World Record Clean & Press

by Atomic Athletic on Thursday, May 17, 2012 at 4:17pm ·

You want world records? We've got'em.

This year's Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic hosted the USAWA Heavy Lifts Championships, where 8 World Records were broken.

Two of the World Records were done as extra lifts. One of the beauties of the US All-Round Weightlifting Association is having the opportunity to add in extra lifts that are not on the regular agenda. One such lift was the classic Clean & Press.

Dave Polzin was the lifter. He trains with the Atomic Athletic Club at the new Atomic Athletic Training Center. Dave's first meet in the All Rounds took place at last year's Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic, but this was far from the beginning of his lifting career. In fact, Dave's first weightlifting competition was in Olympic Weightlifting, when the Clean & Press was still part of the Olympics. Dave was quite a presser, pushing up over 300 pounds. Unfortunately, right after that meet, the Press was eliminated from Olympic competition. However, as a football player for Defiance College, Dave continued to do the press in his training.

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=BK22C

Dave achieved some real success in Olympic style weightlifting, reaching national level in the late 70s and early 80s. He usually lifted in the 110 kg weight class, placing as high as second at the US Nationals. His by clean was 202.5 kg (446.5 lbs.). Dave quit competition by the mid-1980s, with many of his friends trying to get him to lift as a Masters age athlete.

It took the “odd lifts” of the USAWA to get him back into competition mode again. Last year's Strongman Picnic included the One Hand Barbell Deadlift and the Clean & Push Press, where he set records in both lifts. Now Dave Polzin has caught the bug for all round weightlifting.

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=VID212

This past weekend, the Heavy Lifts Championships were not enough for Dave. He also wanted to break the Clean & Press record, which he did in fine style. He practiced the Hand & Thigh Lift with us at the Atomic Athletic Club, but we didn't have harnesses for the Neck Lift or the Hip Lift, so Dave learned from the other lifters that day. When he finished he went 2 for 3 in the Clean & Press, breaking the record twice, where the new record now stands at 90 Kg (198 lbs.) for the 100 kg wt. Class and 60+ age group. Dave is already pushing for the next meet here at Atomic Athletic.

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=IGIWF

Live strong,

Roger LaPointe

Dumbbell Swing vs. Kettlebell Swing

by Atomic Athletic on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 5:08pm ·

Everyone knows that kettlebells are extremely popular right now. With that popularity has come a re-introduction of some old exercises and lifts, especially the kettlebell swing. While the one hand and two hand versions of the kettlebell swing are great exercises, they are not competitive lifts.

What is the competitive lifter to do?

Keep training with those kettlebells, as they are great tools. However, now it is time to haul out your Plate Loading Olympic Dumbbell for the Dumbbell Swing. The Dumbbell Swing has rules and records in the USAWA. What makes it a lift great lift is the relative ease of judging a good lift. Basically, it is one of those lifts that is clearly locked out overhead.

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=HIB20ZR

To give you an idea of how much a really good lifter can do with a One Hand Swing, we turn to two time Olympian (1932 and 1936) Stanley Kratkowski. As a middle weight (165 pound) lifter, in 1934 Kratkowski held the Right Hand Swing US Record of 178 1/2 pounds... Not too shabby. In the modern All-Round Association, the current World Record is 78.3 Kg (172.6 lbs.) in the 75 kg (165 lbs.) weight class, by R. Meldon of Great Britain. Looking at the other weight classes, I believe there is considerable opportunity for improvement in this lift.

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/category.aspx?categoryID=758

I have found the two hand kettlebell swing to be a really fantastic training exercise for the one hand swing. As a shorter athlete, I find that my grip is the first thing to go. With the two handed kettelbell swing I can concentrate on that triple extension, really working my hips back and neck. The two handed nature of the lift also lends a balance to the body, decreasing spinal torsion issues associated with one handed lifts. As it is an exercise that does not exactly replicate the competitive lift, this is something that I would do for higher reps, particularly working some portion of the lift where I have identified a common problem. Achieving full extension of the hips seems to be a problem for many lifters.

Photo of Roger competing at Ambridge VFW Hall with an antique Jackson Dumbbell:

Link to Olympic Dumbbell

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=HIB20ZR

Live Strong,

Roger LaPointe

Awesome Strongman Picnic

by Atomic Athletic on Monday, May 14, 2012 at 5:28pm ·

Performing strongmen, barbeque, broken records and good friends, what more can you ask from a Saturday afternoon?  We had it all.

Summing up one of the Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnics is nearly impossible, but just like the event, I will try to pull it off.

The USAWA Heavy Lifts Championships were going on throughout the day, with records being broken left and right.  In case you don't know the lift order, it went like this: Neck Lift, Hand & Thigh Lift and the Hip Lift finished it off.  However, sandwiched in there were a couple of invitational record breaker lifts: the One Hand Barbell Snatch and the 2 Hand Clean & Press, just for a little variety.

We also had some informal Open Competitions.  We started off with a little kids Farmers Walk, where they used a pair of 10 Pound Kettlebells.  You would be hard pressed to find a lifting event higher on the cuteness scale.  All of the kids did a great job and showed great sportsmanship.  We also had a Farmers Walk with 190 pound competition units and a Repetition Deadlift with a 309 Pound Barbell.  Of course, the Atlatl demo had to be paused so we could use the field.  Everyone loved the spear throwing with the primitive tools.  I do try to get something in there that is a little off the wall, even for this group.

Punctuating all of this we had Jeff “Chain Breaker” Bankens, all the way from Louisiana, doing bits and pieces of his act that he does on the road, including a classic water bottle routine.  This is the first time I had seen that done live.  

In the Atomic Athletic Training Center we had Sensei Mike Sherman, of American Kenpo, giving a competition kettlebell seminar and mini-competition.  While people were there, they bought T-shirts, posters and equipment... all to the smell of free popcorn and cotton candy, a favorite of the kids. 

 A great time was had by all.  I would like to give a special thanks to everyone who helped out, especially Dennis Habecker and Al Myers, who each managed and brought equipment for the Heavy Lifts Championships, as well as Jeff Rybek, who managed loading the weights.  There were many other people who helped out as well, but in addition to special expertise, these moved some real weight in the sun.  Loaders, administrators and referees rarely get much credit.  Just to give you an idea, the heaviest lift was a 2075 Hip Lift...

Make sure to keep checking out the Atomic Athletic web site, USAWA Facebook page and the Atomic Athletic Facebook page for more updates.

Live strong,

Roger LaPointe

Good Company

by Atomic Athletic on Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 2:57pm ·

Records galore! Check this out.

It looks like Andrew Durniat will be attempting at least one more record at the Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic. He is one of the Invitational Record Breakers this year. I know one of the lifts he has been training is the One Hand Barbell Snatch. I don't know where his weight class will be until Saturday morning and I don't know which hand he will do it with. However, I know Andrew is right handed.

National AAU Records 1934

Right Hand Barbell Snatch (As reported by The Arena & Strength Nov. 1934)

118 lb. Class 121 Emil Mozer, Detroit, MI

126 lb. Class, 126 1/2 Michael Mungioli, Maspeth, Long Island

132 lb. Class, 143 Richard Bachtell, York, PA

148 lb. Class, 166 Mario Cerrentani, Los Angeles, CA

165 lb. Class, 171 3/4 Mario Cerrentani, Los Angeles, CA

181 lb. Class, 171 William Good, Reamstown, PA

Heavy, 170 1/2 William Rohrer, Brooklyn, NY

Here is one of the bars you will see in use at the Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic:

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=IGIWF

The One Hand Barbell Snatch was last an Olympic Lift in the 1932 Olympic Games, in which William Good competed, as well as in the 1936 Olympic Games, which had only the 3 lifts. Richard Bachtell also competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics. Good, Bachtell, Michael Mungioli were each multiple time National Champions.

If Durniat breaks any of those records, he will indeed be in good company.

Make sure to use decent bumper plates when training the One Hand Barbell Snatch. You really want to be able to dump the bar when you miss the lift.

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/category.aspx?categoryID=399

Live strong,

Roger LaPointe

Atomic Athletic on WBGU

by Atomic Athletic on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 2:49pm ·

Do you want to get some FREE Atomic Athletic stuff?

Make sure to listen to WBGU Radio 88.1 FM from 6-9 AM with Dave Horger. Dave has an outstanding morning news radio program on the BGSU Public Radio station. He will be giving away free Atomic Athletic swag every day this week.

When you are at the Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic on Saturday, May 12th, make sure to find Dave. He will be doing interviews covering the event.

Here is the link for 88.1 FM:

http://wbgufm.com/schedule

If you need more information about the Picnic, here is the link: 

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/

Don't forget, the USAWA Heavy Lifts Championships are part of the Strongman Picnic this year. I am sure you will see someone doing a chain bar lift with over 1500 Pounds!

You can hit the banners on the link above.

Live strong,

Roger LaPointe

How Good was Ed Zercher?

by Atomic Athletic on Friday, May 4, 2012 at 4:11pm ·

Comparing old records to modern records can be tough. In the case of Ed Zercher, we can compare contemporary results in the Olympic lifts.

The Olympic weightlifting contests were very different in the early 1930s. The biggest difference being in the number of lifts contested in a single day. Today, there is just the Two Hand Snatch and Two Hand Clean & Jerk, but way back then it was a weightlifting pentathlon, including the single hand version of those lifts and the military press. Of course, the equipment was less sophisticated and the rules slightly different.

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=IGIWF

At the Fifth Annual Western AAU Weight Lifting Championships Ed Zercher (Bodyweight 156 Pounds), had the following lifts:

One Hand Snatch 120 lbs.

One Hand Clean & Jerk 130

Two Hand Military Press 170

Two Hand Snatch 145

Two Hand Clean & Jerk 200

Total 765

Ed was also a Loader and Official in the meet.

As a comparison, John Terlazzo (Olympic Gold Medalist Tony Terlazzo's brother) won the 148 pound class at the 1935 AAU Junior Nationals, as well as John Terpak and Walter Good, as reported in the same issue of The Arena & Strength.

Terlazzo (148 #) Terpak (148 #) Good (165 #)

OHS 143 lbs. 126 ½ 159 ½

OHCJ 159 ½ 143 176

THMP 181 ½ 176 203 ½

THS 187 187 192 ½

THCJ 242 --- 275

Total 913 632 ½ 1006 ½

(I believe Terlazzo's OHS was his National Record, but it is not mentioned as such in the accompanying article.) Terpak went on to win a Gold Medal in the 1936 Olympics and Good took 14th in the 1936 Olympics.

As you can see, when it came to the five lift Olympic contests, Ed was not quite up to Olympic caliber, but he was not far off.

Thom Van Vleck reports on the USAWA web site (usawa.com) that “The oldest record listed that has a verified date (Old record list from Bill Clarck) is a Harness Lift done by Ed Zercher, Sr with 2150lbs in 1940.” He also reports, “Clark stated that the below records were Missouri Valley AAU marks prior to 1941.  So, while we don’t know the exact year these were set, they were set prior to or in 1941. “

Aug. 3-4, 1963 Iron Man Lifting News reported on the 3rd Annual Heart of America Festival, which contested 15 different events, of which Ed (age 56) competed in the following:

Roman Chair 610 lbs., Leg Press-Unsupported 10 Reps 600 lbs.

The Zercher Squat was also a lift at this meet, but Ed did not compete in it. However, he did officiate.

Ed continued to be a judge for Olympic weightlifting contests in the 1960s, Iron Man Lifting News has him listed as an official for the Dec 7, 1964 Missouri State Weightlifting Championships, Missouri State AAU Olympic Weightlifting Championships at the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, December 10, 1967. He was also an official for the March 30-31, 1968 Missouri State Penitentiary Weight Decathlon, during which they contested 10 lifts, including the “ Zercher Lift”. The Emcee was Bill Clark.

Ed did not lift in either contest.

See the Zercher Lift in competition here: http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=VID004

Zercher would likely have been considered a “Presser”, but his One Hand Snatch was quite good as well. If powerlifting had been an organized sport in the 1930's, I suspect that with his pressing ability transferring to the bench press, his record in the deadlift and obvious ability with leg pressing and other squat-type movements, he would have really done well, if not taking some national or world titles.

For your own research, you will want to start by looking at Strength & Health Magazine: http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=MAG006

Live strong,

Roger LaPointe

USAWA

2012 USAWA "Heavy Event" Championships will be taking place at the Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic

Zercher: A Lift and A Lifter

by Atomic Athletic on Thursday, May 3, 2012 at 2:04pm ·

Wow! Imagine if they named a lift after you!

You know you have really done something amazing in the world of weightlifting when that day comes. Lots of people set records, but very few get that named lift. There's the Hack Lift, the Zottman Curl, the Scott Curl and then there is Ed Zercher's squat, called the Zercher Squat.

You can read all about the proper way to do a Zercher Squat in the USAWA Rulebook. Basically, it is a front squat with the bar held in the crook of your arms.

Various individuals will tout the benefits of a Zercher Squat and others will talk about the dangers. I prefer an unorthodox way of doing it, using a rotating thick bar, as the lift can be very hard on the biceps tendons. Basically, the smaller the diameter of the bar, the greater the biceps stress. However, few people know about some of the truly amazing lifting that Ed did before becoming known for his signature lift.

Here is the bar I use:

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=Y02988

Edward Zercher's Early Lifting

At the Fifth Annual Western AAU Weight Lifting Championships Ed Zercher (Bodyweight 156 Pounds), had the following lifts:

One Hand Snatch 120 lbs.

One Hand Clean & Jerk 130

Two Hand Military Press 170

Two Hand Snatch 145

Two Hand Clean & Jerk 200

Total 765

Ed was also a Loader and Official in the meet. This was Oct. 27, of 1934.

The December 1934 issue of The Arena and Strength reports that Edward Zercher also had the 2 Hands Deadlift record (165 lbs. Bdwt.) of 536 pounds. We also have a photo of Ed doing a 536 Deadlift, but the caption says he weighed

I highly recommend using bumper plates when training the Zercher Lift, as you can dump the weight without having the damage issues associated with iron plates. When those biceps tendons suddenly start hurting, it really is best to dump it quickly. If you don't already know the “good pain vs. bad pain” difference, be prepared to learn.

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=BPC45LB

Live strong,

Roger LaPointe

2012 USAWA "Heavy Event" Championships will be taking place at the Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic