High Country Vigour

The Stark Center has been on my list of attractions for quite some time.  The family was teasing me as it was my Disneyland.  I was recognizing pictures, people and pointing things out wherever I could. It is housed at the University of Texas at Austin in the football stadium.  Entering the stadium and taking an elevator to the 5th floor, visitors are greeted by the Warren Lincoln Travis dumbbell and a large main room with a stein display and large paintings.  To the right is the library and research archives.  To the right are the exhibits. As I cannot do justice or organize my thoughts, I will just do a photo dump with my pictures and why they jumped out to me. I did talk to Patty at the research center and she is familiar with the USAWA and has several of Bill's Strength Journals as Terry Todd was a subscriber. Frank Zane in a vacuum, Lou Ferrigno in a front double bicep and myself in overhead hands out double biceps.  These paintings were just cool. Ter...

Three USAWA masters athletes and one junior took the platform to contest the 2025 USAWA Grip Championships held at High Country Vigour in Lakewood, Colorado.  Weigh-ins and rules briefings were conducted, and the meet was contested using the one official system, Sanjiv Gupta, Jarrod Fobes and in training was Nisha Gupta. We started with Pinch Grip, Strict which is a classic lift that has been contested numerous times at the Grip Championship.  This was contested with 1990’s York Plates.  Ben and Jarrod tied with a top lift of 125 pounds.  However, Jarrod lifted first and established the record in the 100kg 45-year-old age class.  Nisha’s 36-pound lift was also good for a record. The next lift was the Deadlift, Inch DB, One Arm.  This was contested with Nemesis Grips Loadable Handles.  This is a relatively newer lift, but everybody put up great numbers.  This time, Ben had the top lift at 121 pounds.  This was good enough to beat the record in...

Clark's Gym was hosting a Diamond Jubilee for lifters 75 years of age and older and a record day for all. My daughters decided to throw their hat in the ring and set some team records. Deadlift, One Arm, Left - 105 pounds Zercher - 85 pounds Scott Lift - 115 pounds Squat, Lunge - 95 pounds Cheat Curl - 85 pounds

USAWA has a long history of team records with Joe McCoy and Bill Drybread setting records in the Team Clean & Press, Team Deadlift, Team Snatch & Clean, Team Snatch & Clean, One Arm and Team Snatch One Arm during the 1989 Nationals. A USAWA Team Championship was started in in 2007, but has not been contested since 2020.  I may try to bring this back. Since then, record have been set in 60 different lifts (20 Deadlift variations, 7 Clean to Overhead variations, 6 Snatch variations, 27 others).   Some seam intuitive, but some require a little creativity.  Heavy lifts come to mind as not easy to figure out. Recently the power couple of Allison and Tony Lupo have been on a mission and have set 16 masters records in the F/M category.   Al Myers and Chad Ullom - 39 different team records Dead Ross and Laverne Myers - 18 different team records Allison and Tony Lupo - 15 different team records I have yet to set a team record, but maybe I will convince J...

Rules Test Passed - 7/6/2023 The rules test is a 100 question open book test that really makes sure the applicant is familiar with the lifts, commands, common faults as well as competition procedure and uniform standards. Level 1 Certification - 2/17/2024 This practical training requires (3) training sessions alongside a Level 2 official.  In 2023 video training became acceptable for up to (2) training sessions.  I completed (2) video training sessions in 2023 and finally completed my Level 1 at the Dino Gym Grip Championship. Level 2 Certification - 4/7/2025 This lifetime certification requires (25) officiating sessions.  The intent is to gain confidence as an official and to have more hands on experience with the lifts and commands.  In 2024, USAWA would allow officiating in USA Weightlifting or USA Powerlifting to count for up to (15) of those sessions. I completed the (25) session in just over a year.  These included the 2024 Colorado Spring Fling, 2024 USAW...

High Country Vigour Clark's Championship Gym 2025 marks the return of the Club Championship which had not been contested since 2019.  This is a great format where clubs total their top three lifters to form an adjusted total and bragging rights as the strongest club of the year. From 2010-2012 it had been hosted at Ambridge Barbell Club.  From 2013-2019 it had been contested at Ledaig Heavy Athletics.  Beyond the host clubs only four other clubs had competed in the Club Championship (Atomic Athletics, Dino Gym, Habecker’s Gym and Joe’s Gym). In 2025, we tried something different allowing lifter to lift live at High Country Vigour or submit results remotely.  There was only one taker with Clark’s Championship Gym submitting an entry. Also new since the last time the event was hosted, was the 1.33 gender modifier.  Women had competed in the past but were at a disadvantage when contributing to the team total. Clark’s Championship Gym brought a full squad of (11) at...

The Colorado Single Arm Challenge was a rousing success and a fun way to ring in the month of March.  Jarrod, Sanjiv, Kim, Diya and Nisha competed at the host site in Lakewood and we had (11) remote lifters submit results as well. Although I have participated in several other meets remotely, this was only the second sanctioned event hosted from High Country Vigour.  It is always a little stressful managing the pace of competition, my own lifting, making sure the lifts are accurately recorded, spotting, loading and officiating.  Fortunately our little club in Colorado supports each other by providing equipment, encouragement and all around good attitudes. Some of also squeezed in the Q1 Postal Lifts and some records.  It made for a challenging 3 hour local competition. The record session was exciting as well.  In Lakewood, Jarrod gave the Inch Dumbbells a ride.  In Missouri, Riley had an amazing Pinch Grip Deadlift at 355 pounds which I would have loved to s...