By Al Myers
The Fulton Dumbbell has been added to the USAWA Online Store, under Spec Equipment. This is a very well built piece that will last forever in your gym. I personally guarantee that you will never bend it in your lifetime. It is made from a solid 1-15/16″ diameter cold roll shaft. The Fulton Dumbbells in the Dino Gym are exactly the same.
Al Myers
Chad Ullom pulling 195 pounds on the Fulton Dumbbell for a new USAWA record at the 2017 USAWA Grip Championships.
The USAWA LIFTER OF THE MONTH for February is Chad Ullom. Chad won the overall Mens Best Lifter in the USAWA Grip Championships in February against a very tough field of grip lifters. He finished the meet off strong by setting a big lift in the Fulton Bar Hack Lift.
Congrats Chad!!!
By Al Myers
Scott Tully performing the top Fulton Dumbbell Deadlift in the USAWA Record Books at the 2012 Grip Championships.
The second lift contested this coming weekend at the USAWA Grip Championships will be the Deadlift – Fulton Dumbbell, One Arm. This is a great lift in the USAWA and has been contested before at the Grip Championships. It is one of my favorite grip lifts in the USAWA. Several years ago I wrote a blog over the origin of this lift. The following is an exerpt from that blog that I would like to share with you again.
Back in the early 80’s at a odd lifting meet in Liberal, Kansas, meet director Bob Burtzloff included a thick-handled dumbbell deadlift in the contest. This dumbbell had a smooth 2 inch diameter handle. Wilbur Miller, the “Cimarron Kid” and Kansas lifting legend, was the hands on favorite to win this event. Wilbur has huge hands with long fingers and was very rarely beaten in any lifting event that involved grip strength. But this day was one of those rare days – when a young farm boy from Nebraska by the name of Kevin Fulton pulled off the upset! Upon Fulton’s winning – Bill Clark announced that this lift would be forever named the Fulton Lift. This eventually lead to the naming of the 2″ bar as the Fulton Bar along with the Fulton Dumbbell. As for Wilbur – upon the finish of the event he went back to the warm-up area and proceeded to pull more on this lift than he did in competition. He went home knowing that he may not have won the event on this day, but with the satisfaction of knowing he would next time!
This is the USAWA Rule for the Deadlift – Fulton Dumbbell, One Arm:
I7. Deadlift – Fulton Dumbbell, One Arm
The rules of the Deadlift – One Arm apply except the dumbbell used must have a handle of 2” in diameter. No knurling is allowed on the handle. The maximum diameter of the plates used is 18 inches.
I have some really nice Fulton Dumbbells that we will use in the Grip Championships. I expect to see some really great lifts this weekend. Since this is a One Arm event you must choose which hand you want to lift with on all your attempts. Below is the USAWA ALL TIME OVERALL RECORDS in the Deadlift – Fulton Dumbbell, One Arm for the Mens Division.
| LEFT ARM | RIGHT ARM | |||
| CLASS | LIFTER | LBS | LIFTER | LBS |
| 75 KG | Stephen Santangelo | 130 | Stephen Santangelo | 130 |
| 80 KG | Art Montini | 60 | Art Montini | 60 |
| 85 KG | None | Denny Habecker | 125 | |
| 90 KG | Denny Habecker | 100 | Denny Habecker | 100 |
| 95 KG | None | None | ||
| 100 KG | Ben Edwards | 175 | Ben Edwards | 185 |
| 105 KG | None | None | ||
| 110 KG | Jeff Ciavattone | 190 | Jeff Ciavattone | 190 |
| 115 KG | LaVerne Myers | 165 | LaVerne Myers | 187 |
| 120 KG | Al Myers | 170 | Al Myers | 170 |
| 125 KG | None | Dean Ross | 125 | |
| 125+ KG | Darren Barnhart | 185 | Scott Tully | 192 |
The Best overall All Time USAWA Record is held by Scott Tully with 192 pounds, set at the 2012 USAWA Grip Championships. But I’m sure you are wondering how much did Kevin Fulton lift on that memorial odd lift day in Liberal, Kansas? It took me “some digging” but I found that Kevin lifted 195 pounds on that day in 1983! So let’s see if anyone this coming weekend can beat this record mark set by Kevin in the pre-USAWA days!
by Al Myers
Al Myers performing a One Arm Fulton Dumbbell Deadlift with 170 pounds at Clark's Record Day.
One of the lifts I did last weekend at Clark’s Record Day was the Fulton Dumbbell Deadlift. I wanted to do this lift to point out a mistake that was made in the new Rule Book and found by Dale Friesz. Despite the extensive review process of the new Rule Book, I knew mistakes were still possible and here is one. Thanks Dale for finding it!
The Rule for the Deadlift – 2 Fulton Dumbbells should be this:
The rules of the Deadlift – 2 Dumbbells apply except the dumbbells used must have handles of 2″ in diameter. No knurling is allowed on the handles. The maximum diameter of the plates used is 18 inches.
Previously, due to a typo, it stated that only 11 inch diameter plates could be used. This typo happened because the Inch Dumbbell Deadlift does require a maximum diameter of 11 inch plates, and the rule for this lift is close to the Fulton Dumbbell Deadlift in the Rule Book. Once again, copy and pasting created a problem for me!! The reason for the Inch Dumbbell Deadlift requiring maximum 11″ plates is because the original Inch Dumbbell was a globe dumbbell, and the rule was written to best simulate the original Inch Dumbbells size using a plate loaded dumbbell handle. This mistake will be corrected in next years updated Rule Book.
Now for the story on how the Fulton Dumbbell got its name….
Back in the early 80’s at a odd lifting meet in Liberal, Kansas, meet director Bob Burtzloff included a thick-handled dumbbell deadlift in the contest. This dumbbell had a smooth 2 inch diameter handle. Wilbur Miller, the “Cimarron Kid” and Kansas lifting legend, was the hands on favorite to win this event. Wilbur has huge hands with long fingers and was very rarely beaten in any lifting event that involved grip strength. But this day was one of those rare days – when a young farm boy from Nebraska by the name of Kevin Fulton pulled off the upset! Upon Fulton’s winning – Bill Clark announced that this lift would be forever named the Fulton Lift. This eventually lead to the naming of the 2″ bar as the Fulton Bar along with the Fulton Dumbbell. As for Wilbur – upon the finish of the event he went back to the warm-up area and proceeded to pull more on this lift than he did in competition. He went home knowing that he may not have won the event on this day, but with the satisfaction of knowing he would next time!