Why Dont More Grip Legends Try Armwrestling

[craigzooka]

This is a question directed towards all the grip legends that read this board, *wink* wade gilliam *wink*. Why haven't you guys given Armwrestling a shot? I would absolutely love to have see what Joe Kinney or John Brookfield could have done to an opponents hand. You guys would have such an insane headstart that I imagine you could sweep the novice class at any tourney out there.

[vikingsrule92]

I'm by no means a grip legend, but how does someone go about starting in AW? I'm really interested because I think I'd be pretty decent and it'd be pretty fun but I have no idea how to find a tourny or anything of that sort. Help from the AW guys?

[craigzooka]

This is the best armwrestling message board out there. John Brzenk, Travis Bagent, etc, all post and talk to eachother on here.

http://teammaine.proboards107.com/index.cgi?board=general

You can read the general forum without having to sign up.

If you can afford it I also Highly reccomend trying out an Armtv subscription. You can try it out for a month for 20$. There is nothing else on the internet even remotely close to the video on ArmTv. That website is www.myarmtv.com. (www.armtv.com is armenian television)

Another great resource is http://armwrestlersnearyou.com/index.html, its a map that lets you see other armwrestlers close by.

Lastly, i need to throw a plug in there for my blog. http://Armsports.blogspot.com. I try to gather all the Armwrestling news every week and aggregate it into one place. You should check out the videos section, http://armsports.blogspot.com/search/label/video, its got some stuff that might be interesting.

[Florian Kellersmann]

Many of the top grip guys are or were into armwrestling: David Horne is a former british natianal champion, Rob Vigeant is a current national champion in the US. Wade is into armwrestling for some time now, just to mention a few here.

But armwrestling is much more than grip strength. A very good gripguy is not automatically a good armwrestler.

[pawel r]

Florian Kellersmann is great in armwrestling and grip contest

[jad]

A strong hand and wrist help for sure but it's hardly enough. IMO, an elite AW could come into grip and become a top 5 guy at a major contest quicker than an elite gripster could go into AW and become a top 5 guy. Sure it's a bigger pool but a lot of those guys already have strong hands. Engin Terzi has a picture where he's doing a OAP off of a tank barrel! He's essentialy cupping the barrel!

[monkeypaws]

The grip work we do here is different than the hand strength needed for armwrestling.

In grip training, you almost never squeeze or grip with a straight wrist, As we know straight wrist is the starting position and a strong wrist is just as important as your hand.When you grab something in an armwrestling training sense, you are controlling the weight and lifting across your fingers and feeling the pressure through your hand to your wrist. In grip........at least for me.......I felt no pressure on my wrist, I basically squeezed as hard as I could and lifted or closed a gripper..........But, body mechanics wise, the hand strength felt much different crossing over to AW.

I think the cross over could be easier than for other non-grip guys because of the understanding and knowledge,and also lots of RELATED conditioning.

I just don't think that even the strongest hands on the planet can jump into a tournament and dominate with only strong hands.............and not knowin g how to use them. Also, my cousin and I had this argument about "imagine if Brookfield armwrestled.......who would beat him"......I couldn't get past the fact that while strong hands and wrist are so important........this is ARMwrestling.....and eventually someone is gonna slam him into a hook if...... they couldn't already take his hand. Where do most matches go when both guys have super strong hands and wrists?.....of course there are exceptions......but the natural reaction on "GO" is to protect your own hand and wrist by bowing......well, your opponent does this as well...........and presto you are in a hook...........where does pinching 100kg or slamming a #3 get you now.

Point is, yes there are some minor advantages, but the hand strength is totally different............hence..Brzenk can't out pinch, grip, or rolling thunder most on here........but he has the STRONGEST hand I have felt on a table............it's steel......truly impressive................you are better off shooting the hook

And there is also SOOOOOOOOO much more to being successful at this sport than a strong hand.

Florian Kellersmann is great in armwrestling and grip contest

yup

[lifesnotfair]

Wow, great post. Bob Brown says John's hand was much stronger in the 90's, before he injured some finger tendon. That's a scary thought! And yeah, Bob also said he could pinch a book, and John too, and both pulled to see who kept the book, and he always beat John if I remember correctly... so yeah, according to Gripboard standards John wouldn't be that great at "grip strength", yet YOU (strong hand gripwise!) say he has the strongest hand in the table. Interesting!!

[craigzooka]

Lets change the topic ever so slightly, which grip feat we are all familiar with, (pinch, sledge levering, tearing cards, ...) do you think translates onto the table the most.

[Griparn]

I think the best grip-related exercises for armwrestling would be all kind of levering and training with thick handled dumbells.

[monkeypaws]

honestly, none of the above......sorry.

it is different, it is like saying grippers are like pinch or thickbar.

the positioning of your hand is different than any of the above mentioned, thus making a whole other movement.

[Griparn]

Rob, what "grip feat" do you think has the most carryover then?

[craigzooka]

I disagree with you on one point monkeypaws. I feel that levering to the front translates quite well. The pressure the hammer puts on your wrist feels exactly like someone is trying to toproll you.

[Florian Kellersmann]

Griparn, I was thinking similar, but I've learned, that thickbar for example isn't as good as I thought for armwrestling. That does not mean that thickbar isn't a good exercise at all - I really like to train thickbar and I think there are great benefits for grip strength. I'm training thickbar at least once per week for years now and won't chance this I guess anytime soon.

I'll try to explain this:

Look at the hand and finger position when you lift a thickbar, 2 3/8 inch or 6cm for example: The hand is wide open. At the table, you don't won't to have your hand wide open, you want it as much closed as possible. The angle between the back of your hand and your cupping fingers should be about 90 degrees (right angle) - this is by far not the "fat bar position".

Another difference is: when you lift a fat bar, much fingertip strength is used (at least, if you use a thicker fat bar, no 2 inch bar). At the table, not so much fingertip strength is used, IMO. If you use too much fingertip pressure you'll weaken your wrist flexor (wrist curl) strength. What I mean is you cannot curl your wrist powerful when using to much fingertip pressure at the same time.

It took me about 5 years of armwrestling to learn and understand how to use my handstrength in the way I use it now...

[Griparn]

I can agree with you Florian. I was just trying to answer to the original question he had:

which grip feat we are all familiar with, (pinch, sledge levering, tearing cards, ...) do you think translates onto the table the most.

I understood the question like this, if you had to choose one of the grip exercises we are all familiar with, which one would be the best.

[blueviper42]

I think that pretty much any sort of hand training is still good for armwrestling. Even if it doesn't have an exact carry over, having stronger hands in any way is only going to benefit you in armwrestling. It may not carryover exactly or be a huge benefit, but it sure can't do any harm.

[monkeypaws]

well put Florian.

Craig, I never trained front lever, my front lever was always very strong naturally, maybe all the years of construction.

I never had my wrist broken foward in a match.

I see your point though, I toproll with more hand and back .......as opposed to the post, which is knuckles way up....and then front lever is important.

Ok, IMO the best carryover.........if you workout properly and not just to crack weights off the floor,.................THICK BAR.............PERIOD!

it was all I did for 2 months before ROTN......again properly, in an AW sense......but my hand felt amazing, like I was cheating.................I never felt threatened to lose my hand at anytime.........My hand now feels so solid.

I haven't used any grip toys, just thick handles and flat finger rows and pullups.

My hands have always been strong, but with these exercises I have trained the exact position to really tighten up in.

[lifesnotfair]

Have you lost strength in the "grip toys"? I mean, you must still try some feat just for fun from time to time, right? Like if you walk near some 10# plates maybe try to pinch them just for the hell of it? Or if a certain gripper falls from the sky just right next to you and you feel like squeezing it... ? Or you wake up to pick up the morning paper but instead, you find two 45's, smooth sides out, and some chalk already rubbed on them?

[pawel r]

armwrestling is much more than grip strength. A very good gripguy is not automatically a good armwrestler.

I agree in 100%

[craigzooka]

well put Florian.

Craig, I never trained front lever, my front lever was always very strong naturally, maybe all the years of construction.

I never had my wrist broken foward in a match.

I see your point though, I toproll with more hand and back .......as opposed to the post, which is knuckles way up....and then front lever is important.

Ok, IMO the best carryover.........if you workout properly and not just to crack weights off the floor,.................THICK BAR.............PERIOD!

it was all I did for 2 months before ROTN......again properly, in an AW sense......but my hand felt amazing, like I was cheating.................I never felt threatened to lose my hand at anytime.........My hand now feels so solid.

I haven't used any grip toys, just thick handles and flat finger rows and pullups.

My hands have always been strong, but with these exercises I have trained the exact position to really tighten up in.

Ahhh, that explains it. When I toproll I end up posting with knuckles to the ceiling. I fell like i always end up in this position due to my short forearm and small hand. Recently i have found a super secret exercise which I believe is far superior to the lever for working to top roll. I am going to train it for a month and see how I fare against a friend of mine. I will let you guys know if the exercise works. Then I will post a link to the video of me doing it.

[fightertrainer]

A strong hand and wrist help for sure but it's hardly enough. IMO, an elite AW could come into grip and become a top 5 guy at a major contest quicker than an elite gripster could go into AW and become a top 5 guy. Sure it's a bigger pool but a lot of those guys already have strong hands. Engin Terzi has a picture where he's doing a OAP off of a tank barrel! He's essentialy cupping the barrel!

Yes! if you think about it. Engin did that on the gun barrel was equal cupping the a dumbell his bw with 6 plus inches diameter handle. His weight I assume was 160 + then. That is very impressive

I find it hard to argue with Monkeypaws about crossover grip power to AW

[Wade Gillingham]

I believe John Brookfield has done some armwrestling - at least someone of authority told me that. John also has a very, very small hand. Anyone that tells me their hand isn't big enough to lift the blob I just tell them about Mr. Brookfield.

Yep, I have been trying to armwrestle. I had some bad luck this year and haven't been able to compete - injured before one, sick before another, and a meet canceled after I arrived. Last year I took a couple seconds to some local pros at the typical smokey bar tournaments. I'm much stronger now. My training is completely different now and even though my grip is still strong as people on this board measure it, it is never fully recovered and 100% because of the forearm work that I do. For me the biggest obstacle has been wrist flexibility and hand strength in a flexed wrist position. Before I started training for AW a couple years ago I couldn't even flex my wrist past straight and make a fist! I couldn't do wrist curls without a thumbless grip because my wrist didn't flex that way - at all! I have a lot of armwrestlers come through the GNC Grip Gauntlet. For the most part they are fairly average with the grippers and blob - most fail - but with the RT most succeed and do it with a cocked wrist - that's the difference that Rob and others are talking about. Breznk pulled 187 and closed the #2 for 5 reps a couple years ago at the Olympia, but couldn't do the blob. When I saw him 6 months later at the Arnold he told me he was doing 230 on the RT with a cocked wrist. That is well over bodyweight for him at the time and a cocked wrist shows the hand strength that AW have in that position that most grip guys don't have.

The best grip work I have done for AW is heavy db rows for high reps - go until the db has slid all the way down your fingers so you are just hanging on with the tips in your thumb. When I am strong on these I feel it against people who try to top roll me. When I hurt my fingers (both middles) this summer I finally felt what it is like to try to stop a top roll with a weak hand and just how important finger strength is.

[kelby]

i also think levering is important. fron levering. picking sledgehammer from the floor. also depending on what style you armwrestle. levering for over the top. if yo like twisting then wrist curls. and wrist roller.

[Florian Kellersmann]

Engin did that on the gun barrel was equal cupping the a dumbell his bw with 6 plus inches diameter handle.

No, because the gun barrel wasn't rotating. Big difference.

[kyle102887]

I built a 2"x4" handle that rotates (just a regular piece of 2x4 screws on each side and a chain to complete the handle). And I'll do pull ups and rows with it. And sometimes some wrist curls from the high pulley.

Hand feels much stronger armwrestling, especially people with large hands.