USAWA

When I was looking over the calendar for August, it occurred to me that there were 6 opportunities to compete. In half of them, athletes would select which lifts they would perform. The other half include defined competition lifts with or without an attached record day.

Accurate record keeping has not been part of the history of the original forms of weightlifting or stage acts.  Several legendary results have been called into question and historically, athletes often would not know exactly what weight they were lifting until after the results when each of the plates was weighed.  However, All-Round Weightlifting athletes love setting United States and World Records in 100’s of lifts.  The records are kept by 5kg weight class jumps and 5-year age categories.  It is conceivable that any athlete regardless of ability could become a record holder.

Records are tracked by age & weight class; weight class regardless of age (ALL); National record (beating the ALL at Nationals); Team Lifts; Repetition Lifts.

For me, record days are like throwing down in the back yard.  “Nice lift, now let me show you what I can do.”  It is a fun, friendly and welcoming way to introduce people to All-Round Weightlifting. 

Record sessions after meets are also fun but sometimes exhausting depending on the size of the field and setting up additional lifts.

Competitions with stated events will include defined lifts that every athlete needs to perform.  In August, this is between 4 and 10 lifts depending on the competition.  The total is added up and adjusted for body weight, age and gender to create a men’s winner and women’s winner.  Depending on the selected lifts, these competitions have often focused on one aspect of All-Round Weightlifting or strove to crown a true All-Rounder.  The Lightweight Decathlon focuses on lifts where most athletes will lift less than 100 pounds.  Ol’ Clark’s 94^th Birthday focuses on deadlifts.  I look forward to these as the meets expose gaps in my training.  For example, if I could have won if only my squat were stronger, I would focus on more squatting in training.

Postal meets are a hybrid where athletes perform the selected lifts independently and the results are compiled.  I like these because they usually draw the biggest fields and the thought of losing to someone by a few Lynch points forces me to go as heavy as I can.

Between International, USAWA Championships, long standing premier events, postal competitions and record days, there is something for everybody young and old, novice or veteran, available equipment or proximity to a club.

International Events

• World Championship
• Gold Cup
• World Postal
• OTSM World Postal

USAWA Championships

• National Championship
• Presidential Cup
• Club Championship
• Heavy Lift Championship
• Grip Championship
• OTSM Championship
• Postal Championship
• Team Lift Championship

Other Premier Events – Not inclusive.  There are plenty of events that pre-date my involvement with All-round Weightlifting.  The first four have all been hosted by Clark’s Gym.

• Ed Zercher Strength Classic – All Round
• Bench Press Heptathlon – Bench Press
• Hermann Goerner Deadlift Dozen – Deadlift
• Steve Schmidt Backbreaker Pentathlon – Heavy Lifts
• Dino Gym Challenges – 2009 – 2024