To a Strong 2015

Posted on January 1, 2015 by sawayatraining

We had a very successful 2014 at Evolution Fitness and Tucson Barbell Club and we are looking to have an amazing 2015. We are looking to bring a USAW Meet to Tucson this April and hope to have registration up soon! We will also be hosting the 2015 100% Raw Powerlifting American Challenge at our facility. In terms of workshops we are bringing out Jon North and his Attitude Nation Olypmic Weightlifting Course on January 31st. On March 7th we are teaching the StrongFirst Barbell Course in which we will be covering the fundamentals of the Squat, Deadlift, and Military Press. We plan on hosting numerous other courses and big events this year. If you are looking to get into the barbell sports you have found your home!

Danny Sawaya
Owner- Evolution Fitness/Tucson Barbell Club

100% Raw American Challenge National Championships

Posted on June 10, 2014 by sawayatraining

We were proud to be the host of the 100% Raw National Championships at Evolution Fitness and Tucson Barbell Club. Over 140 power lifters from around the country came to put on a show for 2 days. We had a packed house! Tucson Barbell Club was represented well. Jackie Luciano Set the state record for the deadlift at 330lbs, Andrew Lee shattered his old state record with a 462lb Squat in the 155lb weight class. He also set the state record for overall total. Jennifer Dumes set the state record for squat and deadlift for the 148 weight class 30-35 year old age division. We had many first time lifters take the platform and everyone set new Personal bests at this meet. Couldn’t be more proud of our team. I also want to thank all of our team member that didn’t compete and chose to help spot and run the scoring table for this event. Thanks to all that supported this event.

Andrew Lee took home the Best overall Lifter Award with the highest Coefficient total.

2013 University Nationals

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Tucsonbarbell

We were fortunate enough to send a team of 4 to University Nationals this year. For Jackie, Nate, and Adam this was their first national meet. They gave me a couple hard attacks with some of their attempts but all in all a great job. Heather placed 3rd overall in the 48 Kg weight class and made some new meet personal records. I could not be more proud of my lifters. They trained extremely hard for this meet and it shows. We got to meet some amazing lifters and coaches and exposure to what higher level Weightlifting is like.

East Valley Crossfit Nitro III

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Tucsonbarbell

Another GREAT meet held by August Schmidt of East Valley Crossfit. I had 3 lifters compete at this one and they did one hell of a job. Jake (88kg/110kg), Nate (101kg/121kg) and, Adam(107kg/137kg). They trained hard through this meet and performed very well.

2013 Winter Open

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Tucsonbarbell

We had a great time at the Grand Canyon Winter Open. We went in to get some qualifiying totals for University Nationals in April and we did. Jackie and Adam both totalled at their first weightlifting meet. So far we have Jackie, Rufe, Adam, Heather and Julie qualified for University Nationals and we have another meet on February 23rd to get a couple more lifters qualified.

515pm Class is a success

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Tucsonbarbell

For the past few months we have had a 515pm Mon/Wed/Fri class that focuses on training strength movements (squat, deadlift, press, bench) and it has become very popular. The original name of the class was strength and power. We have changed it to Barbell Club. Lots of the lifters in it have become more then members but also friends. We have become a community of lifters that strive to better themselves and get stronger. We have big plans for them outside of the squat rack.

We decided we are going to open classes up to 5 days a week at 515pm. I wanted to give our members more options and a more diverse skill set.

What are we going to do with those 2 extra days? Those days will focus on mobility, Olympic lifts, and short and hard conditioning. These days will be a great compliment to the 3 days of hard and heavy training.

We encourage those of you that can to add at least one of these additional days to your current program. Ask Chris or Danny about upgrading to unlimited training.

Finally Got Our Banner Up

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Tucsonbarbell

Our Official USAW Club Banner is up and it looks awesome. A lot has happened in the month of January. We remodeled the gym and rearranged a few things. I will try to get some new pictures up of the updated facility. 6 of our lifters will be competing at the Grand Canyon State Winter Games. They will be trying to obtain a University Nationals Qualifying Total. I have great faith this meet will go well as they have been training very hard for it. Lastly we have added a 515 Monday - Friday Barbell strength class that focuses on the main strength movements.

Carol Adams at the 2012 Winter Olympic Weightlifting Meet in Santa Fe, NM

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Tucsonbarbell

On Sat. Dec. 8 Carol Adams was In New Mexico and competed in the 2012 Winter Olympic Weightlifting Meet. She Snatch 27kg, C & J 38kg(PR), total 65kg(PR). All were NM state records for W65 – 69 age, 69kg weight category. We are very proud of her hard work and her tenacity to ever improve. She recently competed at the American Masters 5 weeks ago and won gold with a 28kg/36kg 64kg total.

American Masters and The Open

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Tucsonbarbell

A lot has happen The American Masters Open went and passed and our Carol Adams went and competed in it and Placed first in the Women’s 60 – 65 year old age division competing at 63kg. She went 6 for 6 with a 28kg/36kg 64kg Total. We could not be more proud.

Carol on the right with TOMMY KONO

This coming weekend is the American Open in Palms Springs and Heather Zahner will be competing in the 48kg Class on Saturday. Wish her luck she has been training really hard for it and we hope to see her do well coming back from her 4 year hiatus from the sport.

Heather made a little mash-up video of our training sessions. It is a nice mix of good lifts and some silliness.

Saturday Mock Meet

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Tucsonbarbell

We had a little mock meet a couple weeks back to prepare for the Honey Badger Invitational. I put together a little video with the best lifts of each person.