High Country Vigour

Leg 12 mercifully ended the 2025 BSAG Season. Reverse Blitzkrieg - 0 pounds - I have a hard time with reverse grip movements Snatch, 2 Dumbbells - 90 pounds Deadlift, One Arm, Left - 205 pounds Deadlift, Dumbbell, One Arm Left - 4 x 162 pounds Deadlift, Dumbbell, One Arm Left - 13 x 132 pounds I did complete all (12) Legs. Pros Exposed to new lifts and new challenges Cheap at $50/year for the whole family Convenient as all of the legs are postal Cons No sense of community or camaraderie Results reporting are months after the event I rarely looked forward or planned these, often squeezing them in near months end It was a no brainer decision for me to sit out the 2026 season.  If I miss it, I can always come back in 2027.

The Colorado venue of the Team Championship was a rollercoaster of testing the lifts with ad hoc teams, rearranging the teams, warming up and finally beginning competition. With the Clean & Press being the first lift, Kim and I quickly realized that our height difference would not allow anything more than a token lift. Diya decided to do double duty and joined up with both Nisha and Kim to allow everybody to compete. Jarrod, who had just recovered from an injury, was willing to lift with me. As none of us had much experience with team lifts, the warmups were crucial as each team seemed to have a faster puller and a slower puller. All the teams eventually figured out a communication style and pace so they could stay in synch. Jarrod and I struggled to find good positions on the bar. Eventually we found spots where we could have pressing power and stay out of each other’s way. The deadlift was infinitely easier than the clean & press. Once competition was underway, everything wen...

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...