Category Archives: USAWA Daily News

Training Partners Are Your Best Friend

By Christopher Lestan

Training, working out, or simply picking stuff up can be tough. Sometimes its a drag, and often can wear and tear on our minds. This can lead to over-training or even the worst of the options…. quitting. That is why it’s always important to have a training partner. While this article can be about training partners are important. I’m going to reflect on why they are your best friends and simply the closest thing to family outside of the family.

To put it simply… your training partner sees you at your worst, best, and even both at the same time. They have seen you scream at the barbell when it doesn’t move on an attempt in your 5×5 workout program. They have seen you come into the gym angry, frustrated and upset about something in your personal life. They have seen you make personal bests on lifts, and the hard work and determination it has taken to you to get to that goal.

Your training partner or partners are there always in the lowest of times, and the highest of times. They are there when you win 1st Overall at Worlds, 2nd overall at Worlds, or not even placing in the top 10. Heck, when you bomb out of meet they tend to be the first ones to tell you “it’s alright”. No matter the place of a competition they are always there. They don’t leave and go off to find the next “big thing” in the field of lifting. They stay put and get you ready for the next training cycle.

They help you load your barbell for the first set for the workout and decide whether or not that was “RPE 9”, “RPE 7.5” or “RPE 11/10″. Often they will be pushing you to do another set because they want to go home and go to bed. Sometimes you sit there with your training partner after a set of 10 and stare at each other and say at the same time ” 3 more sets”.

Your training partners are also your best critic. Often the saying “you had one more”, “didn’t hit depth”, or “no lockout” are often sayings that will be heard in the gym. This can lead to some heated arguments, but in a couple of hours, you will be on good terms again.

Your training partners are best friends. They are always there. They won’t leave.

 

Grip Championships

By Ben Edwards

2020 USAWA GRIP CHAMPIONSHIPS

Group picture from the 2020 USAWA Grip Championships

Group picture from the 2020 USAWA Grip Championships

The 2020 USAWA Grip Champs was another very well run contest at the Dino Gym. My wife Carrie and daughter Josie drove with me and cheered me on for the first and last events. And there were plenty of fun things to do in Abilene to keep Josie occupied while I competed.

I got to reconnect with many old friends. Jason Payne and his son Jarod were return competitors.

Dave Glasgow harassed Chad Ullom throughout the meet, and it was hilarious.

I was surprised when I walked in the door with only about 20 minutes until contest start and saw Bill Clark across the room. I hadn’t seen him since Al and I did the Record Day at Clark’s Gym in 2009. Joe Caron  made the trip and it was nice to meet him.

Denny Habecker and Dean Ross were there again.

Eric Todd, John Strangeway, and Lance Foster made the trip. I think they are all members of the same gym.

LaVerne was an excellent host and everyone had a great time.

Meet promoter LaVerne Myers (left) with myself

Meet promoter LaVerne Myers (left) with myself

I thought the lineup of events was well chosen. My grip failed long before my body would in any of the events.

We started off with the 2″ vertical bar. The bar felt slick to me until about halfway through warmups when the chalk started to accumulate a bit on the bar. In training I had recently pulled 213lbs. So my goal was about 215lbs and I got it on a 3rd attempt. I won this event, but I’m not sure by how much because I didn’t see the scorecard. I actually used my left hand, even though my right hand has been stronger in training by about 20lbs. The reason was because my right hand was going to be doing two of the events and I wanted to save it for those.

Jarod Payne deserves a mention on this (and every other event) event because I think he pulled 192lbs and had never touched a 2″ vertical bar before. He was pulling all his attempts so fast and effortlessly that we were joking with him about not snatching the weight.

Next event was the One Hand Fulton Dumbbell Deadlift. I stunk up the room with my lifting. But it was fun to watch the top 3 – LaVerne, Chad, and John battle it out for the top lift. I don’t even know the winning lift. But I think it was 180lbs. I only pulled 170lbs and barely got that.

The Double Inch Dumbbell Deadlift was next. I’ve never been good at this lift. But I do enjoy it. I had a solid lift with 240lbs and then only pulled 250lbs a few inches off the ground. Again, LaVerne, Chad, and John were the top lifters and they all did some great pulls. Again, I don’t know what the top lift was but I thought it was around 280lbs. I think this is the lift where Bill Clark almost crushed his foot to dust on one of his attempts.

Final event was the one hand thumbless grip deadlift. This is usually a good event for me. But my right forearm was cramping up and I was unsure where to jump in to make sure I didn’t bomb out. I barely got 205lbs. And then missed 215lbs by a half second. John beat me handily on this event too. Chad might have also, but we were very close in the end.

LaVerne jokingly told me after the contest that he made sure to include vertical bar so that I’d compete. He was not wrong. I enjoy vertical bar the best.

In the end, LaVerne whooped us all like rented mules. It was something like 200+ points over 2nd place. I think I edged Dave out by a close margin because I think he called for a recount.

I’m already looking forward to next year’s Grip Champs! Hope to see you there.

MEET RESULTS:

2020 USAWA Grip Championships
Dino Gym
Holland, Kansas
February 8th, 2020

Meet Director: LaVerne Myers

Scorekeeper: Chad Ullom

Official (1-official system used): LaVerne Myers, Dave Glasgow & Denny Habecker

Lifts: Vertical Bar Deadlift 2″ One Arm, Deadlift Fulton Dumbbell One Arm, Deadlift 2 Inch Dumbbells, Deadlift No Thumb One Arm

MENS DIVISION

LIFTER AGE BWT VB1 FD1 IDB DLNT TOT PTS
LaVerne Myers 75 227 162R 170R 240 175L 747 909.6
Chad Ullom 48 219 187R 180R 260 195R 822 761.5
John Strangeway 41 207 190L 180L 260 215L 845 755.1
Ben Edwards 44 234 215L 170R 240 205R 830 714.8
Dave Glasgow 66 248 147R 155R 200 190R 692 705.7
Denny Habecker 77 182 102L 120R 140 135R 497 703.1
Bill Clark 87 213 82L 95R 120 125R 422 618.8
Joseph Caron 74 185 92R 100R 140 125R 457 614.5
Jason Payne 54 321 172L 160R 230 180R 742 599.9
Eric Todd 45 259 132R 140R 210 170R 652 538.7
Jerod Payne 18 286 187R 130R 220 160L 697 532.9
Dean Ross 77 237 87R 95L 130 115L 427 522.1
Lance Foster 54 340 142R 115R 160 130R 547 430.8

EXTRA ATTEMPTS FOR RECORDS:

Joseph Caron – VB1: 102R
Chad Ullom – VB1: 195R
Denny Habecker – FD1: 125R
LaVerne Myers – IDB: 260
Dave Glasgow – IDB: 220
Chad Ullom – IDB: 280
John Strangeway – IDB: 270
Joseph Caron – DLNT: 135R
John Strangeway – DLNT: 221L

RIM LIFT EXHIBITION

LIFTER TOTAL
Jason Payne 340
Dave Glasgow 300
Eric Todd 300
Chad Ullom 300
John Strangeway 280
LaVerne Myers 280
Denny Habecker 210
Lance Foster 210
Bill Clark 160
Dean Ross 160

RECORD DAY LIFTING

John Strangeway – 41 Years, 207 lbs. BWT  (3 official system used)
Trap Bar Deadlift:  550 lbs
Deadlift 2 Fulton Dumbbells: 320 lbs

Dean Ross – 77 Years, 237 lbs. BWT (1 official system used)
Clean and Jerk 2 Dumbbells: 50 lbs
Clean and Jerk Dumbbell Right Arm: 25 lbs
Clean and Jerk Dumbbell Left Arm: 25 lbs
Clean and Jerk Fulton Bar: 40 lbs
Clean and Push Press 2 Dumbbells: 60 lbs.

NOTES: All lifts recorded in pounds. BWT is bodyweight in pounds.  R and L designate right and left arms. TOT is total pounds lifted.  PTS are overall adjusted points corrected for age and bodyweight. 

Dave Glasgow – Lifter of the Month

By Al Myers

Dave Glasgow is the Lifter of the Month for December 2019.

Dave Glasgow is the Lifter of the Month for December 2019.

The USAWA LIFTER OF THE MONTH for December is Dave Glasgow, leader of the Ledaig Heavy Athletics Club.   In December Dave anchored his club to a victory in the USAWA Club Championships.  Dave is very deserving of this award as he has been very involved in the USAWA of the past 10 years.

Congrats Dave!!!

Rule Book Updates

By Al Myers

I have added the Rule Book updates to the website, under “About Us” then “Rule Book”.   These were the updates that were voted on and passed at the 2019 Annual General Meeting of the USAWA.    Please just print off this page and add it to your current Rule Book.  Since there have been just a few changes/updates I’ve decided to do it this way instead of completely publishing a new edition of the Rule Book.

The current USAWA Rule Book is the 10th Edition Rule Book.

Updated Century Club

By Al Myers

An updated CENTURY CLUB list has been put up on the website, and with this update comes some BIG NEWS!  We now have two new members in the century club – Johnny Strangeway and Aidan Habecker.

Johnny has to be the fastest person ever to make the Century Club.  He has achieved this in only a few short years.  Usually it takes a lifter over 10 years to earn this achievement.  But for those that have lifted against Scottish Johnny should not be surprised as he seems to have the ability to set a new USAWA record in every lift he tries.

Aidan is the FIRST teenager to ever make the Century Club.  This is very notable as we have had many great teenage lifters compete in the USAWA throughout the years.  I know he has worked hard to achieve this and something he should be very proud of.

I was glad to see my buddy Dave Glasgow get back in the Century Club.  Dave’s been in before but dropped off the list a while back.   My advice to Dave is not to “sit back” and relax now that you are back in the Century Club.  If some of your records get broken you need to keep setting new ones to stay in!

The biggest mover in the Century Club is our Prez Denny Habecker.  Denny is up 20 since last count and continues to expand his big lead in number of records, which now stands at a staggering 642.  A couple of lifters have made moves up on the list.  Chad Ullom moved up to the number six spot and Eric Todd made a big jump from number 18 to number 15.  The womens Century Club is still being led by RJ Jackson at 299 records.

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