USAWA Records 2010

by Al Myers

What a year for broken records!!!  After tallying the last chance for any 2010 USAWA records  from the National Postal Meet, the USAWA ended up with a total of 609 records.  This is less than 100 from the all time best of 702 records set in 2005.  This is the third best year ever.   Maybe next year the “record for records” will go down.  Let’s hope so.  The following is a listing of the lifters who set the most USAWA records (20 or more)  in 2010.

Individual Records 2010

1.   62 – Al Myers

2.  43 – Chad Ullom

3.  35 – Kohl Hess

4.  30 – Rudy Bletscher

4.  30 – Thom Van Vleck

6.  28 – Dave Glasgow

7.  25 – Mike Murdock

7.  25 – Art Montini

9.  24 – Joe Garcia

10.  22 – John O’Brien

11.  21 – Denny Habecker

12.  20 – Darren Barnhart

It is interesting to note that only one lifter in the above list is not a Junior or Master lifter – and that is Chad Ullom.  The significance of this it that Chad is eligible to break or set only OVERALL records, not age group records.  The advantage of being able to break or set age group records is that you can “double dip” – meaning you can set TWO records with one record attempt.  All of Chad’s records were set individually – which is much more difficult!  This will change next year for him as he reaches the age in which he can FINALLY call himself a MASTER LIFTER.  This list does not include records set in the TEAM Record List, which is a different listing.  All together 18 new Team Records were set in 2010.  The following is the list of which teams set the most.

Team Records in 2010

1.   8 – Mike Murdock and Rudy Bletscher

2.  6 – Al Myers and Chad Ullom

3.  4 – Scott Tully and Mark Mitchell

Cambered Squat Bar

by Al Myers

Scott Tully, of the Dino Gym, training with a Cambered Squat Bar. In this picture Scott is squatting 520 pounds for reps.

I have made lots of interesting training devices for the Dino Gym.  Some are of my original design while others I copied from someone else.  Some get used all the time, while others just get “pulled out”  every now and then.  Some of the devices are for very specific-type  training, while others are used for general strength training.   A few weeks ago Dino Gym member Scott Tully started using the cambered squat bar for his squat workouts.  I made this bar several years ago after reading about its advantages described by Dave Tate of  Elite Fitness Systems.   It has been around, or on the market,  for several years now.  The first time I had ever heard of a cambered squat bar was in an article by Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell.  Most people attribute the development of the cambered squat bar to Louie. This bar has been hanging in the bar rack in the gym for quite a while so I was glad to see Scott pull it out and put it to use.  Sometimes just changing things up in your training will jump-start your strength gains.  I’m sure that is why Scott decided to use this bar in his training program – and he probably will only use it a few weeks before resuming straight bar squats.  And I predict once he gets back on the straight bar squats – his squat will be improved.

It was pretty easy to make, but did require the sacrifice of two good bars to make one unusual looking one.   The main benefit of squatting with the cambered bar is to decrease the stress on the upper back and place more muscular involvement in the hips and legs. The experts say it strengthens the posterior chain (which I say is a fancy word for the gluteus maximus.  haha look THAT one up!).  The camber (or offset) is 14 inches.  As you descend into a squat with this bar the weight “tracks” in a different line compared to a straight bar.  The result of this is that you will squat more upright with the cambered squat bar.  Also, by being able to grip it lower, using a cambered squat bar greatly reduces the stress on the shoulders and elbows.  It is perfect if you are “coming back” from a shoulder injury where your shoulder mobility is reduced or painful when gripping a straight squat bar.

This bar is also rackable – meaning you can take it out and return it to normal bar hooks in a cage or squat rack.  Spotting someone using this bar is no different than a normal bar.  The upper portion of the bar exceeds the racking hooks far enough that you can get a hold of it during a spot if needed.   I sort of have problems calling this bar a cambered bar, because in my mind “camber” means bent.  Like a Buffalo Bar or Bill Clark’s “special” one handed deadlift bar. Webster’s dictionary defines camber as “a slight curve” or “to arch slightly”.   This bar SHOULD be called an off-set bar instead.  But it has been advertised as a cambered bar for so long now, that name has stuck.  However, it is a great addition to any gym and adds variety to any strength training program.

Grip Championship Deadline Change

by Al Myers

On February 12th at the Dino Gym, the FIRST EVER USAWA National Grip Championships will be held.  Previously, I had set a entry deadline of February 1st to enter.  I did this so I would know in advance what awards to have made.  I had planned to have nice Championship Medals  for this meet as I was hoping for a big turnout.  However, to date I have ONLY received 3 entries with the previous deadline less than 10 days away.  This is NOT enough entries to pursue nice custom made awards – so I have decided to REMOVE the deadline and change the awards to Championship Certificates instead.  If you plan to attend, I still would like to know in advance.   These changes have been made to the entry form.

Click here for an entry form – NationalGripEntry

Successful Fundraiser

by Al Myers

The silent auction at the Dino Challenge raised $800 for the Friends of the Salina Animal Shelter.

After an unbelievable day of lifting at the Dino Old-Time Strongman Challenge,  a silent auction was conducted as a fundraiser for the Friends of the Salina Animal Shelter.   My training partner Mark Mitchell and his wife are actively involved with this compassionate organization.  Their concerns are genuine, and this group has helped HUNDREDS of pets find new homes and bring love and happiness to many, many families.  This group does not receive financial help outside of private donations and fundraisers like this.  ALL money raised will go directly where it should go – to help in finding homes for dogs and cats.  It was a fantastic feeling to be able to help them in this mission.   All together,  $800 was raised!!!!  It was my honor to present this check to Mark Mitchell and the Friends of the Salina Animal Shelter on behalf of the Dino Gym and all USAWA participants who donated to this auction.  THANK YOU to everyone who was part of this!!

Smoking & Weightlifting: Part 2

Hey, I'm a patriotic guy!

by Thom Van Vleck

Ok, so if smoking is so bad for you why did so many lifters  do it?  And why were those lifters so successful while smoking.  The quick answer might be that they would have been even better without cigarettes.  This may surprise you, but I DISAGREE!

You may be thinking, “What! Thom is saying smoking will help your lifting”!  Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.  Just like steroids, amphetamines, and the dozens of other drugs people use to increase their performance.  But don’t confuse helping your lifting and helping your health.  Also, there are better ways to achieve the same positive effects of smoking without the long term health problems that smoking brings.

First, how does smoking help.  Nicotine is a stimulant.  When you smoke, you are introducing a stimulant to your system.  A stimulant can help you focus.  By focusing, you can reduce anxiety (which is how cigarettes can calm you down when they stimulant you).  Since it enters through the lungs, it is wickedly fast in how it does it and why it is so addictive.  It has an incredibly fast stimulus-reward connection.  But you have to remember, there’s a DIFFERENCE between short term and long term benefits.

When I used to work in substance abuse counseling patients would often have a “dual diagnosis”.  They would come into treatment as a result of substance abuse, but the reason they would abuse substances had to do with an underlying problem.  I’ll used Depression as an example.  If you are depressed and you take methamphetamine you will no longer be depressed.  As a matter of fact, I’ll guarantee INSTANT results.  If you simply go on the instant results, then “meth” would be the greatest success story of all time in the treatment of depression.  But we all know there are many consequences of using “meth”.  The consequences of cigarettes are slow, but the benefits are quick.

I bring this up because when I was a teenager and I was faced with the opportunities to use alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, steroids, I would hear only that they were “bad” for you….but what I often saw conflicted with that and as a result, I would question just how “bad” they were!  I even recall people saying that steroids didn’t work at all and that it was all psychological…..yeah, right!!!  If we want to modify our behavior or the behavior of those around us for the better, we have to be honest

Now that we are being honest, let’s back up to the “dual diagnosis” example a little.  So, if you take away the way a person is self medicating, you must find an alternative or they are doomed to go back to their self medication.  With cigarettes, you must find some healthy alternative, or at least a relatively healthy alternative (when I did substance abuse counseling we often encouraged cigarette smoking to deal with withdrawal  from hardcore drugs as it was the lessor evil).

As lifters, we are always looking for an edge.  I don’t know how many supplements I’ve tried over the years.  But if we are willing to work, and wait for results, we can find effective replacements for things like cigarettes that deliver short term but make us pay long term.

Breath easy!

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