World Championships

by Al Myers

MEET ANNOUNCEMENT
2013 IAWA World Championships

Mark and I enjoying some "beach time" on Scarborough Beach near Perth, Western Australia, while there for the 2011 IAWA World Championships.

The entry form and meet details have been released for the 2013 IAWA World Championships.  Mark Haydock, of Preston, England, will be this year’s meet director and host.  Mark runs an all round club, the Houghton Barbell Club. Mark has been very involved in IAWA and has attended many World Championships.   He was the Overall Best Lifter in the 2009 Championship in Lebanon, PA.

All it takes for a USAWA member to enter the IAWA World Championships is to be a USAWA current member.  There are NO pre-meet qualifications to enter. Just fill out the entry form completely and send it to Mark, then book your flight to England.  That’s it! The entry deadline is August 31st.

The meet is a two day meet (Saturday October 5th & Sunday October 6th).   In the Info Sheet Mark has given several suggestions for places to stay.  The lifts for the World Championships are:

DAY ONE

Clean and Press

Continental Snatch

Pullover – Straight Arm

Vertical Bar Deadlift – 1 Arm, 2″, One Hand

DAY TWO

Squat

Clean and Jerk – Dumbbell, One Arm

Deadlift – Trap Bar

ENTRY FORM (PDF) – 2013 IAWA World Championships Entry

INFO SHEET (PDF) –  2013 IAWA World Championships Info

Club Championships

by Al Myers

MEET ANNOUNCEMENT
2013 USAWA CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS

Dave and Gunner Glasgow

The Club Championships has been rescheduled!   After the cancellation last March in Ambridge due to bad weather,  the Club Championships was looking “not to happen” this year.  However, I consider this meet as one of our “signature events” in the USAWA since it is a Championship Event, and these are the meets that really need to be contested every year.  The Club Championships began in 2010 with the Ambridge Barbell Club hosting it since then.  Dave Glasgow, the leader of the Ledaig Heavy Athletics, has agreed to promote it this summer so that this important competition will continue on an annual basis.

The Club Championships is much different than other competitions.  It is NOT an individual competition, but rather, a club competition.  The scores of three members of a club are “added together” to form a club score.  This way clubs are pitted against each other, with each member making their own contribution to their club.  Awards will be given out on a “club basis” – there will be no individual recognition at this event.

The rules for the Club Championships  are pretty straightforward:

1.  Each Club brings up to three lifters to compete. Clubs may enter with less than three members, but will be at a disadvantage when scores are added together.

2.  Club members MUST be registered with their club of participation (as documented on the membership roster).

3.  Adjusted Point scores are added together to form a club score.

4.  Club with the highest Club Score is awarded the Club Champion.

The Ledaig HA’s has been a big club player in the USAWA over the past few years.  Now since Dave has his new training facility built I expect even more involvement with promotions.  I consider Ledaig as one of the TOP CLUBS in the USAWA.  At the 2012 IAWA World Championships last fall in Salina, their club won the team title at the Championships (combined pt scores of all members participating).  That’s a big club win – winning Worlds!!!!  In 2011 Ledaig won the team title at the USAWA Nationals in Kirksville.   Also, last year at Nationals in Las Vegas they were awarded the Runner Up Club of the Year in the USAWA!  

I’m really excited about this year’s Club Championships.   I truly believe the success of the USAWA lies with club involvement.  Meets like this one foster that involvement.   Year’s ago it was important to lifters to be “part of a club” when going to competitions.  Club spirit was high – and lifters often competed in their club shirts showing their support to their club.  I want to bring that feeling back, and this meet is a great way to do that.  It should be an honor for a club member to get selected to represent their club at the Club Championships.  Let’s make this a great meet!

MEET DETAILS:

2013 USAWA Club Championships
Sunday, July 14th, 2013
Ledaig Heavy Athletics Training Facility
Rainbow Bend, KS

Sanction – USAWA

Entry Fee – None

Weighins:  9:00 AM

Start time:  10:00 AM

LIFTS: 

Bench Press – Fulton Bar

Zercher Lift

Peoples Deadlift

There will be a record breaker session after the competition if anyone is interested.  Award certificates will be awarded to the winning clubs. There is no entry form, but please contact Dave prior to the event if you are entering a team at dglasgow@cox.net . The directions to the meet are:

GPS Coordinates are: Decimal coordinates (latitude, longitude):
37.16499343231285,-97.13128566741943

HUBanero Training or Setting Your Grip On Fire

by James Fuller

Driving home from the 2013 Heavy Lift Championships, I realized I had a puzzle to solve.  How to continue improving my Hub lifting ability without the aid of Frank Ciavattone’s large hub Yorks? Remember, Frank’s hubs are the SAME 4  3/4″ across as on my 100 lbers!! Lifting by the hub is NOT at all like lifting a thick bar, pinch gripping a bunch of 10 lb plates or crushing a gripper to death. Hub lifting is uniquely it’s own. The performance is not straightforward as Al Myers can tell you.

4 Spoke Grip Nemesis

To Frank’s meet, I brought 2 45lb BEN Deep Dish plates. These were my Hub Lifting practice plates. The hubs are the same 3  1/2″ across as my York Deep Dish 45’s but have only 3 ‘spokes’.  The spokes are the risers on plates most people don’t notice. Near the lip or flange of the plate, they start low and and gradually get taller like a ramp until they merge into the hub.

I showed Al how to grab the hub with index and middle finger together while the ring finger is on the other side of the spoke. The thumb doesn’t seem to contribute much. The pinky ‘backs up’ the ring finger at best. From here twist hand INWARDS against the spokes, as if to unscrew the top off a pickle jar. Now pick up the weight. When I’m done training with these plates it is the ring finger(s) that feel the most stress/work. The twisting helps get my hands closer to the hub and effectively ‘shortens’ my fingers. As Al pointed out a smaller hand person has the advantage when it comes to Hub Lifting. The larger the hand, the more work that has to be done  by the finger tips alone.

My 4 spoke York 45’s give me nothing to twist against. The spokes are laid out differently and require me to pick them up ‘straight on’ by the finger tips. I can not lift them this way…yet. I need something lighter but with similar dimensions. I believe I’ve found a possible solution. I bought a couple of Fire Hydrant Nozzle Caps(FHNC) at a local Antique shop.

Comparison of Nozzle Cover: Gripping Lip (left) and Gripping Base (right)

These caps provide 3 different gripping ‘handles’ to train. The top is a pentagon. One fits a thumb and 3 fingers while the other fits a thumb and 2 fingers. Oddly, the smaller pentagon is on the heavier cap. The second ‘handle’ is a lip just below the base of the pentagon. The lip can only be picked up by the finger tips. The 3rd handle is the base below the lip. This is the widest part of the cap. One measures 4  3/4″  and the other is 4  1/4″.  One flares out much like a hub. The other  is straight and has finger holds. With hand over the pentagon, there’s more distance between the palm and the fingers, requiring more fingertip strength to pick up the cap. The insides are threaded so that I can attach a pipe and add weight.  The whopping cost for these caps were 10.00$. Some rattle can rust converter to keep the tetanus down to a minimum and I’m off to the races. I’m curious to see how training with these turns out. You certainly can’t beat the price. Remember, there’s nothing like fire hydrant parts to add fire to your training.

Joe Jr. & Sr. – FOOTBALL CHAMPS!

by Al Myers

Joe Ciavattone Jr. (left) and Joe Ciavattone Sr. (right) proudly hold the conference championship trophy following the game!

A couple of weeks ago I had a very nice “sit down” visit with Joe Ciavattone Jr. and Joe Ciavattone Sr. following the Heavy Lift Championships in Walpole, Massachusetts.  That’s one thing I really like about the USAWA, most all of us know each other and the after-meet conversations are very enjoyable where we can just relax following a day of competition and enjoy each other’s company.  It’s often in these talks that I learn new information about the lives of  other all-rounders. This is exactly what happened during my visit with Joe Jr. and Sr.

Joe Jr. and Sr. were the first Father-Son duo to play on the Cobras at the same time. Here they show their conference Championship rings as a result of their football success.

This past year this father-son All Round Weightlifting  duo has been involved in another sport – FOOTBALL!  They both have been part of the Middleboro Cobras, a semi-pro team in the Eastern Football League.   Both were rookies on the team, with Joe Sr. being the oldest rookie on the team.  However, the years of lifting and training has kept him  much younger in “athletic years”.  Most guys in their 40’s would NEVER consider  making an upstart in a hard physical game like football at that age.  But most guys are not Joe Ciavattone Sr.!  They were the first Father-Son combo that ever played on this team at the same time.  There were other son’s that followed in Dad’s footsteps and played on the team – but in later years. Not at the same time!!!  The history of the Cobras goes back over 70 years to give a perspective on that accomplishment.

A "close up" picture of the Championship rings!

Their team had outstanding success.  They played an eleven game season, and with the playoffs and Championship game, finished with a record of 12 and 1.  This included winning the conference championship!  Both Joe Jr. and Joe Sr. had their championship rings on hand to prove this to me.  By the size of their rings, I would have said they won the Superbowl!  The Cobras are an excellent team, winning the conference championship in “back to back” seasons, and winning 8 of the last 10 titles!

Joe Jr was the starting fullback at a strapping 220 pounds, and was the youngest player on the team.  Joe Jr. had a stellar High School athletic career, earning All League honors in High School football and varsity All Star recognition in Lacrosse.  His strong contributions to the team during the season resulted in him being named Offensive Rookie of the Year. Before this, it had been 27 years since Joe Sr. played his last football game (which was in High School!).   However, he has always been involved in coaching and has a keen understanding of the game before he began playing on the Cobras.  Joe Sr. played offensive guard and special teams. 

The season begins next month for them and runs through October.  So if you are wondering why you are not seeing Joe Jr & Sr in USAWA meet results, you know why.  They are busy playing football!!!

Lifter of the Month: Dan Wagman

by Al Myers

Dan Wagman "in action" at the 2013 Dino Gym Record Day in February performing a 110# Dumbell Snatch.

Dan Wagman becomes the FIRST “two time” winner of the Lifter of the Month with him being declared the Lifter of the Month for the month of April!  Dan’s previous Lifter of the Month recognition was after he won the Overall Men’s  Best Lifter Award at the IAWA Worlds last October, with him earning the Lifter of the Month for October, 2012 following that big World Meet win.

This Lifter of the Month recognition was the result of his outstanding overall win in the Eastern Open Postal Meet, the first of the quarterly USAWA Postal Series. It was a “loaded” group of lifters who competed in this last postal, and as many entered as ever before.  Winning this meet was certainly worthy of receiving the Lifter of the Month for!!!  Congrats Dan!!!!

WEBMASTER NOTE:  All past USAWA Lifters of the Month are keep on a list available on the upper left hand side of the homepage, under USAWA Information.

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