Tag Archives: USAWA

Date For Nationals

by Al Myers

2010 National Meet Director Denny Habecker

Our USAWA President and this year’s National Meet Director Denny Habecker has announced plans for this year’s Championships.  Denny has planned a two day National Championship, like it used to be several years ago, on June 26th and June 27th, 2010.  It will be held in Lebanon, PA  at the same venue site as this past year’s World Championship. This is an outstanding venue site that has plenty of room for lifting and warming up.   Denny continues to be the driving force in the USAWA, as this is his THIRD National Championships he has promoted since 2000.  He has picked a GREAT selection of lifts for this meet, with a little something for everyone.

Meeting Louis Cyr

by John McKean

Statue of Louis Cyr in Montreal

While attending the 1987 Master’s Pan Am weightlifting championships ( I believe I was 41 at the time and had trimmed down to 132 # -too much aerobics!), my friend & driver John Harrison and I got slightly lost in the suburb of Montreal between the meet venue and our hotel. This was the third or fourth time we had become lost in that sprawling city during that exciting weekend! Since the hotel was only about 2 miles away, we knew we couldn’t be that far off course! Another group of lifters were following us back and, of course, they didn’t know exactly where we were either. So we pulled off beside a tiny park to check the map. As we got out of the cars some one pointed over and exclaimed “Look at that!! Isn’t that Louis Cyr?!” We all eyeballed the massive, well weathered statue and couldn’t miss the inscription! We lifters were like school kids over this find! Was this the neighborhood that Cyr himself once roamed?

In case anyone is not sure, Cyr is the big one in the background and the tiny figure in the bottom right in a similar pose (I think at that bodyweight I had the advantage in shape & definition over ole Louie for this pose-off!!) is yours truly! I captioned the photo as ” Louis Cyr asking John for All-Round training advice!”

Later we asked our Canadian hosts ( who did one heck of a job in hosting this big event) about the statue and they seemed completely mystified, not knowing of its existence. Since that time, in fact, NO ONE who I’ve ever heard of has seen this really cool statue! We couldn’t even locate it again ourselves when describing it to other lifters back at the hotel. Thank goodness we took the photo! I thought it would be neat to display this since the recent article appeared in a recent Daily News below.( the pic since has inspired me to bulk up!!).

IAWA Gold Cup

Gold Cup Date is Announced

by Al Myers

2010 Gold Cup Meet Director Frank Ciavattone

The date for the 2010 Gold Cup has been announced.  It will be held on November 6th, 2010 in Walpole, Massachusetts. Longtime USAWA promoter and top All-Time All-Round Heavyweight Frank Ciavattone will be the meet director.  It is great to have Frank promote another prestigious meet.  Frank has promoted two National Championships (1996 and 1998) and knows how to put on a great meet. The USAWA membership needs to really support the Gold Cup when it is in the United States – so put this date on your calendar now!  Frank has given us more than enough notice on this so lets not let him down.

2010 GOLD CUP CLASSIC INVITATIONS

2010 GOLD CUP ENTRY FORM


The Foot Press

by Al Myers

Dave Glasgow lifting over 1000# in the Foot Press at the Dino Gym Challenge

Recently at the Dino Gym Challenge we performed an “exhibition lift” that was a very popular Old Time Strongman performance feat. I initially termed it the “Plank Support”, but the proper name for the lift we did in the meet should be the “Foot Press”. This lift has never been contested before (in modern times at least) so I had some uncertainty in how the event would go. The difference between a Plank Support and a Foot Press is this – in the Plank Support the legs are already locked as weight is added to the feet while with the Foot Press the weight is pushed up with the legs/hip to lockout. Both of these were favorites of Arthur Saxon, and it is reported that he did 3200# in both. Saxon would lay on his back while a heavy plank was placed on his feet in which weight (often in the form of people) was loaded onto the plank. He did “a little extra” with his act in that once the weight was loaded and supported he would slightly unlock his knees and then leg press it out again. So in a sense he was doing both a Plank Support and Foot Press at the same time! Other strongman didn’t unlock their legs when doing this stunt. He also didn’t use any hand supports, thus maintaining balance with his feet only! The rules for the Foot Press as was done at the Dino Gym Challenge is as follows:

Rules for Foot Press

An apparatus is used in which weight is loaded onto the feet only while the lifter is laying on his/her back on the floor/platform with the legs vertical and perpendicular to the floor. The apparatus used must allow the weight to rise without providing any leverage to the lift, but may be guided in a tract. It is also acceptable to use a plank resting on support platforms. The lift starts at the lifter’s discretion. Hands may be placed on the legs or any part of the apparatus, but must not be used to push directly against the weight being lifted. The weight lifted must clear the supports and be held motionless, at which time an official will give a command to end the lift.

The following is a story told and written by Sig Klein, “When Arthur Saxon came to this country to fill an engagement with the Ringling Brothers Circus, weightlifters in and around New York thought here was the athlete for Warren Lincoln Travis to meet in competition. For reasons never made clear to me, this match never materialized, although Travis trained for the match that was being talked about. He told me that he could never hope to equal Saxon in the Bent Press or on the Foot Press, but he trained on these lifts nonetheless. Travis spoke to Saxon about the Foot Press and I will tell you what transpired regarding this lift. Travis asked Saxon if a contest was to be arranged and the Foot Press was one of the tests, if he, Saxon, would agree to allow Travis to do his lift with the plank resting on two trestles and iron placed on the plank. Saxon, who had his two brothers trained and a group of men who were placed on this plank in perfect order by the brothers, agreed to allow Travis to do anything that he desired. Travis said that this was the way Saxon acted about most any lift. He was very fair and would agree to most any kind of arrangements for a contest as long as Saxon could get a contest. Travis had the greatest respect for Arthur Saxon and told me that in an overhead weightlifting contest Saxon could beat him but that Travis hoped to defeat Saxon on the Back and Harness and Finger Lifts.”

I was very impressed with this lift and everyone at the meet seemed to enjoy it. It is a lift that can be done in almost any gym. All it takes is a Vertical Leg Press Machine or a Power Rack in which a plank could be placed across the supports. The Foot Press is the Heavy Lift version of the Leg Press. There are a couple of Leg Press Lifts as official USAWA lifts, but they are full range of motion lifts and nothing like the Foot Press. I am going to present this lift to the USAWA Executive Board for new lift approval so hopefully, the next time the Foot Press is done it can be “official” and records can be set in it.

USAWA Business Updates


by Al Myers

New Officers

With the new year comes a change in leadership within the USAWA.  The newly elected officers took office on January 1st. Denny Habecker will remain as our President, Chad Ullom will be the new Vice President, and I will take over the position of Secretary/Treasurer, a position that has been held by Bill Clark since the inception of the USAWA.

Membership Dues

With the coming of a new year comes the time that everyone needs to renew their USAWA membership dues. There are some changes in how this will be done.  The USAWA will no longer issue membership cards with membership. Instead, I will maintain a Membership Roster on the website of all current members.  This Membership Roster is kept in the Members Section. The Members Section is only visible for viewing if you are registered for the website and are logged in to the site. There is no cost associated with being a member of the website, and you can be a member of the website and not a USAWA member.  Also located in the Members Section is the USAWA Discussion Forum. Please send your USAWA Membership dues to me for processing.  Membership forms can be found under “Forms & Applications”.

Video Page

The USAWA Video Page is still under construction.  I am hoping later this month I will have enough videos on it to make it viewable. If anyone has videos of All-Round lifts and would like to contribute to this please contact me.  I have set up a USAWA YouTube account that videos can be directly placed on.  Contact me if you want the password for this account.

Facebook Page

Chad Ullom has put alot of work into the USAWA Facebook Page. If you have a Facebook Account, you will want to join this group.  This page contains lots of pictures of USAWA events – way more than you get to see here on the website.

Drug Testing

There will be some changes this year with drug testing.  We will continue to be very aggressive in our drug testing approach, but have to make some changes due to economic reasons.  Last year the USAWA only tested at two events – the National Championships and the World Championships. But in both of these events, several competitors were tested. At Nationals 77% of the competitors were tested and at Worlds 38% were tested. This year more competitions will be tested but fewer will be selected for testing at each meet.  Not all meets will be announced that testing will occur so be prepared to be tested at ANY event!  However, I will give you the heads up on this one – the next meet testing will happen at will be the Dino Grip Challenge, held next month.

Year in Review

I have finished a Year in Review publication of all news that has happened in the USAWA this past year (2009).  This document contains all Daily News articles, all 2009 meet results, Hall of Fame Bios, and pretty much everything else  that has been put on the website this past year. It is all in one neat document. I am going to take it to the printer soon so if anyone wants a copy please let me know. I am going to have it bound. All I ask for payment is to cover the costs of copying and binding.  However, the document is over 200 pages long and over 100,000 words.  I am not sure what this might cost – but I would predict 40$ – $50.  Or if you just want a copy of it in digital format I’ll email it to you free of charge. Let me know soon so I know how many to have printed.

Writers for the Daily News

I am always looking for people to contribute to the Daily News.  If you like to write and see your words in print, maybe writing for the Daily News is for you!! It doesn’t pay much (actually nothing) but the satisfaction you will get from contributing to our great organization will make it all worthwhile!  Again, please send any story or article to me.

National Postal Meet Winners

Today I sent out Championship medals to all class winners of the 2009 National Postal Meet, hosted by John Wilmot. The awards were sponsored by the USAWA.  Congratulations to all participants and be expecting your award for your accomplishments soon!

Welcome Back Joe’s Gym

USAWA Hall of Famer Joe Ciavattone just renewed his club, Joe’s Gym, as a Member Club in the USAWA. Joe’s Gym was a club member in 2002.   Along with paying the club dues, I received individual memberships from 4 Joe’s Gym members.  This includes Joe Ciavattone Sr., Joe Ciavattone Jr., Jonathan Ciavattone, and Mike O’Brien. Hopefully, everyone will follow the great example set by Joe’s Gym and get your memberships in early this year.

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