The Deadlift – No Thumb, One Arm
by Al Myers
Ben Edwards, the Dino Grip Challenge Meet Director, set the All-Time Record in the Deadlift - No Thumb, One Arm with a lift of 275 pounds at Clark's Gym Record Day last November.
This week I’m going to run stories describing the lifts that will be in this coming weekend’s Dino Grip Challenge. Like I said earlier, the USAWA has several lifts that are grip oriented, but not necessary traditional grip events that are held in other grip competitions. All of the events in the Dino Grip Challenge are official USAWA events. Ben Edwards has picked a good variety of lifts. The competition will be scored according to USAWA format. This means that the weight lifted in each event will be added up for total weight lifted, and then adjusted for bodyweight using the Lynch Formula followed by age adjustment. Age adjustment starts at the age of 40, with 1% being added per year. There are two divisions in this competition in which awards will be given – under 200 pounds bodyweight and over 200 pounds bodyweight.
“The rules of the Deadlift – One Arm apply except that the thumb of the lifting hand must not be covering the bar. The thumb may lie alongside and touch the index finger and bar under the bar or be held in the air not touching the bar. The thumb must not be touching the top of the bar.”
The bar must be raised to a point where both ends of the bar are above knee level, and then held motionless until the lifter receives the down command. This lift tests the strength of the fingers’ flexor tendons and the ability to hold the fingers in a “locked” position on the bar. My advice on this lift is to pick your attempts wisely, because this lift goes from being easy to missing the lift by sometimes as little as a 5 pound jump.