USAWA Heavy Lift Championship

We had a great time with the Heavy Lift Championship.  It was slow going and a lot of time was spent with warm-up lifts so that everybody could figure out chain length, technique and how to position a neck harness and hip belt.

Nisha always opened and was under the pressure of performing (3) lifts in a row with three middle aged men watching, but she did great.  Her neck lift was the trickiest, during warm-ups she missed 50, made 30 and made 40.  She decided to open at 40 pounds, then made 50 pounds and 70 pounds saying it felt easy.  I am not sure if 4th attempts were allowed, but she did put up 90 pounds on a 4th attempt.

Jarrod did 100 pounds and did not care for the lift.  He accepted the token effort and was done.  Joshua tested 100 pounds and then opened at 150 pounds also being done.  I was a glutton for punishment and after warm-ups at 100 and 150, I opened at 170 and had a tough lift at 190 pounds for my second attempt.

Hand and Thigh was much better.  Nisha was 3 for 3 at 120, 150 and 170 pounds.  I was 3 for 3 at 390, 443 and 483 pounds.  Jarrod was matching step with Joshua and both lifted 443, 503 and 594 pounds.  The odd weights were added to one end as the bar was unbalanced.

The Hip Lift was tricky.  Nisha did great at 169, 189 and 209 pounds.  I felt good and opened at 573 took a second lift at 623 pounds and felt done.  Jarrod and Joshua were pushing each other.  Jarrod opened at 663. On his second attempt at 753 pounds the belt broke and he attempted it with my belt and made 753 pounds.  He then finished at 843 pounds.  Joshua was most impressive.  He opened at 753 pounds.  He made 843 pounds.  He got a down command at 933 pounds, but one of the judges noted his hands were still resting on his thighs.  Unfortunately, this meant his third attempt was not good.

Finally, we finished with a bending session.  Joshua demonstrated technique by bending a 4 inch 20d nail.  He then bent a timber tie.  Nisha, Kim, Jarrod and I were all able to bend the 20d nail.  However none of us were able to bend the timber tie.  It was a lot of fun to learn short steel bending.

Complete Results:

May 2, 2026

Officials - Sanjiv Gupta, Nisha Gupta, Jarrod Fobes, Kim Van Wagner

Nisha Gupta - 86.4 pounds (40kg Class) DOB 2/21/2009 - 17 years old

Neck Lift - 70 pounds (4th attempt for record 90 pounds)

Hand & Thigh Lift - 170 pounds

Hip Lift - 209 pounds

Sanjiv Gupta - 207.9 pounds (95kg Class) DOB 6/5/1971 - 54 years old

Neck Lift - 190 pounds

Hand & Thigh Lift - 483 pounds

Hip Lift - 623 pounds

Jarrod Fobes - 214.8 pounds (100kg Class) DOB 4/8/1977 - 49 years old

Neck Lift - 100 pounds

Hand & Thigh Lift - 594 pounds

Hip Lift - 843 pounds

Joshua Guerin - 256 pounds (120kg Class) DOB 7/17/1984 - 41 years old

Neck Lift - 150 pounds

Hand & Thigh Lift - 594 pounds

Hip Lift - 843 pounds