Tag Archives: Dino Gym Challenge

Dino Challenge Award Winners

by Al Myers

In the picture on the left, Al Myers (right) is presenting Chad Ullom (left) the Ambidextrous Award. In the picture on the right, Mike Murdock (left) is presenting Al Myers (right) the KLUTZ AWARD.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s meet report on the Dino Gym Challenge, a couple of BEST LIFTER AWARDS were presented.  The unusual thing about these two awards were that they had no bearing on overall performance as most best lifters awards do, but rather to honor (or make fun of!) the two lifters that were the most balanced, and most unbalanced,  between both arms in their lifts.  As I said, I was very intrigued just to see how the lifters would do in pounds lifted between each arm in the same lift.  Most of the time in All-Round meets when an one arm lift is contested, the lifter gets to chose which arm to use in competition, and often the other arm never gets any “meet action”. 

The Best Lifter Award for the most balanced lifter was titled the Ambidextrous Award.  It was based on a percentage of the weaker arm to the stronger arm in pounds lifted with both.  Surprisingly, four of the five lifters in this meet went over 90%.  The WINNER was also the winner of the Dino Gym Challenge, Chad Ullom. Chad had a rating of 96.2%.  Only competition lifts were used in this calculation (not extra attempts for record).  Even with this high percentage, Chad still had better lifts with his right arm in all five lifts, but his left was very close behind in each one.

Lifter  Left Arm Right Arm Percent
Chad Ullom 880 914 96.2%
Dave Glasgow 650 615 94.6%
Rudy Bletscher 315 335 94.0%
Dean Ross 345 380 90.8%
Al Myers 740 920 80.4%

Now for the WINNER of the most unbalanced lifter, the Ambisinistrous Award……. it went to ME!  And from the table above, no one else was even close to challenging me for this degrading award.  I have to say I was slightly embarrassed when Mike finished his calculations and I seen that it was me who had won it!  Before the meet I made this award up with someone else in mind – NOT ME!  Most don’t know that recently “Super Dave” Glasgow has had surgery on his right elbow to repair a nerve issue.  Dave’s not one to complain about ANYTHING, and most of the time doesn’t even mention to his family and  friends when he is having major surgery.  I was  a little surprised he even entered this meet because his surgery hasn’t been that long ago and his right arm is far from recovered.  So to say I thought he had the Ambisinistrous Award locked up beforehand was an “understatement”!  Well, that like joke sure backfired on me!  I even nicknamed the award beforehand “THE KLUTZ AWARD”, and had that stated on the certificate as well.  I’m sure to never live this one down!

Dino Gym Challenge

by Al Myers

Group picture from the 2012 Dino Gym Challenge. (front row left to right): Chad Ullom, Al Myers (back row left to right): Dave Glasgow, Dean Ross, Rudy Bletscher

MEET REPORT:

I didn’t think the “single arm challenge” would be this demanding, but as I sit writing this meet report today I’m feeling sore all over!  First of all, I want to thank everyone who showed up to compete or help yesterday.  Five brave lifters showed up to take on this decathlon of single arm lifts: Chad Ullom, Dave Glasgow, Rudy Bletscher, Dean Ross and myself.  The unique feature of this meet was that BOTH arms had to be contested in each single arm lift.  There was no way to hide any weaknesses!  I picked lifts that would test every body part – overhead stuff both quick lifts and pressing, benching, and deadlifting.  I was very curious to see the strength differences each lifter would have between arms.  I even played this up before the meet by having two certificates made up for BEST LIFTERS AWARDS.  One was the Ambidextrous Award, for the lifter that had the highest percentage of weight lifted between his weak arm and his strong arm.  The other award was for the opposite of this, or the Ambisinistrous Award, which was for the lifter that had the lowest percentage of weight lifted between his weak arm and his strong arm.  I nicknamed this award the “KLUTZ AWARD” just to add more insult to this prize which recognizes poor lifting ability. 

Dave Glasgow and his 315# USAWA record in the right arm Deadlift. Dave broke the record held by USAWA Hall of Famer Scott Schmidt in this lift.

It was a hard fought fight to the finish, but my training partner and good friend Chad edged me out in the last event, the one arm deadlift. I had the lead on him up till this last event.  It was interesting that we both weighed in the same at 251 pounds, but now something was different as Chad has just turned 40 and is now a masters lifter.  Not only did he beat me in the competition in the one arm deadlift, but he took both of my one arm deadlift records in the 40/115K class!   Chad finished the meet off with a personal record one arm deadlift of 451 pounds! It was a stellar lift and broke the overall record in the 115K class, previously held by Frank Ciavattone and his 426# effort.  There were many USAWA records broke at this meet, but this had to be one of the “highlight records” of the day.  Another record I would like to mention was Dave Glasgow’s right arm deadlift of 315 pounds.  That is the most I have seen Super Dave lift in the one arm deadlift, and it was quite impressive.  My best performance of the day was in the one arm snatch, where I lifted a personal best and ALL-TIME USAWA BEST  with a lift of 172 pounds. I have done over 170 pounds a few times in training, but this was the first time I have done it in competition.   I can’t say enough about Rudy and Dean and their lifting.  They both battled it out all day long, with Rudy edging Dean out in the end.  Dean is a real powerhouse, but this meet was more about finesse with all these one arm lifts, and it favored Rudy.  Mike Murdock sat this one out in order to help with judging and scorekeeping, but when the three of them compete with each other it makes for a very exciting competition.  I’m sure there will be many more square-offs between these seasoned (see – I didn’t say old!) guys in the future.

This is my 172# one arm Snatch. This is the top one arm Snatch that has been done in the history of the USAWA, beating the mark of 171# held by my brother-in-law Bob Burtzloff!

After the results were tallied and the awards handed out, we were treated to heaping bowls of homemade chili that was prepared by my wife Leslie.  Often when a meet is over, the lifters are ready to “hit the road” to make the long journey back home. But as Dean reminded  me when we were filling our gullets with tasty chili, it was when I mentioned it was HOMEMADE CHILI that EVERYONE decided to stay and eat before heading home.  We watched football, drank a few beers,  and told several stories about our friends who weren’t it attendance.  What a good way to end a great day!

Check back tomorrow to see who won the Best Lifter Awards.  That’s a news story in itself!

MEET RESULTS:

Dino Gym Challenge
The Single Arm Challenge
Dino Gym, Holland, Kansas
January 14th, 2012

Meet Director: Al Myers and the Dino Gym

Officials (1 official system used): Mike Murdock, Scott Tully, Mark Mitchell, Darren Barnhart

Scorekeeper: Mike Murdock

Loaders: Alan English, Chuck Cookson, Matt Cookson

Lifts: Snatch – Left Arm, Snatch – Right Arm, Clean and Jerk – Left Arm, Clean and Jerk – Right Arm, Side Press – Left Arm, Side Press – Right Arm, Bench Press – Left Arm, Bench Press – Right Arm, Deadlift – Left Arm, Deadlift – Right Arm

Lift             Chad Ullom Al Myers Dave Glasgow Rudy Bletscher Dean Ross
BWT  113.9  113.9  114.6  96.2  125.0
AGE  40  45  58  76  69
Snat-LF  150  120  105  45  55
Snat-RT  155  150  100  50  70
C&J-LF  120  120  90  40  35
C&J-RT  130  150  80  40  40
Side-LF  95  80  75  30  35
Side-RT  100  110  55  40  40
BP-LF  115  100  80  35  40
BP-RT  120  130  65  40  60
DL-LF  400  320  300  165  180
DL-RT  410  380  315  165  170
TOTAL  1795  1660  1265  650  725
POINTS  1435.5  1393.3  1188.2  770.4  712.6

NOTES: BWT is bodyweight in kilograms. All lifts recorded in pounds. Total is total pounds lifted. Points are adjusted points for bodyweight and age.

EXTRA ATTEMPTS FOR RECORDS:

Al Myers: Snatch – Right Arm 172#
Al Myers: Deadlift – Right Arm 410#
Chad Ullom: Deadlift – Right Arm 451#

History of the Dino Challenge

by Al Myers

Chad Ullom performing the Judd Clean and Jerk (a one leg C & J) in the 2009 Dino Gym Challenge. Chad has won the Dino Gym Challenge three times (2008, 2009, 2010), which is the most times it has been won by the same lifter.

The Dino Gym Challenge is approaching FAST!  It is this coming Saturday, with the event being hosted in the Dino Gym.  I’m still taking entries, so last minute entries will be accepted.  I do appreciate those letting me know ahead of time of their intent to enter, but if you want to just show up on meet day to compete that will be ok for this one.  The Dino Gym Challenge has been going on for 8 years now, with this being the ninth.   Only three CURRENT USAWA events have a longer running history in the same location  – the Zercher and the Deanna Meets hosted by Bill Clark, and Art’s Birthday Bash hosted by Art Montini.  Two other long standing meets have had “breaks” in their run:   Bad weather interrupted the Goerner one year and it was cancelled, and the Backbreaker was cancelled a couple of times due to lack of entries. 

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.  This year it is the battle of the one arm lifts: 5 lifts with each one contested with both arms.  I am going to give a “run-down” of the preceding Dino Gym Challenges and how they turned out.

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.

*** CHAD ULLOM IS THE ONLY LIFTER WHO HAS COMPETED IN EVERY DINO GYM CHALLENGE TO DATE***

Dino Gym Challenge

by Al Myers

MEET ANNOUNCEMENT – THE DINO GYM CHALLENGE

English lifter Steve Andrews set a WORLD RECORD in the Dumbbell Clean and Jerk with a fine lift of 52.5 KG at the 2011 IAWA Gold Cup. Steve is the reigning British Single Arm Champion.

This is a meet that the Dino Gym has promoted for several years now (since 2004).  Unlike a lot of other meets in the USAWA where the same meet (with the same lifts) is done year after year, our meet is different every year with a different theme and different lifts.  Last year we promoted the VERY FIRST Old Time Strongman meet in the USAWA with great success.  We had 18 lifters take part which is the largest attended meet in the USAWA this year to date (tied with the National Championships which also drew 18 lifters).  Hopefully, this year will be just as big.  I have picked a different “theme” for this year – the SINGLE ARM CHALLENGE.   Several of our all round lifts are performed using only one arm, but never have we had just a meet made up with single arm lifts.  This will be a first in the USAWA.  Single Arm lifting is very popular in the IAWA(UK), and every year they promote the British Single Arm Championships.  This past year this meet was promoted by Frank Allen in his home town of Leicester, England (which also happens to be the site of the very first IAWA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS).  The lifts contested in this meet were the one arm snatch, the one arm clean & jerk, and the one arm deadlift.  Veteran English lifter Steve Andrews won this years competition.

I have always thought this was an interesting concept for  a meet.   I have decided to add a little more to the English version, and add a couple of other all round one arm lifts.  On top of this, I thought it would make for a REALLY interesting competition if the lifter would be required to do a lift with EACH ARM.  This way the most balanced one armed lifter would win, as a lifter couldn’t just rely on their strong arm for all the lifts.  So, all together 5 lifts, but 10 events.  It will be interesting to see the poundage differences lifted between each arm for each lifter.

THE DINO GYM PRESENTS – “the single arm challenge”

 Meet Director: Al Myers and the Dino Gym,  785-479-2264

Meet Date:  Saturday, January 14th, 2012,  10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Location:  Dino Gym, 1126 Eden Road, Abilene, KS 67410

Sanction:  U.S.A.W.A    Memberships may be purchased on meet day.

Weigh-ins:  9:00-10:00 AM the day of the meet

Divisions:  Juniors, Women, Masters, and Open

Awards:  None

Entry: None & no entry deadline

Lifts:

Side Press – One Arm
Bench Press – One Arm
Snatch – One Arm
Clean and Jerk – One Arm
Deadlift – One Arm

(BOTH ARMS WILL BE CONTESTED IN EACH LIFT)

Registration:   Send entry to Al Myers, 1126 Eden Road, Abilene, Kansas 67410

For pdf entry form click here – DinoChallenge12

Dino Challenge Fundraiser

(Webmaster’s Note:  A silent auction will be conducted at the Dino Challenge Oldtime Strongman Contest in January, with all proceeds going to the Friends of the Salina Animal Shelter.  This groups efforts are very noble, and by having this auction we may be able to help them just a little.  Lots of GREAT THINGS will be in the auction – from some of the Dino Gym’s unique pieces of equipment to donated items from the Dino Strength product line.  There is no entry fee for the Challenge, but plan on bringing some money for the auction.  Fellow Dino Gym member and training partner Mark Mitchell has shared information with us regarding the compassionate vision of the Friends of the Salina Animal Shelter. – by Al Myers)

by Mark Mitchell

The Friends of the Salina Animal Shelter was formed in February 2007 by Molly Reusser. Her initial intent was to spearhead a group of animal lovers who wanted to pet some dogs but was she in for a big surprise-she had not met Laura Mitchell,Julie Coble,Shannon Kingsley and Trish Hayden yet!! Laura and I have been going to an animal rescue ranch in Kanab Utah called Best Friends for several years to volunteer taking care of some 5000 plus rescued dogs,cats,horses,donkeys etc… combined and we knew how a first rate shelter should be operated. Now,we had a chance to do some of the same things with animals in our own back yard!  Of course,my wife and friends never do anything with half effort and we immediately jumped in to socialize the dogs and cats in the Salina Shelter and pushed hard to get them adopted locally.

Then, we started looking at the figures regarding euthanized former pets and we were astounded. What could we do to change those numbers?  Group member Julie Coble went out on a mission to help solve this. What she found has become a big lifesaver for some 500 dogs just this past year. It is called the Rescue Waggin and it is operated through Petsmart charities. Now,one would have thought our local animal shelter staff would have fallen all over themselves, thanking Julie for this wonderful idea and jumped right on our band wagon(our volunteer group,though working hand in hand with the animal shelter staff,is a separate entity). Alas,no. We were met with big resistance. Did this deter us? No,it did not. A few of us decided to pool our own money together,adopt several dogs we selected,drive a rented cargo van to Denver or Boulder Colorado to Dumb Friends and the Boulder Humane Society and pay transfer fees there because we had heard dogs get adopted in huge numbers from these facilities(Rescue Waggin now takes our dogs to Boulder). We spent thousands of dollars each for quite some time.

Finally,the powers that be saw that we were not a threat and that our intentions were good. It also did not hurt that we,as volunteers,agreed to do all of the work regarding bringing the Rescue Waggin to Salina(we are the only shelter in the nation that uses volunteers to coordinate the Rescue Waggin operation). And what a work load it has been!!  From getting volunteers trained and certified to be behavior specialsts,contracting with local vets to do the health checks to coordinating all of these efforts with the Rescue Waggin personnel(that would be my dear wife Laura’s role!!)  But it has been worth all of the hassles!!  Think of it.  Five hundred great lives and wonderful pets spared and matched with loving families in Colorado just this past year!

Our volunteers put in long hours. We are not just about the Rescue Waggin. We still provide love and care to the dogs and cats who do not qualify for transport. We are involved in fund raisers,special adoption months,hay bale giveaways for all of our outdoor furry friends. The list goes on and on. Our group is amazed and gracious that the Dino Gym has selected us for charitable contributions at the Dino Gym Old Time Barbell Challenge in January !

1 … 3 4 5 6