Author Archives: KCSTRONGMAN

Contest Memories Part III

By Eric Todd

After competing in Tri-States Strongest Man in Canton, and then the JWC Strongman meet a month later, I was hooked.  I could not wait to compete in another; however, at the time, there were not nearly as many opportunities to compete locally as there are now.  The next meet I could find strongman wise was the next May, over half a year away.  When you are chomping at the bit to compete like I was at the time, that was just too far.

In the meantime, I kept perusing the strongman sites and training.  Back then we had Worldsstrongestman.com forum, Samson power forum, and two forums for the North American Strongman Society.  I might be missing a couple, but these are the ones I frequented early on in my career.  It is while looking over these that I somehow found my way to the USAWA website.  While looking at the contest selection, I saw a meet close to me in March: The Deanna Springs Memorial at Clarks Gym in Columbia.  While I was certainly not familiar with all-round, or all of the lifts contested in this meet, I did notice the crucifix was in this meet.  Since I recognized this lift as a strongman event, I thought “why not?”  I called Bill Clark and told him I was coming.

Back in the day, when planning to travel to a contest, I would look up the directions on Mapquest.com and print off directions.  Though not as old school as reading a map or using a sextant,  it was a far cry from the GPS that many of us use today.  So, that particular day, I grabbed my printed directions and start to drive.  When I arrived at my destination as defined by these directions, I was clearly at a residence and not a commercial gym, like what I was expecting.  Turns out I had entered the address for Clark’s house and not the gym.  Not good, as the cell phones in those days were not advanced like what we have today, and I could not look up the correct directions on the fly. I needed to find my way from Grace Ellen Drive to Grace Lane.  I was in the neighborhood of giving up, as the weigh in time was coming and going, but then stopped at a gas station where they helped me find my way.

I found the gym a few minutes after the competition was supposed to be starting, but I gathered my bag and walked through the door.  You can imagine my surprise when I walked through the door to see only two other individuals sitting there.  Welcome to the world of all-round.  And I thought Strongman was fringe!  As I entered the gym, I was impressed by the dusty display of trophies, the York globe dumbbell set, and the assortment of equipment that resembled a torture chamber.  The two gentlemen were Bill Clark and Joe Garcia.  They accepted me into the meet, albeit late, and we proceeded to compete.

Bill served as the official, and Joe and I the competitors.  Though the crucifix was not the same as what is contested in strongman, I was still decent at it and lifted 120 pounds (or 60 pounds a dumbbell) on this discipline. My cheat curl was also decent.  It was when we got to the other three lifts that I needed help.  The last three were the Deanna Lift, the Hand and Thigh, and Hip Lift.  The Deanna was comparatively decent, as I am not sure anyone knew what they were doing with the lift at the time.  I did over 200 pounds more at a later date.  It was with the hand and thigh that I really got to witness the lengths of Joe and Bill’s expertise.  They worked tirelessly with me to help perfect my technique for that day.  With it only being two lifters, they took their time to show me the ropes.  I ended with a 1475 pound effort, and I have not done a boat load more than this over almost 20 years and much training.  The last lift was the hip lift.  Though Bill and Joe gave me the same attention that they gave me in the hand and thigh, it was not to be.  I only lifted 200 more pounds in this discipline than I did the hand and thigh, which is unacceptable.  Bill said that some people who excel in the hand and thigh are sometime poor in the hip lift.  I assumed that this was me, as I always fell in this same neighborhood.  That is, until I got my own hip belt and was able to spend some time playing with the belt placement to figure out what works for me.  I have since gone well above the 1675 I did that day.

This was my introduction to all-round and the USAWA.  Bill gave me a few of the recent newsletters, and signed me up to receive the new editions.  I read through the newsletters and ordered a record book.  From this point, I started competing in all-round on top of strongman.  For quite a spell, I did not compete terribly regularly in all-round, as I was heavily focused on my strongman career.   I would occasionally compete at Clark’s or at the Dino gym, but it certainly took a backseat to strongman.  It was not until my strongman career came to an end that I became much more focused on all-round lifting, and it has been the sole focus ever since.  I sometimes wonder what success I could have had in it if I would have focused on it more during my prime, but I reckon I have no regrets.

 

 

Contest memories part II

By Eric Todd

When I first decided to give strongman a shot, I was rather anxious to get rolling.  I found the aforementioned Tri-States Strongest Man contest in Canton, but a mere month later was another, even closer opportunity to see if I had what it took to compete in strongman.  It was in Kirksville, MO, just a couple hours away from me by automobile.  I went ahead and entered this meet as well, and trained for the 2 concurrently.

The events in this were as follows: a clean and press for reps with a railroad tie, anvil throw for height, sheaf throw  for distance, anvil/stone load medley, and truck pull for time.  The clean and press, I just trained with a barbell in the gym.  For the throw for height, I procured a keg to train with, though I was just launching it in the air, not over anything.  I just did repetitions with the 230 pound stone that I had made to try and get ready for the load medley.  I used the old tractor inner-tube as a harness to pull my brothers broken down car around what is now my yard.

It was the sheaf throw that threw me off.  When I studied up on it, I found it was a “bale” throw with a pitchfork for height, so I reckoned this was just a bale throw for distance  in the same fashion.  I already had a pitchfork, so I went out and bought a straw bale and went to work.  I had really no technique, and found this rather challenging.  I was maybe getting 10 feet.  My brother (of Lift for Leroy fame) was with me while I was training it one day.  I thought maybe it would  motivate me to throw further if I had a moving target, so I suggested he run away from me as I tried to hit him with the bale.  While this method did produce another foot or two in distance, it more closely resembled a Keystone Cops routine than a sound training method.

Contest time came.  I found my way to the park a little early and started looking over the implements.  I was at that time when I met Thom VanVleck and Brian Kerby.  As a rather introverted individual, I found it refreshing how engaging they were and how easily I was able to visit with them.  This is where the theme of “like minded individuals” began to draw me to strongman.

While I cannot remember the exact order of the events, I believe we started with the clean and press with the railroad tie.  While I am certain I was not the strongest presser (pretty sure that designation would go to Brian Kerby that day) i was able to hit more repetitions due to speed, resulting in an event win.  The sheaf toss for distance was not what I had envisioned.  The “bale” was much smaller and more compact than the straw bale I had been working with.  This discipline clearly required MUCH more technique that I was exhibiting that some of the other competitors with highland games experience had mastered.  I pulled my best throw of the day with my last throw where I left the fork in the bale, a throw that was ultimately good for last place.  I felt like that maybe was a nail in the coffin of a decent placing at the meet.  I would have to dominate the rest of the meet in order to place well.  It is usually the guy who is consistently toward the top who wins.  A last place finish can be devastating.

Well, I got to work.  In the anvil throw for height, I kept pace with the proficient highland throwers.  Seems like I tied for 1st or second in this event.  Then came the load medley. I consisted of loading 3 progressively heavier anvils, followed by 2 field stones to a platform a bit higher than waist high.  If I remember correctly, the heavier of the 2 field stones was a bit over 300 pounds. This type of event ended up being a strong suit for me. While I was one of 3 competitors who loaded all 5 implements, I did so the fastest, so another event win for me. The last event, we went up the hill to a parking lot for the truck pull.  We were to be pulling Thom’s father Earl’s semi-diesel truck.  It was probably the event I was most excited for, as this a feat I had watched the giants of World’s Strongest Man perform back in the day that I assumed  was something I would never be able to do.  While memory tells me that I won this event, I am not 100% sure that is accurate.  What I am 100% about is  that I performed well enough in the event for the overall contest win.

It was this win, coupled with my relative success at Canton that let me know I belonged; however, it was the absolute camaraderie that kept me coming back.  Though I was competing against Thom and Brian all day, they kept coming back to compliment me on what I had done.  They were explicitly positive influences on me that day, and this assured me that the strongman community was something I needed to be a part of.

As a side note, this was a two day event.  Day one was strongman, day two the highland games.  I competed in both. Make no mistake about it, what ego boost that had been a result of my day one success was quickly dismantled as I competed in the B class on day 2…

Contest Memories

By Eric Todd

I was inspired by the article Chris Lestan wrote called “The Excitement and Memories of Competition Prep.” Since things have been rather slow of late, I thought I might do a few articles about some of my more memorable contests/contest preps.  I have competed many, many times across a number of strength disciplines.

I am going to gloss over my first experience a little.  It was the Show-Me State Games powerlifting meet, which was actually a push/pull.  Training had gone OK, but a week prior, I  badly sprained my ankle by stepping in a hole, so I only did the benchpress, and performed poorly there.  So, not a tremendous experience, but though I did not realize it at the time, it is more than likely the first time I was at a meet with Bill Clark.  I do remember holding my pause for an inordinate amount of time.

What I was really excited to train and compete in was strongman.  While I always did well moving the weights in the weightroom, I always found functional strength to be more of my forte.  So, when I decided I wanted to try my hand at it, I found a contest in a small college town in northeast Missouri called Canton.  The meet was called Tri-States Strongest Man.  I sent in my entry and started training for the events.

The events in this contest were as follows: Farmers walk/sandbag carry medley, truck pull, crucifix, tire flip for reps, and atlas stones. Access to equipment as well as training advice at that time was minimal.  I got a tractor time (maybe 300 pounds) from a tire repair place in town.  I took the inner tube out of it  and used that as a dirty, makeshift harness by which to practice pulling my brothers broken down car up and down the driveway (that car was later converted into my shooting car).  Crucifix I was able to simulate in the weightroom with dumbbells.  I did make my first atlas stone at that time using the play ball and plaster of paris method for making the mold.  Somebody on one of the old forums said you can do farmers walks with ez curl bars.  So, one day in the high school when no one was around, I gave that a shot.  Needless to say, it was not a suitable substitution.

So, contest day rolled around.  We drove out the night before and arrived in town at around 10:00.  We pulled in to the contest motel  to check in.  The office where I checked in was clearly the living room of the older couple who owned the motel.  The old man snoozed on the davenport as his wife checked us in. I got  a decent night’s sleep, and when I got up, I decided to find the park where the contest was being held since I had never been there before.  Since this was the contest motel, most of the competitors stayed there.  As I left my room, my attention was drawn to a group of the competitors at the edge of the parking lot.  There were some MONSTERS in this group.  As this contest only had a lightweight class and a heavyweight class, and anyone 225# or less was a lightweight, I knew I was going to be competing against some of those behemoths. I instantly felt out of place, as though I had made a tragic error.  I thought to myself that no one knew me, so no one would notice if I just slipped back into the car and drove home (not unlike Melvin did after a couple of events-but that is another story).  I decided against it, and stuck it out. The contest was rather eye opening.  I saw competitor after competitor fail on the 800 pound tire.  I got 2 flips, which was good for second place.  I got third in the crucifix and the atlas stones, being one of only 3 to load all of them. I did find out that day that grip was going to be my Achilles heel and grip events my nemesis.  I must have done 20 some deadlifts with 250# farmers walks, only to end up 5 feet short of the finish line.  But, in my first contest I took 4th place among the giants, and figured out I belonged.  The other thing I found remarkable was what appeared to be fantastic camaraderie among the competitors.  They were all cheering for each other, even though they were competing against each other.  It is what drew me to the sport initially, and ended up being what kept me around it for so long. Anyhow, that is the story of how I got my start in strongman; however, it was my second meet that pretty much hooked me for good. (to be continued)

HEAVY LIFT CHAMPIONSHIPS POSTPONED!

By Eric Todd

This decision has not been an easy one for me.  It came with lots of time and deliberation (and coaxing from mama).  I detest living as though I am afraid of something which I am not.  However, it felt imprudent at this time to go on with the heavy lift championships next month as planned.  I don’t want to be the guy responsible for other people getting sick.  At any rate, we are postponing this indefinitely.  Notice I said “postponed” and not “cancelled.”  This meet has been contested annually since 1994.  I don’t wish to see that run end, particularly on my watch!  So, it is my intention to still host this meet in 2020.  Hopefully this pandemic foolishness will slow down, and we can go back to living like free people. I will keep membership informed, but I will most likely be looking at a date in the fall that does not conflict with nationals/worlds.  I will also be contacting those athletes from whom I have already received entries to see what you want me to do with your entry fee.  You can apply it toward the meet later in the year or I can tear up you check.  Your choice. In the meantime, as my optimistic club members recognized, this just gives us more time to train for it in order to put up huge totals.  In the meantime, stay safe everybody!

The Hand and Thigh

By Eric Todd

HEAVY LIFT CHAMPIONSHIP – THE HAND AND THIGH

Joe Garcia pulls a big hand and thigh at the Heavy Lift Championship at York

Joe Garcia pulls a big hand and thigh at the Heavy Lift Championship at York

(Due to the Corona virus, as of right now no official decision has been made on the Heavy Lift Championships.  We will keep an eye on the situation and make a decision before long.  As of right now, I am proceeding as though it will go on, but will keep the membership informed)

The Hand and Thigh will be the second lift contested in the Heavy Lift Championship, which is being contested on May 9th this year. When I last hosted in 2018, this was the article I posted regarding the execution of the lift: Hand and Thigh

I am not going to go so far as to say the hand and thigh has a richer past outside of IAWA/USAWA than the neck lift, but it certainly has a more well documented past. Many of the Old Time strongmen of past used the hand and thigh as part of their routine.  This very lift was one of those contested when John B. Gagnon bested Warren Lincoln Travis for the unofficial title of World’s Strongest Man as mentioned in my last article on the neck lift.  It was also included in Travis’s “Challenge to the World,” which was included as part of his will upon his death in 1941.  This challenge included 10 feats that must be performed, including several that were repetition lifts, within 30 minutes.  One of the items on the list is a single successful effort with a 1600 pound Hand and Thigh.  The man who successfully completed the challenge would be awarded Travis’s “diamond-jeweled gold and silver” championship belt.  To date there have been no takers.

Travis had a protégé by the name of Charles Phelan who, like Travis, performed his feats at Coney Island, New York.  One of the lifts he performed on Coney Island was the Hand and Thigh, where he was credited with a lift of 1125 pounds.  Phelan was also known for his capacity to entertain, as he would tell jokes between his feats of strength.

The famous Canadian strongman, Louis Cyr is credited with a lift using the hand and thigh method of 1897.25 pounds. More recently, a strongman who was inspired by Cyr performed the hand and thigh out in New Jersey.   His name was Jack Walsh, and he claimed a hand and thigh of 1500 pounds around 1950.  Iowa strongman Archie Vanderpool claimed a lift of 1840 pound in the hand and thigh.  He utilized the method of a bar through two barrels to get the weight up in lieu of the big bar attached to a chain method that we use in the USAWA today.  When I first saw a picture of him using this style, it seemed familiar.  That is because I had seen Milo author, and renegade strongman, the heavy metal iron master himself, Steve Justa using that method in the book “Rock, Iron, Steel” that he authored.  Apparently, Justa’s father was a friend of Vanderpool.  In the book, Justa claims to have lifted over a ton using this method on multiple occasions.  While he did compete at least once in the USAWA (it was a Kevin Fulton meet back around the time I was first getting started in the all-rounds), I do not believe he has ever performed this lift in competition.  I am sure that is a rather abbreviated record of old time strongman performers who have been known for the hand and thigh lift.

That brings us to the hand and thigh lifting done in the USAWA, which, from any meet I have witnessed was done under professional judging within strict guidelines.  In the Women’s  class I am including any lifter who has gone 600 pounds or more.  Our number one here, Armorkor Ollennuking is in a league of her own with 1100 pounds in this discipline:

1) Armorkor Ollennuking  1100 pounds 1997 Zercher

2)Jacqueline Simonsen 810 pound 1994 Nationals

3) Cara Ciavattone 702 pounds 1996 New England Championships

4) Jaenne Burchette 700 pounds 1991 Nationals

5)Mary Jo McVey 605 pounds 1993 Worlds

6) Jenna Lucht 600 pounds 2014 Old Time Strongman Championship

7) Amy Burks 600 pounds 1998 Zercher

 

For the men, I am including lifters who have gone 1400 pounds or better. Again, our leader is in a class of his own, with Joe Garcia hitting 1910 pounds:

1) Joe Garcia 1910 pounds 1997 Zercher

2)Frank Ciavattone 1610 pounds 1995 New England Strongman

3) Eric Todd 1510 pounds 2015 Heavy Lift Championship

4) Al Myers 1505 pounds 2010 Deanna Springs Memorial

5) Jim Malloy 1400 pounds 1995 Worlds

6) John Carter 1400 pounds 1996 Zercher

7) Steve Schmidt 1400 pounds 2004 Backbreaker

8) Sam Huff 1400 pounds 2005 Deanna Springs Memorial

9)Joe Ciavattone Jr. 1400 pounds 2013 Heavy Lift Championship

The Hand and Thigh has a rich history both in old time strongman performances and the USAWA.  I am sure we will add to that history at this year’s Heavy Lift Championship.

Justa, Steve. “The Hand and Thigh Lift or the Quarter Deadlift.” Rock Iron Steel: the Book of Strength, IronMind Enterprises, 1998, p. 52.

“Louis Cyr.” <i>Wikipedia</i>, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Mar. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Cyr.

Murray, Jim. “Jack Walsh — World’s Strongest Man?” Iron Game History, vol. 4, no. 5, Oct. 1995, pp. 10–11.

Myers, Al. “Hand and Thigh Club.” USAWA, 2 Aug. 2011, usawa.com/hand-thigh-club/.

PeoplePill. “Warren Lincoln Travis: Strongman – Biography and Life.” PeoplePill, peoplepill.com/people/warren-lincoln-travis/.

Wood, John. “Archie Vanderpool.” Www.oldtimestrongman.com, 12 Oct. 2017, www.oldtimestrongman.com/blog/2016/08/23/archie-vanderpool/.

Wood, John. “Charles Phelan and His GIANT Kettlebell.” Www.oldtimestrongman.com, 6 Dec. 2018, www.oldtimestrongman.com/blog/2018/12/05/charles-phelan-giant-kettlebell/.

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