Otto Arco

By Eric Todd

Otto Arco (photo credit: Strongmanbooks.com)

Otto Arco (photo credit: Strongmanbooks.com)

In the last article I wrote about Georg Lurich,  I mentioned that one of the things I liked most about the old timers was their versatility.  There was not a great deal of specialization in just one discipline.  Many of these strongmen displayed their strength in a variety of ways.  I am not sure any is a better example of this than Polish strongman/wrestler Otto Arco.

Otto Arco was born Otto Nowosielsky in 1881.  Standing only 5’8” and weighing a mere 138 pounds (Jesse), Arco was definitely an outlier in the world of physical culture at the time, compared to peers like Louis Cyr and Herman Goerner.  However, Arco did not let his diminutive stature dissuade him from being a very successful strongman and wrestler. In 1903, Arco won the Austrian wrestling title.  He was considered one of the best Greco Roman wrestlers in the world, pound for pound (Jesse).

Arco was an accomplished lifter as well.  He had a clean and jerk of 279 pounds.  He was only the second man to have accomplished this, and it was a double body weight lift (Jesse). He was also credited with a 175 pound Turkish getup (Christopher, 2017). As you are probably aware, the Turkish Getup is an official USAWA lift.

Another discipline that Arco was well versed in was hand to hand balancing.  HE would train hand balancing and perform with his brother Pete (Christopher, 2013).  Though you may occasionally see a hand balancing act on “America’s Got Talent” (my wife loves that show), how many strongman competitors or weightlifters do you see performing such feats today?  There are some, but I would venture that their numbers are few.

Otto Arco (photo credit: Breakingmuscle.com)

Otto Arco (photo credit: Breakingmuscle.com)

What Otto Arco was most proficient at, however, was the art of muscle control.  Muscle control is the skill of relaxing one or more set of muscles while flexing another in order to really make it stick out.  In 1913, Arco won the title of worlds most developed man (Christopher, 2017).  Here is a picture of Otto performing “the rope” in which he isolates certain abdominals and flexes them while relaxing the rest of his midsection, giving them a rope-like appearance.

Otto Arco was the epitome of and all-round strength athlete. Though small, he had herculean strength.  As many of the strongmen of his time, he was also a very accomplished wrestler.  All things considered, though, what he was best at, and perhaps one of the best all time, was the art of muscle control.  See here for some vintage footage of Otto performing some muscle control and hand balancing (pardon the hideous music):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5grdAYFrFvY

References

Christopher, Logan. “Strongman Profile: Otto Arco Teaches Us About Muscle Control
Techniques.” Breaking Muscle. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 July 2017.
Christopher, Logan. “Otto Arco.” Legendary Strength. N.p., 04 Dec. 2013. Web. 14 July 2017.
Jesse, J. (1976). Wrestling Physical Conditioning Encyclopedia. Pasedena, Calif: Athletic Press.

 

History of the OTSM

By Al Myers

As promised in the USAWA Discussion Forum, I have completed a historical review of the USAWA Old Time Strongman Championships. Now the past history of EVERY Championship Event is recorded.  The below summary is now included in the History Archives on the website and will be updated every year with the new information from the annual Championships.

HISTORY OF THE OLDTIME STRONGMAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
(Promoted by Eric Todd, KCSTRONGMAN Club)

DATE PROMOTER LOCATION MENS OVERALL WOMENS OVERALL #
9/10/2016 Eric Todd Turney, MO Abe Smith  Heather Gardner 10
9/26/2015 Eric Todd Turney, MO Denny Habecker  none 4
11/1/2014 Eric Todd Turney, MO Eric Todd Jenna Lucht 7
12/7/2013 Thom Van Vleck Kirksville, MO Eric Todd none 7
10/14/2012 Thom Van Vleck Kirksville, MO Chad Ullom Whitney Piper 7
10/16/2011 Thom Van Vleck Kirksville, MO Al Myers none 10

The USAWA OTSM Championships is always one of the best attended Championships in the USAWA every year.  One thing that I like about it is that it draws new competitors to the USAWA.  Several of these lifters much prefer the format of the OTSM compared to traditional All Round meets.  I want to take this time to make a pitch for this years OTSM Championships coming up on September 9th,  at ET’s House of Iron and Stone in Turney, MO.  Eric is the Chairman of the OTSM in the USAWA and has hosted the past three OTSM Championships.  ET always puts on a quality event so I HIGHLY recommend you enter.  He has picked 4 great OTSM lifts – the Hackenshmidt Floor Press, Thor’s Hammer, the Dumbbell to Shoulder, and the Kennedy Lift.  After the meet an exhibition OTSM lift will be tried out for the first time – the Lurich Lift.  If the response is good on the Lurich Lift it will be presented to the EB for new lift status.  So another good reason to attend – as you could be part of the beginning of a new USAWA lift!!

HOF History

By Al Myers

Being nominated and inducted into the USAWA Hall of Fame is the highest honor one can receive in the USAWA.  The HOF program has been in place almost since the beginning of the USAWA, and has several inductees.  The list of these HOF members is always available on the website, under the top page header “History”.

This week in the USAWA Discussion Forum (and if you’re not following the discussion forum, you should, as this is where active daily discussion is occurring involving the organization) there was a post started by Eric Todd asking why the HOF application did not include some of the Championship Events in the USAWA receiving points.  First of all, I was really impressed that ET had noticed this.  He’s obviously been studying the website.  I’m glad he pointed this out as it’s something that needed attended to, and something that I have been overlooking.

The Hall of Fame Program was started by Chris Waterman.  Chris is a fellow Hall of Famer in the USAWA (and just made his COMEBACK to the USAWA at Nationals), and deserves the credit for setting up the original parameters (of earning points) to be inducted into the HOF. This started in 1997. He was the chairman of the committee that included Frank Ciavattone, Denny Habecker, and John Vernacchio. At that time Chris oversaw the program and kept track of everyone’s points, and once you broke the 1000 point mark you would be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Before that the HOF members were nominated and voted on at the National Meeting.  In 2010 the HOF program was placed under the direction of the newly formed position of the USAWA Awards Director, in which I have been the director since then.  At that time the USAWA made a few minor changes in how points could be earned, but pretty much followed the exact outline that Chris and the committee developed originally.  As time goes on things change in the organization and those changes need to be reflected in the application.

However, after developing the new HOF application in 2010 and getting it approved by the membership it has not been amended SINCE that time. And things have continued to change!  One of those changes has been the development of the many great Championship Events in the USAWA that we have now.  Many of these Championship Events were not included in the HOF application, and obviously I agree with Eric that they should be.  I made this change and with unanimous vote by the Executive Board the HOF application now includes these new events.  During the EB’s discussion on this it was also pointed out that being a certified USAWA official should be included. So that was added as well!

The new updated Hall of Fame Application is now available under the main header “About Us” and the page “Forms and Applications”.

2nd Quarter Postal Meet

By Denny Habecker

MEET RESULTS –
2017 USAWA 2ND QUARTER POSTAL MEET

9 lifters completed the 2nd Quarter Postal lifts, with Eric Todd claiming the top spot in this meet. Frank Ciavattone did a token Left Hand Hack Lift to participate in this meet. Thank you to all the lifters who participated in this postal.

Meet Results:

2nd Quarter Postal Meet
April 1st – June 30,2017

Meet Director: Denny Habecker

Lifts: Snatch – From Hang, Hack Lift – One Arm,  Pullover and Press

Lifters that used a Certified Official:
Eric Todd  –       Certified Official – Lance Foster
Lance Foster   – Certified Official – Eric Todd
Rocky Morrison- Certified Official -Frank Ciavattone
Mark Raymond – Certified Official – Frank Ciavattone & Rocky Morrison
Frank Ciavattone – Certified Official – Rocky Morrison
Aidan Habecker – Certified Official – Denny Habecker
Ruth Jackson – Certified Official – Jarod Fobes

Lifters that used a non-certified judge:
Denny Habecker
Al Myers

WOMAN’S DIVISION

LIFTER         AGE   BWT   SNATCH   HACK     P & PRESS  TOT    PTS

RJ

Jackson       55      105      70          134 R      107          311     505.17

 

MEN’S DIVISION

LIFTER       AGE    BWT    SNATCH    HACK      P & PRESS    TOT     PTS

Eric Todd    42       251      180          199 R         365         744      607

Al Myers     50       230      120          250 R         250         620      570.17

Denny

Habecker   74        193       77           132 R         165         374      460.46

Mark

Raymond   54        242       99           176 L          154         429     398.18

Rocky

Morrison    55        264       110          154 R         176         440     394.18

Aidan

Habecker  13         140        61            121 R         77          259     361.36

Lance

Foster       51         335       95             161 R        134         390     301.30

Frank

Ciavattone  62       305         0               67 R          0           67       59.36

NOTES:  Age is age in years.  BWT is bodyweight in pounds. All lifts recorded 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.

Championships in the USAWA

By Al Myers

The USAWA hosts several different Championships throughout the year, with each representing different areas of strength emphasis.  Next weekend will be the USAWA Club Championships, hosted by Dave Glasgow at the Ledaig HA facility. It is one of many Championships in the USAWA held throughout the year.

I have referred to the Championships as our “Signature Events” in the past. Several of these Championship Events have began since I became involved on the Executive Board of the USAWA.  That’s something I’m proud of.  The USAWA is truly an All Round Weightlifting organization and has many different and unique lifts – so much  virtually any lifter can find an area they can excel at.  That’s the primary purpose of these different Championships – to allow lifters who like to specialize in different lifting arenas within the USAWA to be able to showcase their lifting skills.

Another thing I am proud of with the Championship Events is that they have ALL been done EVERY year since they began.  No missed years!! Now some years it’s been a challenge making them happen, but we always do.

These are the 8 Championship Events in the USAWA.

USAWA SIGNATURE CHAMPIONSHIP  EVENTS

CHAMPIONSHIP YEARLY DATE LOCATION DIRECTOR
Grip Championships 2nd weekend of Feb. Dino Gym Al Myers
Club Championships 2nd or 3rd weekend of July Ledaig HA Dave Glasgow
Heavy Lift Championships 1st or 2nd weekend of May rotates rotates
National Championships 3rd or 4th weekend of June rotates rotates
Presidential Cup 1st or 2nd weekend of Aug Habeckers Gym Denny Habecker
Team Championships 3rd or 4th weekend of Aug Dino Gym Al Myers
Old Time Strongman Championships September KC Strongman Eric Todd
Postal Championships December Postal Denny Habecker

The MOST IMPORTANT Championship in the USAWA is the National Championships. The reason is that it recognizes the best ALL-ROUND lifters in the organization.  It contains a selection of ANY lift within the organization (out of around 200), and often contains a good balance of all types of lifting. Several years ago I had a good discussion with the late Dale Friesze, and he felt the name NATIONALS should just be used for the National Championships to identify its significance as the only true Nationals in the USAWA.  Well, I couldn’t argue with him on that so from that point on I have been referring to our yearly BIG MEET as the National Championships and the rest of these important meets as  Championship Events or just Championships. This hasn’t always been the case, and in years past meets like the Heavy Lift Championships was called the Heavy Lift Nationals. But from now on it will be called the Heavy Lift Championships.

Each of these other Championships represent unique areas within the USAWA.  The Grip Championships only includes official USAWA lifts that test the grip, the Heavy Lift Championships contain only Heavy Lifts, and the Old Time Strongman Championships only include OTSM lifts. The Club Championships is unique in that it recognizes the top performing USAWA club, as it is scored using a team score of 3 club members added together. The Presidential Cup is hosted by the USAWA President to recognize a top Record Day performer. Think of it as the Championships of Record Days.  The Team Championships is the championship that recognizes Team Lifting (2-man, 2-women, 2-person).  The Postal Championships recognizes the top performers in the postal meets.  The beauty of having these different Championships is that if you have special skills in lifting you can find an avenue in which you can compete in a specialized Championship.  It’s just one of the ways that the USAWA gives opportunities to lifters who like to specialize in the different areas of all-round strength.

As secretary, it is my job to sanction events/competitions.  Since these are our organizations most important events (ie Signature Events) I try not to allow other meets to be sanctioned on the same day as one of our Championships.  I know this hasn’t always been the case, but from now on I will try to make sure there are no other USAWA meet conflicts on the same day as one of these Championships.  Now since I have announced the “yearly dates” of these Championships, the Championships have “first dibs” on those dates for sanction.  This way no one will have any USAWA reason NOT to attend any of the USAWA Championships!

1 … 211 212 213 214 215 … 537