA Record List and was surprised how many records we have “on the books” from National Championships.  I counted 1843 records (out of close to a total record count of 10,000) that were established at past National Championships.  That number is approaching close to 20% of all records set.  I didn’t think it would be that high, but when I looked it over I could tell that the quality of these records was very high.   Overall, I counted 169 lifters who have possession of at least 1 USAWA Record that was set in the Championships. Now onto the lifters that own the most!

TOP TEN LIFTERS

RANK RECORDS LIFTER
1 94 Denny Habecker
2 77 Art Montini
3 73 Dennis Mitchell
4 (tie) 63 Noi Phumchaona
4 (tie) 63 Howard Prechtel
6 57 John McKean
7 54 Frank Ciavattone
8 51 Jim Malloy
9 50 Dale Friesz
10 37 Randy Smith

Now that is a lineup of “heavy hitters” in the USAWA!  Honorable mention should go to these lifters who just missed the list: Chris Waterman (36 records), Joe Garcia (34 records), and Bob Geib (34 records).  I was surprised about some great USAWA lifters who didn’t make the list – but the reason was that these lifters didn’t compete in enough Championships to get their numbers added up.  Longevity counts for something!  The lift from Nationals that has the most records in it is the Clean and Press, heels together with a count of 90.  The next four were the Pullover and Push (86), One Arm Snatch (85), the One Arm Deadlift (82) and the Zercher Lift (79).

Zercher Lift: A Missouri Original

 by Thom Van Vleck

Denny Habecker completing the Zercher Lift. Denny will be at the 2011 USAWA Nationals where this lift will be contested

When I was selecting lifts for the 2011 USAWA Nationals to be held June 25 in Kirksville, Missouri I very carefully selected my lifts.  I was trying to get a good mix from each of the major categories.  I wanted a thick bar lift (Continental to Chest), a dumbbell lift/one arm lift (DB Snatch), a power type lift (Deadlift 12″ base), a miscellaneous lift (Cheat Curl), a pressing movement (Pull over and Press), and a squat movement.  For the squat movement I picked the Zercher!  I also wanted all the lift to come off the floor so that the meet could move along quickly and I was not sure how many spotters I would have.

While the list was then passed on the USAWA board to approve and they did approve it the only one that was questioned was the Zercher.  Not because it’s a “bad’ lift, but because it’s been used several times before and there was just some thought that maybe we should “mix it up” a little.  The problem for me was this was the ONE lift I felt I HAD to have in my meet.  The reason:  The Zercher was named after Ed Zercher and he’s a true MISSOURI born strongman!

The man himself: ED ZERCHER, one of Missouri's greatest strength athletes!

One of the things I like about the USAWA is it’s respect for history and the desire to make sure many of these lifts from bygone years are remembered and practiced.  Many of them have real merit and are often “rediscovered” in modern times.  Look at Kettlebell lifting!  My grandfather used to do Kettlebell training when I first stared lifting in the 1970’s and I remember thinking how “old fashioned” that was and he needed to get “modern” if he wanted to get strong!  How naive I was!   The Zercher has made a bit of a comeback for that same reason……in a way!

Many modern lifters have begun to do what they call “Zerk’s” or Zercher Squats.  They take a weight out of low squat rack or power rack, squat with the bar in the crooks of the arms, and then reload it on the rack.  This has become a variation that some lifters use in a mix with front and back squats but it is also one that guys have added that have trouble holding the bar in the front squat position or some other injury the precludes regular type squats.  But of course, as “Ol’ Clark” himself would tell you…..THIS IS NOT A ZERCHER!  Now, there’s nothing wrong with doing “Zerks” and they are a fine exercise to anyone’s repertoire of lifts.

There were some guys recently discussing “Zerks” on a message board and I got on there and pointed out the difference in what I thought was a polite, informative way.  One of them blew up!  He thought I was being petty bringing up the difference.  But to me, Ed Zercher developed that lift and we need to honor the man by keeping things straight!  With that said, here’s the rules for the Zercher lift:

C8.  Zercher Lift
The bar starts on the platform and at the lifter’s discretion the bar is deadlifted to a position where it may be supported on the knees or thighs.
Feet placement is optional, but the feet must be in line with the torso. The lifter will then bend down, with the bar resting on the legs, to a position in which the lifter is able to secure the bar in the crooks of the elbows. The lifter will then stand erect with the arms bent and the bar fixed at the articulation of the upper and lower arms.  The lifter’s arms may be inside or outside of the legs. The hands may be locked together. Once the bar is
motionless, the legs straight, the body erect with shoulders upright, an official will give a command to lower the bar. The bar must be returned to the platform under control for the lift to be complete. It is acceptable to drop the bar once it is below the level of the knees provided that the hands follow the bar to the platform.

So, come to Nationals and help me honor one of Missouri’s greatest Strongmen!  Let’s Zercher!

Ravenswood Formula

Thom Van Vleck flashes the "Red Light" at USAWA Heavy Lift Nationals as Head Judge Denny Habecker looks for the call. USAWA officials have a lot more to do than judging the lifts. There's a lot of math involved as well!

by Thom Van Vleck

I know we’ve probably overdone the talk on formulas to rate lifting performances, but here’s one more.  I got a copy of Peary Radar’s Lifting News (Sept. 1965) and notice a story on page 20 titled “A New Simplified Formula for Accurate Rating of Lifting Performances”.  This formula was being touted as an easy way to determine the best lifter.  Evidently, before calculators, the “long hand”  or “slide rule” multiplication using the “Hoffman Formula” often resulted on errors and hard feelings when the errors were revealed later.  As a result, the Ravenswood Formula was developed.

I’ll stop right here and say I’m not pushing this to be used by the USAWA nor do I know if it favors heavier lifters (which I’m not sure why anyone would think I would want that….well…maybe I would “like” that). This is just an interesting piece of lifting history from a time when formulas in lifting seemed to be quite the hot topic.

Laverne Myers and Denny Habecker have passed stringent testing to become USAWA officials

The Ravenswood Formula sought to remove the error prone difficulty of multiplication and replace it with the simplicity of adding two numbers together.  You were give two tables which are quite lengthy.  Table “A” had a bodyweight coefficient which went from 110lbs to 370lbs and Table “B” had a “Total” or lift poundage coefficient which went from 105lbs to 2550lbs.  You simply took the lifters weight and found the corresponding coefficient in Table A (a 4 digit number) and added it to the corresponding weight lifted/coefficient in table B (again, a 4 digit number).  The theory being that this formula was much more simple and less prone to a mathematical error.  You have to take the developer’s word that it’s “fair” or should I say “Accurate” as he does in the title.  The developer was Stanley Gorajczyk.  Not sure where “Ravenswood” came from….maybe easier to pronounce that “Gorajczyk”!   Stanley was an Olympic lifter who got 5th in the 1967 Senior Nationals, so he was a pretty decent lifter as well.

Al Myers looks like he's trying to talk Head Judge Denny Habecker into a good call, but really Denny is busy "doing the math" and calculating the winner using the formula!

I just found it another interesting part of lifting history and went with earlier articles on this website that discussed weightlifting formulas.   If you are interested in the tables let me know.  It might be interesting to compare the outcomes of this formula to others!

1970 World Weightlifting Championships

by Al Myers

This is a picture of the Upper Darby Weightlifting team at the 1970 World Weightlifting Championships in Columbus, Ohio.

Denny Habecker graciously provided us a few more pictures taken at the 1970 World Weightlifting Championships. These pictures are CLASSIC – and definitely worth sharing in the USAWA Daily News!!  Thank you Denny!!!

Vasily Alexeev watching TV prior to the competition.

Vasily Alexeev stretching and warming up prior to the competition.

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