USAWA

By Al Myers

Early on I named this meet the Dino Gym Challenge for this reason – every year there would be a different meet challenge to take on.  No two meets would be the same.  Each year a different “theme” is contested.  This makes this meet very interesting, and allows different lifters to have advantages because of the different lifts that are contested each year.

2019 marked the 16th year of the Dino Gym Challenge.  It is now the longest running annual USAWA competition held in the same venue.  I mention this with a little sadness as it took over this spot with the passing of Art and the cancellation of Art’s Birthday Bash last year, which was previously the longest running USAWA event. Today I am going to give a “run-down” of the preceding Dino Gym Challenges with a bit of history.

2019 –  The Dale Frieze Memorial Challenge

This meet was done to honor the memory of a longtime USAWA member, Dale Frieze.  Five of Dale’s favorite lifts were picked for the challenge – Ring Finger Lift, One Arm Fulton Bar Deadlift, One Arm Deadlift, The Middle Fingers Deadlift, and the Neck Lift. Five lifters accepted the Challenge – Chad Ullom, LaVerne Myers, Calvin Heit, Brandon Rein, and Dean Ross.  Chad Ullom was the Best Lifter of the meet, and performed a 310 pound Middle Finger Deadlift to join the Goerner Club.

2018 – The Tom Ryan Memorial Challenge

This Dino Gym Challenge paid tribute to Tom Ryan, who was a longtime supporter of the USAWA.  Tom had passed away a year prior.  During Tom’s life he was a great help to me in providing historical information regarding the USAWA, and always had the answer for any question I had.  I picked five of Tom’s favorite lifts for this challenge – Weaver Stick, Rectangular Fix, The one hand no thumb Deadlift, the Reeves Deadlift, and the Hip Lift.  These eight lifters made their way to the Dino Gym for the competition – Eric Todd, Lance Foster, Chad Ullom, Calvin Heit, John Douglas, LaVerne Myers, Dean Ross, and myself.  Thom Van Vleck was present and officiated the challenge.  Eric Todd prevailed on the last event to be the best lifter of the meet, with a big 2010# Hip Lift.

2017 – The Triple Deuce

This meet was a truly all around event challenge with pressing, deadlifting, curling, and grip strength involved.  The Triple Deuce Dino Gym Challenge included three different groupings of 2 lifts, with each lift using either 2 bars, 2 dumbbells, or 2 pieces of equipment.  The lifts contested were 2 special equipment lifts (2 Inch Dumbbell Deadlift & 2″ 2 Bar Vertical Bar Deadlift), 2 Dumbbell lifts (Clean and Press with 2 Dumbbells & 2 Dumbbell Cheat Curl), and 2 Bar lifts (Reg Park Bench Press & 2 Bar Deadlift).  A terrible ice storm blew in the night before the meet making travel impossible for lifters on meet day. The meet was close to being cancelled and ending the streak of continuous yearly Dino Challenges, but my dad LaVerne and I decided the meet was going to take place so it was just the two of us competing. I was the best lifter of this 2 person challenge.

2016 – The Mike “Murdo” Murdock Memorial Challenge

This challenge honored a great friend of the Dino Gym, who had passed away the previous year. Murdo was the guy who would do everything at a meet – lift, officiate, load, and coach.  He then would help clean up after the meet.  He was a friend to all of us, so this meet was a tribute to him.  I picked five of his favorite lifts for the Challenge – Crucifix, One Arm Dumbbell Swing, Rectangular Fix, Bent Over Row, and the Trap Bar Deadlift.  A big crowd of lifters showed up to compete – 11 lifters total representing 5 different states.  LaVerne Myers served as the official throughout the day.  The best lifters were: Women – Emily Burchett, Men – Al Myers.

2015 – The Herman Goerner Deadlift Medley

This year the Dino Gym highlighted the Old Time German Strongman Herman Goerner.  Goerner was an outstanding deadlifter in many pulling disciplines, so the meet featured  various deadlift movements as lifts. These lifts were contested: Fulton Bar Ciavattone Grip Deadlift, One Arm Deadlift, No Thumbs Overhand Grip Deadlift, Ciavattone Grip Deadlift, and the Heels Together Deadlift. Six lifters competed – Chad Ullom, Kyle Jones, Eric Todd, Dave Glasgow, Dean Ross, and Lance Foster.  Chad Ullom was the overall best lifter.

2014 – Presenting a Challenge Left by Warren Lincoln Travis

The challenge this year was to honor the Old Time Strongman Warren Lincoln Travis.  Travis was an american strongman who often performed at Coney Island.  He performed many strength exhibitions for 25 years, and left a “challenge to the World” which has never been achieved by anyone since he did it.  The choice for the lifts were several of WLT’s favorites – Teeth Lift, Middle Finger Lift, Kennedy Lift, Harness Lift, and the Back Lift.  These lifts made for a grueling competition in which eight brave lifters showed up to take on.  The lifters were: Al Myers, Larry Traub, Logan Kressly, Doug Kressly, Dave Glasgow, Dean Ross, Lance Foster, and Eric Todd.  Overall best lifter was Al Myers.  A metal cutout of WLT was given out as a special award to all participants.

2013 –  The Old Time Strongman Powerlifting Meet

The Dino Gym Challenge in 2013 was an Old Time Strongman Powerlifting Meet.  The lifts that were contested were: Anderson Squat, Hackenschmidt Floor Press, and the Peoples.  All three of those lifts are similiar to the three powerlifts but are part of the USAWA Old Time Strongman Lifts.  The three celebrity officials were Thom Van Vleck, Chad Ullom, and LaVerne Myers.  A huge attendance of lifters, 21 in total, showed up to compete in the Dino Challenge.  The best overall womens lifter was Ruth Jackson, and the overall best mens lifter was Dan Wagman.  The top Anderson Squat of the meet was 903 pounds by Eric Todd.  The top Hackenshmidt Floor Press was 435 pounds by Dan Wagman.  The top People’s Deadlift was 800 pounds by Chuck Cookson.

2012 – The Single Arm Challenge

The feature of the 2012 Dino Gym Challenge was the Single Arm Challenge. Five one arm lifts were contested using both arms, for a total of 10 lifts altogether.  The lifts contested were: Side Press One Arm, Bench Press One Arm, Snatch One Arm, Clean and Jerk One Arm, and the Deadlift One Arm. Five lifters competed: Chad Ullom, Dave Glasgow, Rudy Bletscher, Dean Ross, and Al Myers. The overall best lifter was Chad Ullom.  Two special awards were given out as well, the first being the Ambidextrous Award which was determined by the highest percent correlation between the stronger arm to the weaker.  This was won by Chad Ullom.  The second was the Klutz Award which went to the lifter who had the lowest percent correlation between both arms, and that went to Al Myers.

2011 – Dino Gym Old Time Strongman Challenge

The Dino Gym presented the VERY FIRST Old Time Strongman competition that year.  Five new and exciting OTSM events were contested: Saxon Snatch, Cyr Press, Dinnie Lift, Apollons Lift, and the Goerner Stroll. This meet will forever be known as the first promotion of OTSM within the USAWA, and what a great inauguration this meet was!   A great turnout of 18 lifters took part.  The class winners were: Women – Felecia Simms, Mens Junior – Cody Lokken, Mens 40+ – Al Myers, Mens 60+ – Dean Ross, and Open – Sam Cox.  The top three placings of the day went to: 1. Sam Cox, 2. Eric Todd, and 3. Chad Ullom.

2010 – The Arthur Saxon Pentathlon

This meet was done  to honor the great German Strongman Arthur Saxon.  Five lifts were chosen which were some of Saxon’s favorites: the Dumbbell Swing, the Bent Press, the 2-Hands Anyhow, the Arthur Lift, and the Foot Press.  The Foot Press was done as an exhibition lift (not an official USAWA lift at that time, but it is now) and was a big hit of the meet.  It mimicked the stage act where Arthur would support a big plank loaded with people as natural weight.  5 lifters took part, with Chad Ullom being the overall meet winner.  A celebrity was in attendance – Wilbur Miller.  Wilbur is a legend in All Round Weightlifting and his presence at this meet enhanced the meet atmosphere.  Afterwards, several of us toasted Arthur Saxon with Arthur’s favorite workout beverage, the Saxon Health Drink.

2009 – The meet named after others

The 2009 Dino Gym Challenge was very unusual in that all 5 of the lifts contested were “named” after other lifters.  These lifts were contested: the Kelly Snatch, the Ziegler Clean, the Judd Clean and Jerk, the James Lift, and the Allen Lift.  All of these lifts required LOTS of flexibility that made them very hard to do.  Chad Ullom prevailed as the overall winner of the four lifters in attendance: Chad, Al Myers, Scott Campbell, and Rudy Bletscher.   However, despite all of these lifts being done with “light” weights, one of the biggest lifts in USAWA history was done on this day.  Steve Schmidt showed up to be officially judged in the Back Lift.  He finished with 3050 pounds (after doing 3000 pounds as well) to set an ALL-TIME USAWA record in the Back Lift.

2008 – The Roger Davis Selection

The 2008 Dino Gym Challenge saw lifts selected by Roger Davis.  Roger had just finished a compilation of the top All Round lifters of ALL-TIME in history using these lifts as the criteria: the one arm snatch, the one arm clean and jerk, the continental to chest and jerk, two dumbbells clean and push press, and the 12″ base deadlift.  His report was published in MILO and gave me the notion to have a meet using these lifts.   This meet must have scared off the competition because only two lifters showed up to compete: Chad Ullom and Scott Campbell.  I was going to compete as well, but I was the only one there to officiate so I judged instead.  Chad ended up the victor over Scott.  Wilbur Miller showed up as well and did some record-setting after the meet.  He first did a 350 pound Ciavattone Grip Deadlift, followed by a 400 pound heels together deadlift, and finishing with a 450 pound 12″ base deadlift.  Wilbur did these lifts at 75 years of age and 230 pounds!

2007 – The All Round Powerlifting Meet

The theme of 2007 was that of an All Round Powerlifting Meet.  These lifts were contested: Steinborn, Pullover and Push, and the heels together Deadlift. 11 lifters took part.  Al Myers was the overall best mens lifter and Kristen Barry was the top overall womens lifter.  A team award was given which was won by the Dino Gym.  A full record day was contested afterwards.  Some great lifts were done during the day: Chad Ullom 430# Steinborn, Kristen Barry 310# heels together deadlift, Bill Cookson 227# Index Fingers Deadlift, and myself teaming with Chad to hit a 407# Team Cheat Curl.  Afterwards, we all reconvened at a restaurant in town to celebrate the annual HASA banquet.  The big news of the banquet was the induction of Thom Van Vleck into the HASA Hall of Fame.

2006 – The Travis Lift Showdown

This meet had a record setting turnout of lifters – 23 LIFTERS!   Five lifts were contested: Fulton Bar Clean, Maxey Press, Front Squat, Jefferson Lift and the Travis Lift. The main event of this meet was the Travis Lift. This was the first time the Travis Lift had been held in competition.  Previously the only lifter in the USAWA who had ever done the Travis Lift was Howard Prechtel, and he did it only in record days.  At the time Howard held the ALL-TIME record with a lift of 1815 pounds.  Joe Garcia broke Howard’s record with a lift of 2000 pounds.  The class winners were:  Women Junior – Kirsti Griffis, Women Masters – Mary McConnaughey, Mens Junior – Kent Longbine, Mens Lightweight – Tim Pinkerton, Mens Middleweight – Eric Todd, Mens Heavyweight – John O’Brien, Mens Master – Joe Garcia.  The Mens Overall Best Lifter went to Eric Todd.

2005 –  The Back Lift Rematch

A big group of lifters turned out this year for the Dino Gym Challenge – 19 lifters.  Several difficult lifts were contested: the Fulton Bar Snatch, the Inch Dumbbell Deadlift, the Alternate Grip Bench Press, the Steinborn, and the Back Lift.  Steve Schmidt reclaimed his ALL-TIME Back Lift record with a lift of 2920 pounds at this meet.  Class winners were as follows: Junior Women – Misty Fritz,  Open Women – Mary McConnaughey, Junior Men – Ian Reel, Mens Lightweight – Tim Pinkerton, Mens Middleweight – Eric Todd, Mens Heavyweight – Chad Ullom, Mens Superheavyweight – Matt Graham, and Mens Masters – Joe Garcia.  Eric Todd was the overall Best Lifter of the meet.  Matt Graham put on a grip-lifting show after the meet by picking up two INCH REPLICAS at the same time!

2004 – The First Ever Dino Challenge

A full field of 17 lifters took part in the first ever Dino Gym Challenge.  These lifts were contested: Fulton Bar Clean and Press, Pullover and Push, One Arm Clean and Jerk, Steinborn, and the Back Lift. Several records fell during this meet.  Al Myers broke Steve Schmidts All-Time record in the back lift with a lift of 2915 pounds.  Class winners were as follows: Women – Jessica Todd, Men Lightweight – Tim Pinkerton, Men Middleweight – Al Myers, Mens Heavyweight – Eric Todd, Mens Masters – Joe Garcia. The overall Best Lifter of the meet was Al Myers.