Proposals to Grow USAWA

[Sanjiv Gupta]

I love that USAWA has over 100 active and engaged members for all round weightlifting and was excited to be sit on the advisory committee to suggest proposals that would allow USAWA to grow and move forward in a positive direction while staying true to its roots.

With that baseline it was tough to talk through uniform questions that have come up, new lifts, suggestions that could increase certified officials and also brand new ideas.

The funniest banter to me is the definition of a shirt with an opening in the front. I like the suggestion of using IWF Technical Rule 4.7.2. as the intent should be to allow consistent officiating, keep athletes safe and look professional.

The most serious banter is supportive equipment. The USAWA rulebook has gray areas with wrist wraps and knee wraps, but has otherwise held very firm on avoiding knee sleeves, elbow sleeves, thumb tape and supportive suits. This issue has the potential to split the organization.

New lifts are interesting. The USAWA started with 110 lifts (I am not sure which those were) and in the past 37 years, that number has nearly doubled sometimes adding IAWA lifts, sometimes using a Fulton bar to make the movement grip intensive (this only makes sense to me on deadlifts, cleans and snatches), sometimes adding dumbbell variations and sometimes incorporating special equipment. Is the upper limit 300 lifts? 500 lifts? Should USAWA contest lifts well established in other organizations? Should the USAWA stop contesting some lifts to simplify the rulebook? Maintaining records will become increasingly difficult with more lifts and the Century Club will fail to be a significant milestone.

On growth, it would be great to have two certified officials and six events per year in all 50 states. That would eliminate the desire for hybrid events and video officiating. Will all round weightlifting ever see Strongman, Highland Games, Weightlifting, CrossFit or Powerlifting numbers? Probably not. All-round is tough to train and even tougher to host meets when the fields get large.

The closest comparable sport that I am familiar with is grip sport. It has two contest sanctioning bodies, simple rules for judging, equipment is accessible and there are several virtual competitions and challenges to create community. They have set up virtual qualifiers for live competition at the Arnold which has increased awareness. As USAWA adds new lifts, increases nuances in officiating and uniform standards, and is hamstrung by lagging infrastructure for record keeping it will be nearly impossible to support 500 athletes, much less 1000+ athletes.

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[KCSTRONGMAN]

I agree with your points Sanjiv. We want to grow the org, but it will be a challenge to manage with as many lifts as we have. There will have to be some reorganization. the shirt discussion is just silly. I would suggest that very few of our records would stand if we applied that definition. I have never lifted in a collar or button down. Nor have I ever excluded something without a collar or buttons when I speak of wearing a shirt. I think the supportive equipment issue is a slippery slope. I am not a huge proponent of new lifts. What purpose does it serve at this point? At any rate, good points and area for discussion

I'm the lyrical Jesse James

[Denny Habecker]

I agree that we have more than enough lifts. When I was asked to be on the Technical committee, I said I would do it, but I would vote against most new lifts because we had too many already. And that was years ago! I think we should eliminate some lifts that rarely done anyhow, or are just variations of other lifts.

[Sanjiv Gupta]

Thanks for adding to the discussion.

I recently reviewed the records list and there are 59 lifts that have less than 20 records. Removing these would make record keeping easier. It is fun to try lifts with index, little, middle or ring fingers and with Fulton or 3 inch bars, but we do not need keep records for all of these variations. We could consider placing lifts that have fewer than 20 records in a probationary status and then archiving them if they are not contested for a year.

However, I would like to see USAWA continue to grow and move forward in a positive direction. One suggestion would be that new lifts should be contested in an exhibition format a couple of times before presenting them to the executive committee and then they could be approved on a probationary basis until at least 20 people set records in the lift.

For rarely contested lifts that are named for individuals, we can continue to recognize and honor those lifters by performing the lifts as exhibitions during meets, but stop keeping records.

[Ben Edwards]

I see the point in both sides of this. Having a lot of variety drew me to the record book. As I get older, I think it waters down the “weight” of the records overall having that many sometimes incredibly esoteric lifts. I like Sanjiv’s recommendation about placing some of the lifts in probationary status.

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." -Mike Tyson

[Randy Smith]

Some thoughts and comments on the proposals:

Prop !/Knee Sleeves. This is a link to a peer reviewed published study documenting that knee sleeves of varying tightness do significantly increase a lifter’s one rep squat max (for reasons that are not currently understood). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33201154/
Dan mentioned that a manufacturer had told him this. I thought this article would be helpful. And I just want those interested to have complete information.

Prop 4/Uniform. I would like to know why this proposal is coming up at this time. It’s not clear to me what the goal is.

Prop 5/Saxon snatch. Dan’s comments about wood plank vs 3 inch square or rectangular bar got me thinking. What is the real “mission” of the USAWA? And what are our goals for the future? I do realize that different people will reasonably have different opinions on these considerations. I agree that a wooden “Saxon Bar” is easy to make. Full disclosure: About a year after making a wooden one I bought a 3″ square steel bar that went on sale to play with. (And I’ve thought about doing some “destructive testing” on my wooden one, but haven’t gotten around to it.)

Proposals 6 and 7. To me the real issue here is how to deal with adding new lifts; whether we need to or should be adding new lifts; and how this fits with the USAWA’s “mission”. I like to try, play with, and work on new (and old) lifts that I can physically do (I’ll skip the Mansfield at this time.). The more the merrier. However, sometimes rules need to be clarified. And unexpected or unintended issues sometimes arise. Therefore, I believe that new lifts should be contested at some in person meets (the number is negotiable) as an exhibition lift (whether the lift should be included in the meet total is another question) before they enter the rule book as an official lift. I like Dan’s idea of making the Fulton Bar a possibility with all of the barbell lifts. (I really enjoy lifting with the Fulton Bar). But I would like the folks who keep track of the records to comment on this before it goes farther. I have nothing against the “Bavarian Deadlift” and think it would be “fun”. But I think the rules may benefit from some review. For example, including the acceptable diameter of the handle.

Again, my underlying questions involve where do we want this organization to go and what do we want to be? We are an all volunteer low budget organization where a small number of people do most of the administrative and organizational work. I hope my comments are helpful. And I hope to make to the nationals to see where all this goes.

Keep having fun lifting heavy stuff!

[Sanjiv Gupta]

Great points brought up about the mission of the USAWA and why some proposals are being brought up. Nowhere in the USAWA mission statement is competition mentioned, much less fairness of competition, finding the strongest lifter, coming up with crazy new lifts or keeping records mentioned.

The proposals all focus around competition in some form or another. Maybe more time should be spent on “the lifts we perform” instead of uniforms, classification of lifts, new lifts and officiating.

Alternatively, maybe by having uniforms aligned with other strength sports we can bring more members to the organization. Introducing crazy new lifts for the sheer spectacle of them can continue the long standing tradition of old-time weightlifters who were seeking ways to draw an audience. There was a wow factor associated with doing something not everyone could do.

[Barry Pensyl]

I’m sorry that I can’t attend the Nationals due to personal issues at home, and I wish all the lifters and participants and their families a safe and successful meet. I am going to be brief with my comments about some of the proposals being discussed at the National meeting and I am for anything within reason which will help the USAWA grow. I agree that there are already enough lifts to train for and record in the record list and that there are certainly enough of a variety of lifts so anyone should be able to participate. Not everyone is going to like all the lifts or be able to do them all. As far as eliminating some of the lesser done lifts from the record list, if that is what the majority think is best for the USAWA, then it’s okay with me as long as they still count as records in the Century Club. As far as the definition of the type of shirt to be worn, I think most people know what a t-shirt is, as long as it isn’t controversial or offensive and the sleeves are above the elbow to make judging easier. Other than that, I believe the rules regarding apparel are clear enough. The knee sleeve issue could get a little sticky, especially when there are so many different kinds of sleeves. I’m getting a little wordy so I will leave that issue alone for now. If a bar is used to do the Saxon Snatch, then is it really a Saxon Snatch? I am not really in favor of the Bavarian Deadlift, unless meet directors want to include it as an exhibition lift. Sorry, this got so long. Also, thanks to those involved in keeping the record list, as it can be a daunting task.

[Sanjiv Gupta]

Barry, thanks for adding your thoughts. I hope everything at home resolves favorably. This thread made me realize how important the annual national meeting is and how 9 athletes (the majority of 17 in attendance last year) could decide the future of the USAWA. Maybe we are at the point of considering virtual attendance or absentee voting. Even though I sat in on the proposals committee, the discussion on this forum, USAWA website and Facebook page have got me reconsidering my positions.

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