High Country Vigour

An exciting day of lifting in the IAWA OTSM World Postal.  Kim, Jarrod, Nisha and I were all present at High Country Vigour.  With the small crew of athletes and rising bar format, all athletes were following themselves which made for a challenging day. I set personal bests in all three lifts. Hackenschmidt Floor Press (200 pounds) - previous best - 190 pounds at 2025 Nationals Peoples Deadlift (405 pounds) - previous best 380 pounds at at 2025 One Ton Pentathlon Challenge Dumbbell to Shoulder (132 pounds) - previous best 126 pounds at 2025 Nationals Date of Lifts - December 13, 2025 Club for all athletes is High Country Vigour Nisha Gupta Female Age - 16 Body Weight - 38.4 kg Weight Class - 40 kg Hackenschmidt Floor Press - 29.5 kg (WR. USR) Peoples Deadlift - 52.3 kg (WR, USR) Dumbbell to Shoulder - 22.7 kg  Kim Van Wagner Female Age - 58 Bodyweight - 58.5 kg Weight Class - 60 kg Hackenschmidt Floor Press - 56.8 kg (WR, USR) Peoples Deadlift - 95.5 kg (WR, USR) Dumbbell...

Wednesday, December 3, 2025 High Country Vigour 1700 54 years old 205.8 pounds (95kg class) Official: Nisha Gupta Record Session Lifts: Deadlift, No Thumbs - 300 pounds Deadlift, No Thumbs, Overhand Grip - 300 pounds Lateral Raise, Standing - 40 pounds (ALL Age Class Record) Pinch Grip, Strict, Left - 41 pounds (ALL Age Class Record) Pinch Grip, Strict, Right - 41 pounds (ALL Age Class Record) Deadlift, Heels Together, Fulton - 235 pounds (not a USAWA lift) Competition Lifts: Back Lift Neck Lift Hip Lift Harness Lift Hand & Thigh Lift Not planning on doing the competition lifts.  It is a real bear to set up the heavy lift bar and in the absence of a Back Lift apparatus, it is unlikely that I would do well in the overall competition. UPDATE: 12/7/2025 Back Lift - 0 Neck Lift - 190 pounds (PR, previous best 175 pounds) Hip Lift - 570 pounds (matched last year, best is 620 pounds) Harness Lift - 570 pounds (matched last year, best is 570 pounds) Hand & Thigh - 460 pounds (PR, ...

Q4 Postal November 29, 2025 High Country Vigour Officials - Sanjiv Gupta & Nisha Gupta Nisha Gupta - Age - 16 - 86.1 Lbs. - 40 Kg. Class - Female Dumbbell Swing - One Hand - RIGHT - 25 Lbs. Bench Press - Fulton Bar - 45 Lbs. Vertical Bar Deadlift - One Bar - 2" LEFT - 60 Lbs. TOTAL = 130 Lbs. Diya Gupta - Age - 18 - 112 Lbs. - 55 Kg. Class - Female Dumbbell Swing - One Hand - RIGHT - 40 Lbs. Bench Press - Fulton Bar - 60 Lbs. Vertical Bar Deadlift - One Bar - 2" RIGHT - 110 Lbs. TOTAL = 210 Lbs. Sanjiv Gupta - Age - 54 - 206.8 Lbs. - 95 Kg. Class - Male Dumbbell Swing - One Hand - RIGHT - 57 Lbs. Bench Press - Fulton Bar - 170 Lbs. Vertical Bard Deadlift - One Bar - 2" RIGHT - 155 Lbs. TOTAL = 382 Lbs. Utilizing Lynch-Age-Gender Adjusting Scoring  Diya was first at 385.14 Lbs. Sanjiv second at 384.98 Lbs. Nisha third at 342.22 Lbs.

Blindt Coefficients (BC) were developed around 2002 by the English lifter Adrian Blindt.  The purpose is to equalize all lifts in a meet. I recently received the BC spreadsheet from Paul Barette (IAWA President).  After review, I can make some observations. Everything is normalized to the 2H Barbell Clean & Press (BC = 1.0000).  Deadlift (able to move more weight) will have a lower BC (0.3837).  Little Finger Lift (able to move less weight) will have a higher BC (1.3876). The BC utilizes Senior Men's Records and does not take into consideration Junior records, Masters records or Women's records.  The men's records are adjusted to create a smooth curve.  For example, if the 80kg record is 100 pounds, 85kg record is 80 pounds and 90kg record is 110 pounds; the 85kg record will be changed to 105 pounds.  These anomalies are handled manually and quite labor intensive. Next the records are normalized by Lynch which should create a straight line.  T...

2025 High Country Vigour Cup This is the inaugural installation of the High Country Vigour Cup.  I originally wanted to do a simple record day to close out the season, With the excitement of the President’s Cup and the Gold Cup, it seemed like a fun idea for athletes to show off a special lift for themselves.  The local athletes did not disappoint and we had a several remote lifters also. I admired Nisha’s courage on the Steinborn Lift.  After making 33 pounds and 44 pounds, she failed a 54-pound attempt. Elijah shined with a third attempt on the pull up to get his chin over the bar with 20 pounds hanging from weight belt. Kim’s Piper Lift seemed really solid at 80 pounds.  I realized just how solid when I tried to do the lift. Jarrod’s pulling power is just amazing.  He held the 60-pound chin up to make sure he was clearly over the bar without any doubt. I had the pleasure of doing a Team Deadlift with Nisha.  The last father/daughter duo was Al & Emil...

It is only October, but I am looking forward to 2026. 2024.03.17 Colorado Spring Fling 2025.03.01 Colorado Single Arm Challenge 2025.04.05 USAWA Club Championship 2025.05.03 USAWA Grip Championship 2025.09.13 Colorado OTSM Classic 2025.11.08 High Country Vigour Cup 2025.12.20 USAWA Team Championship 2026.04.18 USAWA Grip Championship 2026.06.27 USAWA National Championship TBD High Country Vigour Challenge TBD High Country Vigour Cup TBD USAWA Team Championship 2027.11.06 IAWA Gold Cup TBD High Country Vigour Challenge TBD High Country Vigour Cup At a high level, I would like to sanction the cup event and a challenge every year.  Ideally, I would sanction a USAWA Championship Event (Grip, Club, Team Lift, Heavy Lift, OTSM) or IAWA Event (Gold Cup, World Championship) annually also. I think I am done with OTSM.  The Single Arm Challenge could serve as a template for future challenges in the spirit of Dino Gym Ideas for High Country Vigour Challenges-  Rex Monahan Challenge ...

Banner Meeting Jack Shanks Clean & Push Press Pullover & Press Straddle Deadlift One Arm Clean & Jerk Clean & Push Press 2" Vertical Bar Zercher Fun in the Stones "Garden" Very Impressive Team Lift (Dolores and June) I had the opportunity to travel to Belfast for the 2025 IAWA World Championship.  It was well attended: Ruby Meakin - NI - Junior Leo Moss - ENG - Junior Emily Haydock - ENG - Junior George Dutton - ENG - Junior Beata Banas - ENG (attended last year) Paul Barette - ENG (attended last year) Chloe Brennan - ENG (attended last year) Steve Sherwood - ENG (attended last year) Brandon Hazell-Hyland - ENG (attended last year) Denny Habecker - USA (attended last year) Natalie Voce - ENG (attended last year) David Angove - ENG (attended last year) Dolores McGuckin - NI - Incredibly strong powerlifter Sam Bonar - ENG (attended last year) Stanley Hamilton - NI - Grip sport athlete Joshua Davidson - ENG (attended last year) Sanjiv Gupta - USA (attended l...