Dino Challenge Recap with Eric Todd

Posted on February 7, 2018 at 12:00 AM

Last weekend, I competed in yet another Dino Challenge in Holland, KS. This meet has been going on since 2004, where I won the heavyweight division. This time around was in honor of the late Tom Ryan, who was an avid all-rounder and weightlifting historian. Unfortunately for me, Tom’s favorite lifts were centered around grip and wrist strength making the events at his years meet difficult. These have always been my Achilles heel, and four out of the five lifts contested in this meet were grip/wrist focused. Luckily for me, the fifth lift was the hip lift, which I am decent at, and is one you can put up some big numbers.

The first lift was the weaver stick. Demo video here. I had never done it before the day of the meet. I was not too worried as the most weight ever put up in this discipline was seven pounds by Tom Ryan. It showed, and I tied for last in this lift.

The next lift was the rectangular fix. Demo video here. I trained this one, and made some improvements, but it did not show meet time. I hit 90 pounds which was a disappointment.

After the fix was the one arm deadlift with no thumb. Demo video here. In the one handed deadlift, I hook grip and can put up some pretty decent pounds. When you take the thumb out of the equation, it makes it all about grip strength. I trained this one as well, but made very little improvement in training. I was pleased to hit a PR here, and felt like I had left a few pounds in the tank.

The next lift was the Reeves deadlift, which feels like it counts almost entirely on finger strength to hold on. Here is a demo video. Like some of the other lifts, the difference of 5 pounds can be night and day in making the lift. I believe I hit 265 lbs., and missed 300 lbs.

Finally we were to the hip lift. Here is a demo video of the lift. I knew I had some ground to make up, especially since a number of fellows had grip strength superior to mine. As a three-time heavy lift champion, I hoped I had what it took in the hip lift to make it happen. In the end, I hit 2010 lbs. to be almost 500 lbs. over the next highest hip lift. I went for 2300 lbs. for a new PR, and I felt like I almost had it. Oh well, next time perhaps!

In the end, lifting 2010 lbs. was enough, and I was best lifter of the meet. I was also surprised when they presented me with an Athlete of the Year: Runner Up award for the USAWA. I believe this is the 3rd time I have received this honor. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride?

At any rate, I will continue balancing training for Heavy Lift Championships in May and USAWA National Championships in June. In the meantime, there are a couple Postals in there that I will try to get in. Until next time...