Vince Gazzara's workout page - Workout information and workout links for strength workouts and bodybuilding workouts for men and women. Strongman events - Vincent Gazzara -- Saint James high school weightlifting club
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12/24/12
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Strongman-Crossfit Equipment
2004 Xenia OH Strongman Contest
My first strongman contest at 52 in 2004. Deadlift, conan's wheel, 247 & 255 stones. It was a lot of fun and a good start.
Dave Draper's Workout Jeff Everson's Workout training @ GetBig.com Beverly Int'l Workout MCBB Training Westside Barbell P L Atomic Athletic strength Charles Atlas
Bill Pearl's 20 month plan Danny O'Dell strength Weider System Wall Charts M&F Hers workout Women's Weight Training Overview: A T P and Muscle Energy
2004
2004
2004
2004
May 2006 at the Xenia Strongman - almost 54. 170 & 190 log to 5 ft - missed the 200. 450 on the 18" deadlift. 208 stone to 50 inches - not quite on the 225. 400 Conan's wheel for 168 feet.
A few calories burned calculators: Calories per hour.com [click Activities Calculator] NutriStrategy.com and calories to maintain current body weight Scientific Psychic diet calculator Use this for an aproximate starting point, but also track your current daily calories to see what actually has been keeping you at your current bodyfat level. If you then start cutting junk carbs and saturated fat to reduce your daily calories - while boosting protein, you should start to lose body fat. Exercise will then help the process along.
Exercise alone will not reduce body fat! Any exercise is helpful and heavy lifting will keep you strong, but the calories burned by an hour of exercise 3 times a week is usually not enough to offset the extra junk calories in your daily diet. You have to burn up or eliminate 3,500 calories to lose 1 pound of bodyfat.
The calories burned in these 60 minute activities is based on my weight of 175. You will burn about 30% less at 125, about 30% more at 225.
May
2006
September 2006 at the Xenia Old Fashion Strongman -
6 reps on the 315 deadlift in 60 seconds. The 450 frame carry went for 50 feet. The stones had to be carried and placed on a barrel - 208 for 10 feet & 235 for 5 feet - missed 280. Harness pulled a 9 ton ambulance for 50 feet.
Not a whole lot here, but I'm 54 at this contest and dropped from 185 to 174 to get in the open lightweight. It was a good day. I was happy to make it through another one.
My Dad - Guido Gazzara-
This is probably around 1959 when I was 7 and he was 42. He worked where everyone's father worked in Paulsboro, NJ - at the Mobil Oil Refinery. He was a lab tech conducting tests on oil furnaces until he "retired" early at 55 on his doctor's advice after he had a heart attack.
He got tired of being "retired" and started doing service calls and furnace repairs for a local oil delivery business. He did this into his mid-seventies driving out through rural South Jersey on the coldest winter nights because someone was without heat.
When he was 85 he was still riding his bike on most mornings, usually to the next town so he could walk with an old friend who was recovering from a heart attack.
At 88 he had a stroke and could not walk. I called him from Ohio to ask how he was doing and he said he felt great. I said that I heard he could not walk. He answered, "No I can't walk, but other than that I feel fine" So there was a man who knew when to be happy - a lesson most of us never quite get.
He was usually busy with something and always helped friends and others with real work like plumbing, electric, and of course heating. When I, my brother, and my sister grew up and got married he came over to help each of us with our home projects. When he was 73 he flew out here to Ohio with a small carry-on bag and a tool box to help me install a gas furnace in the house I was building.
He spent his last year in a nursing home and died in 2005 at age 89. I drove back there often to visit. He always said that he liked the place and was glad that he lived so long.
So here was a man who knew what life was really about. Be willing to work hard, do what you know you should do, go to church, be happy with what you have, don't chase after things you don't need, stand up for what you know is right, take care of yourself and your family, and help people who need it.
Life is really much less complicated than many people think it is.
Where it all began...
As always when I go back to NJ I visit my old buddy Timmy. He is still living on an old farm that he bought 30 years ago. When I went there in at the end of 2007, Timmy had been clearing some of the accumulated junk stored in the old building, so he brought me in there to check it out. As soon as we stepped into the porch I spotted the old Saint James High Scool squat rack & vertical leg press. Then under a few boxes was the bench, and leaning against the wall was the sit-up board. We took the antique equipment outside for some photos.
I remember going to our prinicpal when we were juniors and requesting about $100 to build some equipment and start a weight lifting club. I did the basic set up and Timmy welded it together at his father's service station. That was 1969. Sometime around 1982 the school closed down. I don't know how the equipment ended up at Timmy's farm, but there it was.
So that is me sitting on the bench. Timmy is behind me, and Mr McNulty is leaning on the bar set in the very same rack. Next to them are Tom, Bill, Mike and Mike - and on the bench Dennis and Ed. We all broght in our 110 pound weight sets and a few 25's, and carried the weights and equipment straight up the wall ladder rungs to the weight lifting loft next to the stage. It was a great place to work out - and a great group of guys to lift with. I really liked high school.
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Accordian Playing |
143 |
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Competitive Soccer |
794 |
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Lawn Darts |
198 |
Skiing or ice skating |
556 | |
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Surfing |
238 |
Aerobics |
516 | |
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Ping Pong |
318 |
Shoveling snow |
476 | |
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Irish Step Dancing |
357 |
Weight Lifting |
457 | |
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Walking - 15 min. miles |
397 |
Some of the best sites for Muscle Anatomy Illustrations and Brief Exercise Info and videos: ExRx Exercise & Muscle Directory Dave Draper's Exercise Descriptions Vandal Strength videos Bodybuilding.com Exercise BB.com Anatomy BB.com Stretching Fitness Atlantic exercise videos Vandal Strength videos
September 2007 at the Xenia Strongman -
Back again for the fall contest in Xenia, this time in the new 50 plus "Masters Major League" class. So I guess I am getting old, and as in all my competitions I was the oldest guy there. I was in a contest in May and another masters-only contest in July, but really did not get to train much for either.
We finally had time to do some training and I got back up to the 230 pound stone at this September contest and got 255 in practice. Deadlift is stuck at 400 off the blocks, but I did get 345 off the floor on June 9th when I turned 55.
In the 50+ class I only had 150 pounds on the new X-carry, but I was able to hustle for 285 feet in the 60 second time limit.
If I can continue to train consistently I will probably still get new max weights on the stones and deadlifts. The real goal is to still be able to do these weights five years from now.
July 2007 Xenia Masters Strongman -
I turned 55 the month before this one. The stone roll and tire flip were part of the first medly event. Next the Conan's wheel and ambulance harness pull. and the high stones were last.
There were still more treasures to be found at Timmy's. After looking over the old Saint James equipment, we walked around the rest of the farm where several old wrecked trucks were filled with more scrap metal. That's when I came upon my old original home gym. I remember having this rack set up around 1982. Apparently when I moved out of that place I brought it to Timmy's.
I built this when I was 15 and just starting to lift weights. Like everything else in our basement, including the original bench, it was made with uni-strut steel channels. My father worked at the Mobil refinery where they used a lot of this and scrapped it for a penny a pound.
The struts bolted directly into the concrete floor of out basement and into the joist above. the ceiling height was only about 5'-10". The leg press is 1" iron pipe inside 1-1/4" iron pipe. The short horizontal pipe welded to the top is split in half and hinged so the bar could be lifted out for squats, etc. The original valve springs are still in the bottom of the 1-1/4" pipe. A lat machine was a single pully bolted between 2 joists.
A padded slant board went directly under the bar and you had to push straight up. I think I used to push over 250 on this and there is no cheating. It was not a "relative" weight like a modern leg sled. I remember being dizzy when I stood up, from all the blood rushing to my head during the vertical leg press.
Looking back I guess I was quite industrious for a teenager. I stilll like to make things, and I still like to lift.
In February 2006, at age 53, I tried the 40 floor Rhodes Tower stair climb.
I made it to the top in just under 10 minutes including a breather on the 20th and 30th floor.
May 2009 at the Slater's Strongman
I have been training most Saturdays with a group of strongman competitors and I have been getting stronger in the lifts, but not the log press. today's masters weight was 200 for reps and I had to pass on that event. We had a light tire flip, stones, Hustefelt carry, and farmer's walk. I recently did 195 each hand for 120 feet in practice, so 49 feet at the contest as disappointing.
June 12, 2010, a few days after my 58th birthday. The bar is 60 so that's a 330 deadlift in the photo, the I got 350 on the next try. And 450 off the 9 inch blocks.
I was hoping for more. I pulled 368 a few weeks prior and lifted 290 each hand with the farmer's timbers like those below.
May 25 12, 2010, Stride for Life. This was just a one mile walk for some fund-raiser. I finished in 15-1/2 minutes. That's an 80 pound vest over a 40 pound vest, and 15 on each ankle. I look like I am ready to detonate vest.
Workouts
This 250 lb frame carry was around October 2010.
In June 2011, just after my 59th birthday, I carried the same frame with 510 pounds for 35 feet. A week before my birthday I deadlifted 350 from the floor, and a record of 470 with the bar at 18 inches
625 lb frame pick with straps - October 2011.
This is the most that I have lifted
January 2011 - 11-Athletics
magazine did a story on me and my friend Steve Gregory who is a boxer.
|click here for full story
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December 2012 - "Strongest on the Hill" at Denison U. - I flipped a 450 and 550 tire twice, then deadlifted 295 for 18 reps in one minute. It was a good time with a lot of crossfit men and women.
May
2006
450 lb frame carry for my 63rd birthday - June 9 2015.
385 deadlift - July 18 2015.
