Arm Wrestlers - Try This!

[mightyjoe]

I would like for any present day competitive arm wrestlers to try

what I fixing to describe.

Find a table that you and an opponent can sit at across from each other.

Place your right arm on the table as in a seated arm wrestling match except

when you grip up do so like a hand shake grip, not conventional grip in present

day tournaments.

Now, place your left hand behind your back and when both pullers are ready,

start trying to pin one another with strict side pressure. Arm strength ONLY.

No dragging across the table, no dropping your body to the side of the table.

Hand versus hand, arm versus arm.

Now to make things interesting. Arm wrestle someone that dominates you in

todays conventional styles but you feel like your hand and arm are stronger

than theirs. See what happens and let me know the outcome.

What I've just described is old school arm wrestling like Mac and others used to do.

The other version is the same grip but the 2 pullers hold each others left hand in the

middle of the table and their forearms are the pin pads so to speak. Similar to wrist wrestling.

Now, with this in mind, I would like to hear what Arturo and others think the outcome

would be IF Brzenk and Vovoda pulled Mac Batchelor like I just described in Mac's day

but with Brzenk and Vovodas current strength levels?

There's people who can flash me in a toproll, but with a handshake type grip I dominate

easily. ust the handshake ype grip aone makes a HUGE difference. Try it! Please!

This is what I mean by context my good friends.

Changes things a lot, uhh???

Mighty Joe

[kyle102887]

What do you hope to accomplish with this change in grip? Just a curiostiy of yours or are there some reasons behind it....?

[mightyjoe]

What do you hope to accomplish with this change in grip? Just a curiostiy of yours or are there some reasons behind it....?

Read the post again please.

Thanks,

Mighty Joe

[Volko Krull]

This kind of armwrestling is a great test of pure wrist and finger strength

Here in Germany this was the common kind of armwrestling for basically the whole time

before Over The Top came out.

PS: In Germany armwrestling is called "Armdrücken", which would roughly translated be "arm pressing"

because in the old times here you didn't pull but press the opponent's arm to the table with side pressure.

regards

[kyle102887]

What do you hope to accomplish with this change in grip? Just a curiostiy of yours or are there some reasons behind it....?

Read the post again please.

Thanks,

Mighty Joe

I read it...maybe to much between the lines.

Sounds like a nice ego booster.

Other than that have you gained anything on the table from it Joe? Or is it strictly for fun?

Also as for the Mac vs. John + Voevoda.

I think if they trained for that style they would still win. But the advantage at least on the syle of the grip would be his, Strength of the arm and wrist is up for question. Hand size seems like it would play a major factor in this style of grip. But I don't know enough about mac to say if the non specific strength he has would be enough to give him the winning edge.

[jad]

I'd like to see Mac match up with Mr. Sidepressure himself, Todd Hutchings on this. Oh and I still think Brzenk would destroy him with this method.

[mightyjoe]

What do you hope to accomplish with this change in grip? Just a curiostiy of yours or are there some reasons behind it....?

Read the post again please.

Thanks,

Mighty Joe

I read it...maybe to much between the lines.

Sounds like a nice ego booster.

Other than that have you gained anything on the table from it Joe? Or is it strictly for fun?

Also as for the Mac vs. John + Voevoda.

I think if they trained for that style they would still win. But the advantage at least on the syle of the grip would be his, Strength of the arm and wrist is up for question. Hand size seems like it would play a major factor in this style of grip. But I don't know enough about mac to say if the non specific strength he has would be enough to give him the winning edge.

Kyle,

2 questions:

1) Do you arm wrestle competively?

2) If yes, have you ever arm wrestled like this?

I believe you read too much between the lines.

The point is to set the context of todays AW's versus AW's of the past.

That's all. I don't understand where people are missing the context

of the present day greats versus the past greats. It's totally different.

This why I ask those that AW to try the old style arm wrestling as I described.

Does this make sense?

I don't know where you got the ego booster idea but that's the good thing

about these boards, everyone

has different opinions, ideas, etc. which stimulate thought.

At Europa 2009 I'm going to pull Brzenk before or after the tournament with

conventional grip and then I'm going to pull him handshake grip and ask him

while the video camera is rolling if there's a strength difference between the two.

We'll see what happens.

Mighty Joe

[Yersinia]

i bet Lupkes would be a hardcore opponent with this style.. not saying John wouldnt do well.. cause im pretty sure he would

[bobbrown]

I understand why your are comparing these two styles but they are not a fair comparison from AW'ers back than and now. The training was different. And so is the advantage or disadvantage that one man might have using that grip versus another.

I know you want to do this against John and you will probably feel better when doing this. But once again its not a real comparison from AW'ers back in the day to todays pullers.

Its like when a guy says I can beat you in a hook yet can never get the hook in. This older style grip is just a different technique. If this is what todays pullers trained you might have different champions.

Turn the coin around. If Mac was young and strong today and pulling with todays hand grip. Would he be th best?

Its kind of like comparing great Quarterbacks from the pre-forward pass days to today. It can't be done.

[monkeypaws]

^^^ exactly

[kyle102887]

What do you hope to accomplish with this change in grip? Just a curiostiy of yours or are there some reasons behind it....?

Read the post again please.

Thanks,

Mighty Joe

I read it...maybe to much between the lines.

Sounds like a nice ego booster.

Other than that have you gained anything on the table from it Joe? Or is it strictly for fun?

Also as for the Mac vs. John + Voevoda.

I think if they trained for that style they would still win. But the advantage at least on the syle of the grip would be his, Strength of the arm and wrist is up for question. Hand size seems like it would play a major factor in this style of grip. But I don't know enough about mac to say if the non specific strength he has would be enough to give him the winning edge.

Kyle,

2 questions:

1) Do you arm wrestle competively?

2) If yes, have you ever arm wrestled like this?

I believe you read too much between the lines.

The point is to set the context of todays AW's versus AW's of the past.

That's all. I don't understand where people are missing the context

of the present day greats versus the past greats. It's totally different.

This why I ask those that AW to try the old style arm wrestling as I described.

Does this make sense?

I don't know where you got the ego booster idea but that's the good thing

about these boards, everyone

has different opinions, ideas, etc. which stimulate thought.

At Europa 2009 I'm going to pull Brzenk before or after the tournament with

conventional grip and then I'm going to pull him handshake grip and ask him

while the video camera is rolling if there's a strength difference between the two.

We'll see what happens.

Mighty Joe

Yes I train to compete in armwrestling.

If you look at bobs post thats what I mean by ego booster. Its something that would make someone feel better about oneself. Regardless of its relevance to the task they have failed at.

I know exactly what your talking about and how its done I've done it a lot. Seems pointless to me to be honest after doing it myself.

Your attempt to put them in context doesn't necessarily require you to pull Brzenk in that manner. That would only serve to prove that he is or is not as strong in that grip. Which in turn would reinforce you opinion of Macs chance of success against the greats of today regardless of relevance. To be honest the level of competition today it so much higher than that of Macs era. As sports progress talent also increases, it would be hard to imagine the people Mac faced would be much better or stronger than the competitors of today. Considering the progression of sports science, nutrition, and training.

That's my .02 on this whole thread.....

[mithras]

Joe, this is the way I used to armwrestle when I was a kid. I could beat everyone I wrestled until someone who knew more about the sport of aw (and his pushy father) came along, told me I was cheating using my grip, and made me armwrestle in the modern style. Of course, this guy just hooked me for the pin and I didn't know what happened, haha.

I'll give this a go at the next training session, should be a laugh!

[mightyjoe]

What do you hope to accomplish with this change in grip? Just a curiostiy of yours or are there some reasons behind it....?

Read the post again please.

Thanks,

Mighty Joe

I read it...maybe to much between the lines.

Sounds like a nice ego booster.

Other than that have you gained anything on the table from it Joe? Or is it strictly for fun?

Also as for the Mac vs. John + Voevoda.

I think if they trained for that style they would still win. But the advantage at least on the syle of the grip would be his, Strength of the arm and wrist is up for question. Hand size seems like it would play a major factor in this style of grip. But I don't know enough about mac to say if the non specific strength he has would be enough to give him the winning edge.

Kyle,

2 questions:

1) Do you arm wrestle competively?

2) If yes, have you ever arm wrestled like this?

I believe you read too much between the lines.

The point is to set the context of todays AW's versus AW's of the past.

That's all. I don't understand where people are missing the context

of the present day greats versus the past greats. It's totally different.

This why I ask those that AW to try the old style arm wrestling as I described.

Does this make sense?

I don't know where you got the ego booster idea but that's the good thing

about these boards, everyone

has different opinions, ideas, etc. which stimulate thought.

At Europa 2009 I'm going to pull Brzenk before or after the tournament with

conventional grip and then I'm going to pull him handshake grip and ask him

while the video camera is rolling if there's a strength difference between the two.

We'll see what happens.

Mighty Joe

Yes I train to compete in armwrestling.

If you look at bobs post thats what I mean by ego booster. Its something that would make someone feel better about oneself. Regardless of its relevance to the task they have failed at.

I know exactly what your talking about and how its done I've done it a lot. Seems pointless to me to be honest after doing it myself.

Your attempt to put them in context doesn't necessarily require you to pull Brzenk in that manner. That would only serve to prove that he is or is not as strong in that grip. Which in turn would reinforce you opinion of Macs chance of success against the greats of today regardless of relevance. To be honest the level of competition today it so much higher than that of Macs era. As sports progress talent also increases, it would be hard to imagine the people Mac faced would be much better or stronger than the competitors of today. Considering the progression of sports science, nutrition, and training.

That's my .02 on this whole thread.....

Thanks Kyle.

Mighty Joe

[StalwartSentinel]

I can totally dominate in this position against regular armwrestlers (not grip phenoms). The wins only last until I grip up normally and then I get my A$$ handed to me once again.

[blueviper42]

Hmmm...this sounds like something Mr. Cleve Dean would be good at, with his huge hands I mean.

[mightyjoe]

I can totally dominate in this position against regular armwrestlers (not grip phenoms). The wins only last until I grip up normally and then I get my A$$ handed to me once again.

BTW, this grip allows you to work your rotational strength but being

it's not used in any tournaments it would not be a good habit to get into.

I hope other arm wrestlers try this grip setup so they can contrast the 2

styles (old v. new) and keep things in perspective and context.

Keep pulling!

Mighty Joe

[gumpster]

Is there a video of this style anywhere? If not, can someone whip one up? I know nothing of arm wrestling but the description has me curious of how this looks.

[fightertrainer]

Funny Kyle I don't think it's an ego booster. In Vietnam people wrestle 2 ways: The way Joe mentioned here and wrist to wrist style (more popular). I wrestled against a friend who is a specialist in this style and he used to beat me 25 years ago and I didn't know why. It favors people with strong and long hand with good wrist. Because short forearmn makes you reach up and grip more palm than fingers while he grips more of your finger. The leverage is not on your side. If Both opponents have equal length then grip play big role here IMO. Few months ago same guy I mentioned above challenged me with this style again. Thinking he still got it against me, I flopped my wrist and hit him with a side pressure, something he never experience, he basicly fell over to my side, dumbfounded by the hit. I did not try to break his humus bone by going all out on him, instead I smiled and said "I can give you my wrist and beat you my man!" 25 years AW learning reckonning. Other words, it's a legit style some where in the world. I would think Cobra would do this style well against a lot of people, even Brzenk himself...open your mind.

[The Mac]

I still have no idea whether this has any relevance to whether Batchelor could stack up against today's best.

Was it supposed to.

[mightyjoe]

I still have no idea whether this has any relevance to whether Batchelor could stack up against today's best.

Was it supposed to.

No offense, but if you don't get it by now, you

just can't.

I think you're looking too deep and trying to make

something out of it that's not intended.

You're being too difficult in my opinion.

Mighty Joe

[twig]

I respect you, Joe, but I also respect The Mac; I think what he means is: In what way does testing a modern day AW against an Old School AW in an Old School test, compare to testing an Old School AW in a modern test against a modern AW?

[mightyjoe]

I respect you, Joe, but I also respect The Mac; I think what he means is: In what way does testing a modern day AW against an Old School AW in an Old School test, compare to testing an Old School AW in a modern test against a modern AW?

Thanks for your input Twig!

It put's things in perspective and context by comparing the two.

That's all.

Mac v. Brzenk OS style = Mac's advantage

Mac v. Brzenk MS = John's advantage

Mac didn't know modern day technique and if possible the 2 could meet today

with Mac trained in modern technique I believe Mac would prevail. Noticed

I said believe, not know.

We can never know which IMO makes this interesting to discuss and wonder.

Trying the OS style allows pullers to see where Mac was in his day.

If this doesn't make sense, I apologize for not being able to make myself clear.

Mighty Joe