Monthly Archives: January 2013

Dino Gym Challenge

by Al Myers

2013 DINO GYM CHALLENGE
“PRESENTING AN OLD TIME STRONGMAN POWERLIFTING MEET”

Group picture of the participants in the 2013 Dino Gym Challenge.

MEET REPORT:

I was expecting maybe 10 or 12 lifters for the annual Dino Gym Challenge – but then to my amazement lifters kept showing up and showing up!!  The total number of entrants came to 21 lifters!!!!  That’s only a few off what entered the World Meet that I promoted last fall!!!  I was very excited to see this, as it shows the interest that lifters have in the “new” Old Time Strongman Competitions.  This meet was promoted as an “Old Time Strongman Powerlifting Meet” because it contained three OTSM lifts that are partial-lift deviations of the three powerlifts (Squat, Bench Press, and Deadlift).  The meet included two Official OTSM lifts (the Anderson Squat and the Peoples Deadlift) as well as one exhibition lift (the Hackenschmidt Floor Press).  The Hack FP  “went over” really real with the lifters and I hope that it will become approved as an official OTSM lift this year. 

The three officials of the Dino Gym Challenge holding their souvenir beer mugs - complete with Dino Gym logo!! These mugs were given as the awards to all participants. (left to right: Chad Ullom, Thom Van Vleck, LaVerne Myers)

One thing that I GREATLY appreciate with the Dino Gym members is how we always “come together” to support each other in our promoted events.  Putting on any competition requires lots of “behind the scenes” work, and manpower on the day of the event. Even though we had more lifters show up than expected, things ran very smoothly because there was enough “helpers” to make it happen.   Often after meets the attention is always on the lifting performances, but things wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t for those facilitating the meet.  In this meet report I want to mention these guys first (they’re often the last mentioned).  The USAWA OTSM Chairman Thom Van Vleck is first on my list to thank.  Thom has been promoting the yearly OTSM Championships, and he has made a effort to be at most ALL of the OTSM meets in the USAWA, offering leadership and support.  He took on the hardest event to officiate (the Anderson Squat) for the day.  Chad Ullom, who normally doesn’t miss an opportunity to compete, sat this one out so he could be one of the needed officials of the day.  He officiated the Peoples Deadlift as well as loaded that event the entire day.  LaVerne Myers officiated the new OTSM event, the  Hackenschmidt Floor Press.  LaVerne has been a very important official in the club, and does an outstanding job.  He is very professional in his officiating and keeps things on pace.  His group finished before Chad’s and Thom’s in every rotation!!!  I also want to thank Mike Murdock and Tyler Cookson for helping spot and load throughout the day.  This help allowed me to focus on the daily details, keeping the scores updated, and taking lots of pictures.  Finally, I want to mention and thank my wife Leslie who made the lunch for everyone and puts up with me for stressing over every “little detail”. 

Dan Wagman pressing 435 pounds, which was the top Hackenschmidt Floor Press of the meet.

Now onto the lifting performances.  The IAWA World Champs Dan Wagman and Ruth Jackson made their appearance from Colorado, and added another overall victory to their USAWA resumes. Both performed outstanding in all of these OTSM events.  Dan “put up” the top Hackenschmidt Floor Press of the day with 435 pounds. Newcomer Mike McIntyre lifted 410 pounds in the FP.  Mike is a member of the JWC, and at 29 years of age, has his best lifting years still ahead of him.  KC Strongman Eric Todd also lifted 410 pounds in the FP.  That’s THREE lifters over 400 pounds!!! 

I was very interested to see the big lifts in the Anderson Squat. I was hoping to see several lifts over 800 pounds – and that I did!! Eric Todd became the first USAWA lifter to ever go over 900 pounds (with a lift of 903#).  ET has been “making his name known” in the USAWA this past year with winning the Heavy Lift Champs last spring, and setting the ALL TIME neck lift record at Worlds.  His second place finish in this stellar-packed field of lifters show that he is also a top contender in any future OTSM competition.  John O’Brien of the JWC upped his personal record in the Anderson Squat to 810 pounds. I want to mention that John did this after losing over 30 pounds of bodyweight. This bodyweight loss while maintaining his same strength helped him with the formula adjustment and aided him to get third place overall at this meet. I say this because he “just edged” out Alan English by one point!!!   Alan is a Dino Gym member who I have FINALLY got to compete in an USAWA competition. He is a gifted strength athlete who has lots of strongman victories to his name.  I hope that this meet has inspired him to compete more in the USAWA, because if he does, you will see several great things out of him in the future.  Rounding out the top five was another Dino Gym member, Scott Campbell.  Scott finished off his day with the second highest Anderson Squat, with a lift of 881 pounds.  Scott is a seasoned Highland Game Athlete who has strength that he doesn’t really know he has. 

Dino Gym member Chuck Cookson had the top Peoples Deadlift of the meet with this 800 pound lift!

I got a couple of other lifters that I want to mention.  First – Chuck Cookson.  Chuck started the meet off by putting up the top Peoples Deadlift of the day – 800 pounds!!!  However, he opened a little too high on the Anderson Squat (800 pounds!!!) and couldn’t get a lift in.  If he would have got in an Anderson Squat, he would have placed much higher in the overall.  I want to thank Art Montini and Denny Habecker for making the trip from Pennsylvania to compete.  It’s always inspiring to watch these two lift in meets.  I would like to know how many USAWA meets these two have competed in throughout the years. They seem to always be at USAWA events, and have been doing this for 25 years!!! I really doubt if there are very many other lifters in the USAWA that have competed as many times as these two.  I want to thank a couple of Jobe Steel Jungle lifters who made the trip – Tim Songster and Dan Bunch. I really appreciate it when lifters travel to my meets from out of state. This includes Dean Ross from Oklahoma.  I did a quick count and lifters from six states competed in this meet.  That’s simply amazing!!!

As always, I still have lots more to report on but I got to draw a conclusion to my meet report at some point.  Tomorrow I’ll reveal the results from the challenge between the Dino Gym and the Hoghton Barbell Club.  Also, I still have the results from the shooting competition that went on after the meet to report on. That’ll be coming later this week.  Again, I want to thank EVERYONE who competed, helped out, or just showed up to watch.  This will go down as one of the best Dino Gym Challenges of ALL TIME. 

MEET RESULTS:

Dino Gym Challenge
Dino Gym, Abilene, Kansas
Saturday, January 19th, 2013

Meet Director:  Al Myers

Officials (1 official system used):  Thom Van Vleck, Chad Ullom, LaVerne Myers

Scorekeeper:  Al Myers

Loaders:  Tyler Cookson, Mike Murdock

Lifts:  Anderson Squat, Hackenschmidt Floor Press, Peoples Deadlift

WOMENS DIVISION

LIFTER AGE BWT SQ FP DL TOT PTS
Ruth Jackson 51 107 286 160 319 765 1180.1
Jera Kressly 28 219 319 0 379 698 593.2

EXTRA ATTEMPTS MADE FOR RECORD:

Ruth Jackson: Anderson Squat 308#
Ruth Jackson: Hackenschmidt Floor Press 180#
Jera Kressly: Anderson Squat 352#
Jera Kressly:  Peoples Deadlift 399#

MENS DIVISION

LIFTER AGE BWT SQ FP DL TOT PTS
Dan Wagman 50 185 738 435 677 1850 1917.6
Eric Todd 38 262 903 410 717 2030 1573.1
John O’Brien 44 262 810 380 554 1744 1419.0
Alan English 29 231 694 320 702 1716 1418.1
Scott Campbell 38 287 881 325 654 1860  1378.8
Mark Mitchell 52 316 672 365 624 1661 1329.4
Tim Songster Sr. 45 205 501 285 554 1340 1251.8
Mike McIntyre 29 273 600 410 604 1614 1225.5
Darren Barnhart 45 302 628 340 624 1592 1221.1
Dave Glasgow 59 252 507 250 504 1261 1195.4
Doug Kressly 33  276 540 320 604 1464 1106.1
Scott Tully 37 313  600 320 604 1524 1086.2
Dan Bunch 48 360 551 275 624 1450 1055.3
Denny Habecker 70 198 331 215 349 895 1052.9
Dean Ross 70 273 402 180 379 961 955.9
Ben Edwards 37 217 440 225 449 1114 951.4
Art Montini 85 175 209 120 306 635 895.2
Chuck Cookson 43  275 0 300 800 1100  865.7
Lance Foster 47 330  402 180 554 1136 851.9

 EXTRA ATTEMPTS MADE FOR RECORD:

Denny Habecker:  Anderson Squat 352#
Denny Habecker: Hackenschmidt Floor Press 225#
Denny Habecker: Peoples Deadlift 369#
Dan Bunch: Peoples Deadlift 649#
Dan Wagman: Anderson Squat 782#
Dan Wagman:  Peoples Deadlift 707#
Dean Ross: Peoples Deadlift 399#
Lance Foster: Hackenschmidt Floor Press 190#

EXTRA LIFTS MADE FOR RECORD:

Dan Wagman: Curl – Cheat, Reverse Grip 204#
Dan Wagman: Vertical Bar Deadlift – 1 Bar, 2″, Left Hand 180#
Dan Wagman: Vertical Bar Deadlift – 1 Bar, 1″, Left Hand 217#
Dan Wagman: Vertical Bar Deadlift – 1 Bar, 1″, Right Hand 217#
Ruth Jackson: Bench Press – Right Arm 44#
Ruth Jackson: Bench Press – Left Arm 44#
Ruth Jackson: Bench Press – Feet in Air 110#
Ruth Jackson: Bench Press – Hands Together 93.5#
Ruth Jackson: Holdout – Raised 33#
Ruth Jackson: Holdout – Lowered 33#
Ruth Jackson: Deadlift – Right Arm 181.75#
Ruth Jackson: Deadlift – Left Arm 181.75#
Ruth Jackson: Deadlift – Ciavattone Grip, Right Arm 90#
Ruth Jackson: Deadlift – Ciavattone Grip, Left Arm 90#

NOTES:  All lifts recorded in pounds.  BWT is bodyweight in pounds.  TOT is total pounds lifted.  PTS are adjusted points for bodyweight and age correction.

A Poet and Didn’t Know it! Part 1

by Thom Van Vleck

I was going through some old magazines recently.  These aren’t just magazines that are old…they are magazines that have been in my possession since they were purchased by me from the newsstand (yes, we had one in Kirksville…and it’s still here!) since I started training.  The past 20 years I have spent a lot of my magazine time on the ones that my Uncle’s gave me from the 50’s and 60’s and the ones my grandfather gave me from the 30’s and 40’s plus some I have bought over the years from collectors or “inherited” from other old club members who know I will keep them and take care of them.   I have ignored the 70’s, 80’s and up.  Partly because I see those era’s as tainted by steroids and partly because I felt like the commercialism really got carried away (I know, I know…..all the early mags sold stuff too….and were practically catalogs for products….but it just seemed to get worse!).

At any rate, I dug out some late 70’s mags recently.  This included some old “Muscle Builder” mags by Weider.  There’s a reason I hadn’t looked at these for years!  I bought them back in the day because there was little information available and I took what I could get!  At any rate, as I thumbed through a 1979 issue a piece of paper fell out.  It was folded up note book paper with the vertical red line on the left side where you would start writing and the blue lines so you would keep things neat and straight plus three holes to put it in a three ring binder.  I felt like I had to describe that as I don’t think the younger kids would know what I’m talking about!!!!!   The paper indicated to me it was from school and it was probably something I had wrote while goofing off and avoiding class work.  I often would sit and draw pictures related to lifting, sketch out workout routines, write out goals, or just about anything you could imagine related to weightlifting…..from the age of 15 to 18 I was as fanatical as they come!

This particular piece of paper was jammed in an article by Mike Mentzer on calf training.  I recall that article well!  It almost landed me in the Emergency Room.  I often was too impatient (that’s what they called Attention Deficit Disorder what I was a kid) to read all the “details”.  My calves were as skinny as a marathon runner and I wanted to gain some size.  This article detailed about a dozen or so exercises and in my haste to get “Diamond Shaped” calves I decided to do them all for 3 sets of 20 with maximum weights.  The next day my calves were so sore I could hardly walk.  It was also a day I was supposed to go rabbit hunting with my Uncle Phil (also an accomplished lifter and as sadistic as they come when it comes to training!).  He saw me hobble out (in SERIOUS PAIN) and quickly surmised I was sore from lifting.  He offered to call of the hunting but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction as I knew I’d never hear the end of it.  So we proceeded to hunt for the next 8 hours in cold, wind, and rain and I’m pretty sure he picked the spots that required the most walking to get to.  Finally, we went home and my calves actually felt a little better….until I laid down.  Then, they began to feel like they were on fire and someone was slicing them open with a scalpel!  They hurt so bad quiet tears ran down my face.   My mom found me and evidently I was having trouble hiding my distress and wanted to take me to the ER.  I refused, and I recall her going in trying to talk my Dad into “making” me go….but lucky for me my Dad was as sadistic as my Uncle and laughed his butt off as he knew exactly what was going on.  I was lost in the memory as I held that paper in my hand.

So, back to my story….I opened up this long, lost paper expecting some workout routine, or something like that….and found a poem.  It was a poem I had written when I was around 15 years old.  You have to understand that I started lifting at age 13…but on my 15th birthday (because I read where Arnold started seriously training at age 15) I went “all in”.  And when I say all in, I was training around 3 hours EVERY DAY and lived, ate, and breathed lifting every waking moment….and then I would DREAM about it at night!   Evidently, I had run out of routines and things to write about and had written a poem.  While I write a lot and always have….I haven’t written a lot of poems.  I don’t remember writing this one, but I do know I wrote it as I recognized my handwriting.  I peeled the yellowed and folded pages open and began to read.

In Part II, the poem.

National Postal

by Al Myers

MEET RESULTS
2013 USAWA NATIONAL POSTAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Congratulations to all the lifters that took part in the 2013 National Postal Championships!!!  It was a well represented meet – with a total of 19 lifters taking part.  Gabby Jobe was the lone female entrant – and for that she gathered the title of National Postal Champion.  The Mens Division was a “slug fest” with several BIG NAME lifters competing.  Dino Gym member Chad Ullom took top honors, edging out Orie Barnett. Troy Goetsch was third, Joe Ciavattone Jr. fourth, and Eric Todd fifth. The BIG BULL Bryan Benzel came in sixth, but he posted the highest total of the meet at 1261 pounds.

Gabby was the youngest lifter of the meet at 10 years of age.  Denny “the PREZ” Habecker was the oldest lifter of the meet at 70 years of age. Gabby was the lightest competitor at 103 pounds. The lightest male lifter was Denny, at 190 pounds.  The heaviest lifter of the meet was close between my two training partners Scott Tully and Mark Mitchell, as well as Lance Foster.  Scott ended up reigning as the heavyweight supremo at 331 pounds – of solid muscle I might add!

MEET RESULTS:

2013 National Postal Championships
December, 2012

Meet Director: John Wilmot

Lifters using a Certified Official (1 official system used):

Gabby Jobe – Certified Officials Alison Jobe, Jesse Jobe
Troy Goetsch – Certified Officials Jesse Jobe, Bryan Benzel
Barry Bryan – Certified Official Denny Habecker
Scott Tully – Certified Official Al Myers
Mark Mitchell – Certified Official Al Myers
Denny Habecker – Certified Official Barry Bryan
Tim Songster Sr. – Certified Officials Jesse Jobe, Dan Bunch
Joe Ciavattone Jr. – Certified Official Joe Ciavattone Sr.
Jesse Jobe – Certified Officials Bryan Benzel, Dan Bunch
Chad Ullom – Certified Official Al Myers
Eric Todd – Certified Official Lance Foster
Daniel Bunch – Certified Official Jesse Jobe, Bryan Benzel
Bryan Benzel – Certified Officials Jesse Jobe, Dan Bunch
Lance Foster – Certified Official Eric Todd

Lifters using a non-certified Judge (Not eligible for records):

Samuel Rogers – Judge Orie Barnett
John Wilmot – Judge Kay Wilmot
Orie Barnett – Judge Samuel Rogers
Joe Ciavattone Sr. – Judge Joe Ciavattone Jr.

Lifter without any Judge (Exhibition Only):

James Fuller – no Judge

Lifts: Clean and Press – Reverse Grip, Squat – 12″ Base, Deadlift – 2 Dumbbells

WOMENS DIVISION

LIFTER AGE BWT C&P SQ DBDL TOT PTS
Gabby Jobe 10 103 41 90 100 231 435.9

 

MENS DIVISION

LIFTER AGE BWT C&P SQ DBDL TOT PTS
Chad Ullom 41 251 198 507 552 1257 1015.2
Orie Barnett 51 229 190 485 400 1075 998.9
Troy Goetsch 26 198 181 455 430 1066 958.0
Joe Ciavattone Jr. 19 218 200 450 450 1100 956.2
Eric Todd 37 260 225 455 520 1200 933.4
Bryan Benzel 25 292 261 500 500 1261 926.1
Samuel Rogers 50 208 180 395 328 903 876.0
Mark Mitchell 52 327 220 451 422 1093 861.1
Joe Ciavattone Sr. 44 228 185 400 400 985 860.7
Jesse Jobe 35 242 200 365 450 1015 818.8
Tim Songster Sr. 45 204 175 345 350 870 814.7
Barry Bryan 54 197 176 231 360 768 794.7
Scott Tully 37 331 176 418 510 1104 765.5
Daniel Bunch 48 365 176 315 390 881 740.1
Denny Habecker 70 190 110 176 294 580 699.8
John Wilmot 65 219 105 205 300 610 653.2
Lance Foster 47 326 141 250 350 741 568.9
James Fuller 41 234 143 346 501 990 827.5

NOTES:  All weights recorded in pounds. BWT is bodyweight in pounds.  TOT is total pounds lifted.  PTS is adjusted points for bodyweight and age correction.

IAWA Flags

by Al Myers

IAWA Banner

A while back on the IAWA(UK) Facebook page Steve Gardner posed this question to the membership, “How many countries have been represented in IAWA competitions over the past 25 years?”  This may include just 1 lifter from any given country.  Several responses were given to fully answer this question.  The final count came to 15 NATIONS that have sent at least one representative to an IAWA event or competition!

Steve then put together this banner which shows the flags of all countries that have had past involvement in IAWA.  Can you identify all the flags?  I had to “cheat” and look a few up – but here are the answers!

United Kingdom Germany New Zealand China
Canada Ireland Finland Italy
Thailand Australia Pakistan Spain
Wales United States Scotland England

Presidential Speech

by Al Myers, IAWA President

Another year is underway in the World of All Round Weightlifting and the IAWA.   Our history has been a rich one over the past 25 years in IAWA.  I feel the time is here that I should make my “presidential speech” – since being elected the IAWA President last October at the AGM of IAWA.  I know this is an expected duty of any incoming President –  but  I am doing this with some reservations, as I feel that we “have a good thing going” and BIG major changes are not really needed in our organization.   This is due to the previous administration, especially under the guidance of Past IAWA President Steve Gardner.  Steve has lead IAWA in excellent fashion over his two 4-year terms as IAWA President.   I am only hoping that I will be able to “follow in his footsteps” with the same enthusiasm and passion that he has shown for IAWA.   One thing that has always impressed me with Steve is his belief in the democratic principle within the organization, which I wholeheartedly agree with.   IAWA is a democratic body, and in turn should represent the majority viewpoints of the membership.   I promise that I will do my best to represent the feelings of those that elected me, even if my feelings are different on issues.   I’m your elected representative and it’s my duty to represent your views.  Please contact me with your concerns if you have them.  I am “very open” to hearing from the membership and encouraging discussions to solve problem issues.

 The International All Round Weightlifting Association (IAWA)  is the “umbrella World organization” of three Nations that contain organized All Round Weightlifting associations – the USAWA, the IAWA(UK), and the ARWLWA.   I feel the primary purpose of IAWA is to provide the guidance to allow all three organizations to come together for annual World competitions, ie The IAWA World Championships, the Gold Cup, and the IAWA World Postal Meet.    As President, I will make sure to represent all Nations involved.   I also recognize that we are not all “mirror images” of each other, and that is a good thing.  The USAWA has distinctive qualities to it that are different than the IAWA(UK), while the ARWLWA has it’s own very unique “flavor” to their organization.  We are all different in many ways.  History and membership viewpoints are what have driven this, and thus each organization is providing what is wanted by those directly involved.   That’s why I’m saying these differences are a good thing and should be emphasized and commended, instead of criticized and condemned.  However, there are ever-constant problems  in “coming together” for World events when ideas are different.  There has to be some “give and take” to work out these issues – and that is the primary purpose of IAWA – not to supersede established traditions within a nations governing body. 

I do feel that the relations are at an “ALL TIME HIGH” between the USAWA, the IAWA(UK), and the ARWLWA.  This has been shown over the last couple of World Championships.  Again, much of this is attributed to the work of Steve and his ability to promote unity and work through difficulties diplomatically.  He has that gift of leadership.  I will continually “lean on him” for advice in any major IAWA decision made or influenced by myself, as well as the elected board of officers and the IAWA Technical Committee.   The positive relations have also been enhanced by the available networking medias now-a-days.   The USAWA, IAWA-UK, and the ARWLWA each have active Facebook pages to facilitate communications between not only their membership, but others as well.  Practically every day I have contact with someone overseas, either via facebook, message boards,  or email. 

Ok – up till now it seems like I’m just being “general” with all this talk.  I’m sounding like a Politician just throwing out “feel good” concepts that are not specific in any way.  Well, let me give a couple “specific” ideas that I would like to see get accomplished during my next four years in office. 

Develop for the first time a IAWA Rulebook

Up till now there has not really been an IAWA Rulebook.  Each organization has followed their own rulebook which has left many rules of IAWA “unwritten”.   Examples of this is that there are NO WRITTEN rules outlining the proper approval presentation of lifts, the rules of government for  the World Championships and the Gold Cup,  rules for the IAWA Drug Testing Policy, etc.  I could go “on and on” about this as these “unwritten rules” apply to MAJOR ISSUES, which are WAY BEYOND individual lift rules which are only MINOR in comparison. 

Encourage and recruit at least one more “member Nation” to IAWA

Though the years IAWA has had many lifters from countries outside of the United States, the UK, and Australia compete in the Worlds or Gold Cup.  However, as I stated earlier, these other Nations do not have organized All Round Associations consisting of bylaws, Rules, and sanctioned competitions – and these lifters have competed in IAWA events on their own.   I would like to see other Nations “step up” and form All Round Weightlifting organizations that would join IAWA to strengthen and expand our organization.  I will make it a goal of mine to help facilitate this, and provide any guidance that is needed to accomplish this.

Develop historical archives for IAWA

I have already done some of this which is available on the USAWA website under the “history” section.  However, I would like to see our history preserved beyond what I have already done.  I hate to see the past history of the organization “lost” as time goes by.  We have to remember where we came from, as that defines who we are now.  There are VERY FEW around anymore that have been with IAWA since the beginning and know this history firsthand.  I think it is important that the younger lifters have somewhere to look to find out more about the history of our organization.

We may not be a huge organization that has thousands of members – but we are a “close knit” group.  I would contend that having a large membership with hundreds of lifters at the World Championships may NOT be a good thing.   Right now we all know each other and when we get together at meets it is like seeing your family members at a family reunion.  The camaraderie between competitors is strong –something you do not see in other lifting sports.  Little things like that would be lost with a large membership.  We presently have a great IAWA World Record data base – with thanks owed to Chris Bass for this, and before him, to Frank Allen.  The drug testing at IAWA events has been upheld to the ethics of the organization.  We state that we are a drug-free organization and we do the testing to prove it.  That’s something to be proud of.  We have been diligent in promoting our events.  Not once since the World Championships or Gold Cup has started has these events not been contested on a yearly basis.  The annual promotions of these events are vital to the future of IAWA, as they are the basis of our yearly success.   Included in this is the IAWA Annual General Meeting – which allows the membership to speak their concerns and voting to be taken place to uphold the democratic principles of the IAWA.  The AGM is held every year without fail.  Under my term, I promise to keep these events held faithfully on an annual basis.

Like I said earlier – the IAWA has had a rich history of success.  Despite a few “up and downs” and doubters through the years, the organization has not only survived but has thrived.  At the past IAWA World Championships last fall we celebrated the 25 year anniversary of IAWA.  Let’s make the NEXT 25 years just as good as the first 25 years!

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