Amateur Arm Wrestling Training Journal

[Broly]

Oct 20th- Practice

Finally a backup spot to train with the guys in the event of a canceled practice. One of the guys works at a lounge that has a professional table so we were able to connect with a few of the guys and get some pulling in. Only pulled for about an hour. It was outside so it was a tad cold. My left Forearm near my elbow still felt pain from the pop last week so I wasn't feeling too strong so I just focused more on my right and for once focused on hooking. My hook is FINALLY seeing improvement and it's a pretty powerful tool when used properly. No chalk and hands kept slipping. This was still a good practice and making steady progress.

[Broly]

Oct 21st

Cable Crossovers Fatgripz Low

30x12, 35x10, 42.5x8, 6

Cable Crossovers Fatgripz High

20x10, 25x7, 7, 6

Shoulder Press Machine *felt a pain in left shoulder at 120lbs

90x12, 110x9, 120x5, 110x9

Shoulder Lateral cable outs Fatgripz *couldn't do my normal exercise due to my left forearm still having pain. no pulling in.

15x12, 20x6 (pain), 15x10

Single Cable Tricep extensions Fatgripz

25x10, 30x6, 6

Tricep Extension machine singles *Trying to simulate a press as much as I can, this machine is just ok at doing that.

40x8, 50x6

Single DB overhead extensions Fatgripz

25x8, 27.5x7, 7

First workout I've ever been able to do the day after a practice sessions where I felt almost no tendon pain. I knew I'd eventually get to this level, I can step it up now that my body is getting use to the abuse arm wrestling puts on my arms. First couple of months I couldn't do ANYTHING after a practice session. I'd try here and there but I'd still have the tendon pain. This is a great stepping stone and shows I'm making good progress. My left Forearm is still feeling pain with certain pulling movements and I need some good active rest, some light work with the powerball for home and just some light squeezes on the squish ball at work should get the flood flowing in there to speed up the healing process.

[Broly]

Training Status & Thougts so far

The Tournament is Nov 17th and I'm feeling pretty good. I might have pulled something in my left Forearm near my elbow 2 weeks ago at practice and probably shouldn't have pulled with it last week but it didn't bother as much as it doesn't feel like it got worse. It's only hurts in a hook so I'll listen to my body very carefully and only train it to where there is no pain so I can still workout hard but won't risk delaying the healing process.

So as of right now my discipline has gotten alot better than when I first started. Right now I don't really bother hitting legs (although on days when I can't lift upper body I might as well, it's not like it's taking away from training.) I only workout my chest shoulders and triceps 1 day a week at the gym to just keep them sharp (my outer chest always feels sore and sometimes my triceps) Training is normally once a week so this gives me about 4-5 days to play with and focus on arm wrestling training.

I have a ton of tools and just purchased an arm wrestling table so now I can workout with cables in my spare room on the table and really simulate the movements better than I ever could.

HOME WORKOUTS

Home workouts are normally just done on the weekends and focus heavy on forearm and wrist / hand training. Sometimes I might stress doing just grip workouts with the Rolling Thunder, pinch grip and grippers and throw in some other tools. Now that I have the table I can spend a whole session with simulated exercises as well.

GYM WORKOUTS

Gym workouts I'm doing some heavy DB work then go straight to the cables and pull with the strap and terminator machine (great for hook training and wrists).

2-3 days a week is training seems to be the norm but I think it's just more important to listen to your body. Your body has no idea what day it is or time or anything, all it knows is that if you worked out very hard yesterday then it will let you know the next day so you know in your head if you really should be doing certain movements or not. I honestly try and train everyday, Days I feel I should back off I'll work with the powerball or workout something that isn't sore so my body gets pushed to the max and I'm ready for anything.

[Broly]

Oct 24th- Table Simulations

Setup the table to train with the bands. This is as close as your going to get to simulating arm wrestling. Left forearm still some pain so I just spent about 30 minutes practicing different setups for training using an Aylio Orange band (40lbs) looped through the door anchor doubles it's tension and really makes it feel like your pulling against a strong opponent. To make it more difficult I just move the table back. For the Handle I'm using a Fatgripz with a thick strap I got at Home Depot which provides me with the feel of grabbing someones hand.

Static holds from the starting position burns in the exact spot I need it to while putting the table at an angle puts pressure where it would be during the match after the start when trying to top roll. Tested this out for hooking too. What I really wanted to test it with was the rolling thunder which I completely forgot about. I'll never have to worry that much now about canceled practices anymore.

[Broly]

Oct 27th - Practice

Awesome practice. We had to go to our backup spot but my endurance shot up. Still some pain in my left forearm but I'll just keep monitoring it to make sure it's healing, which it has been. This has been the strongest I've ever pulled and feel very prepared for Nov 17ths tournament. Only one more practice left before I have to rest from pulling for 2 weeks. Not sure if I should just go and pull or let my Left arm rest to make sure it's more than healed. I'll have to see how it goes from here till then.

[Broly]

Nov 1st- Table Time and Forearms

Did some table work with Cables and my table for about 45 minutes, still limited with my left in the hook so was only able to apply back pressure but right handed I was able to do all the motions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlMTFdat9PI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qleTnwguET4

Softball Pullups *Nice increase, superset with finger tip pushups

12, 10, 8

Fingertip pushups

20, 14, 10

Twist Yo Wrist *Forearms feeling shot after table time

25x1 full, 25x1, 25x1/2

Leverage Bar Windmills *superset with reverse levers

7.5x7, 7, 6

reverse levers

12.5x6 *pain in left, 10x12, 10

Plate Wrist Curls

20x10, 6, 6

Tried doing Cable Bounces by wrapping the band around the handle to the point that I didn't have to stand on my bench but it was way too involved and reduced the jerk motion alot more than I'd like so not going to bother trying to do it like this again. I will just stick to standing on the bench and getting that nice long pull. Almost everything took a big hit after working on the table but felt good. Pretty decent workout.

[Broly]

GYM- Back and Biceps

Changing the workouts after much deliberation and research. From now on I'm training for POWER for almost everything. 3-5 reps max at a very heavy weight and increasing rest time to up to 3 minutes. Matches only last a few seconds so I should be training for that explosive power. Today was my first attempt at a strictly POWER focused workout.

1 arm assisted pullups

55x4, 40x3, 3

Grapple Grip Rows Singles

100x5, 6, 120x4

Lat Pulldowns Fatgripz *couldn't do this with the straps, left forearm not 100%

160x8, 200x4, 3

Heavy Concentration Curls *Again couldn't go all out with, still dealing with the left forearm healing.

60x6, Fatgripz-60x8 Right, 60x3 Left

DB Hammer Curls *once you throw on those Fatgripz it's a totally different story.

50x7, Fatgripz-50x4, 55x5

Bicep machine

190x4, 5, 3

So this felt totally different that any other work. With doing 7-8 reps, the first few you kind of breeze through and then you start to feel it later because your muscles get tired. Doing it strictly for power, you feel the strain from the very first rep! You have to give it everything just to complete each rep so you are definitely maxing out your muscles in bursts. It was very hard to get use to resting for 3 minutes, after 2 minutes I was getting impatient but I had to stay focused and just stretch and wait till my energy was back to then go all out again. I wish I would've started doing this from the start but you learn something new everyday.

GYM- Back and Biceps

Changing the workouts after much deliberation and research. From now on I'm training for POWER for almost everything. 3-5 reps max at a very heavy weight and increasing rest time to up to 3 minutes. Matches only last a few seconds so I should be training for that explosive power. Today was my first attempt at a strictly POWER focused workout.

1 arm assisted pullups

55x4, 40x3, 3

Grapple Grip Rows Singles

100x5, 6, 120x4

Lat Pulldowns Fatgripz *couldn't do this with the straps, left forearm not 100%

160x8, 200x4, 3

Heavy Concentration Curls *Again couldn't go all out with, still dealing with the left forearm healing.

60x6, Fatgripz-60x8 Right, 60x3 Left

DB Hammer Curls *once you throw on those Fatgripz it's a totally different story.

50x7, Fatgripz-50x4, 55x5

Bicep machine

190x4, 5, 3

So this felt totally different that any other work. With doing 7-8 reps, the first few you kind of breeze through and then you start to feel it later because your muscles get tired. Doing it strictly for power, you feel the strain from the very first rep! You have to give it everything just to complete each rep so you are definitely maxing out your muscles in bursts. It was very hard to get use to resting for 3 minutes, after 2 minutes I was getting impatient but I had to stay focused and just stretch and wait till my energy was back to then go all out again. I wish I would've started doing this from the start but you learn something new everyday.

One quick note I was really short on time due to work so that's why I didn't do that many exercises, Feel like with the rest time , I needed another hour to really beat the crap out of my body.

[Broly]

HOME- Push

Nothing to do this morning, feeling pretty good, might as well workout.

DB Bench

60x6 (warmup), 75x3 (warmup), 80x6, 85x5, 85x5

DB Flys

50x7, 60x5, 65x5

DB Shoulder Press

55x7, 60x6, 65x5, 70x3

Cable Laterals *One Orange band (40lb rating) looped

4 sets of various reps, Bands are harder to keep track of than regular weights, it's more of a feel and stretching the band till it's very hard and more of a burn feeling.

Cable Grapple Grips Tricep Pressdowns

Same exact thing as above. Quick note that the same feeling I get when trying to press on the table is the same feeling I get with this exercise so, nice addition and a great translation to the table.

DB Overhead Tricep Press

90x4, 4, 3

Cable Grapple Grips Tricep Extensions

Same as the previous cable exercises

Without a spotter, it's difficult to get weight where you can only get to 3-5 reps. Pulling movements you can yank the weight, Pushing movements might translate better to machines if your alone when trying to go with a very heavy weight. DB Bench press I felt I had more in me but from the starting position I couldn't go past 85lbs. This was an amazing workout, I only have about a week left of lifting before I rest for the tournament so this was a nice push. Starting to get my triceps back to their former glory, really slacked since I started training for AW but I'm starting to learn how to train them effectively for the sport.

[Broly]

Injury report

Well it's been over 2 weeks since I heard that nasty pop in my left forearm near my elbow from practice. At the time I thought I broke something but there was no swelling and the pain wasn't that bad, At first I was pretty limited and felt pain with the slightest movements. I was able to train normal with anything that didn't involve my hand in a cupping motion but any type of hook training or finishing a top roll movement I immediately felt it. I just trained light with the left and each day it's gotten better. I feel that still training on it but light has helped with pumping blood into the forearms and it is starting to feel much better. Hopefully I'll be back to normal for the tournament on the 17th.

Video example of Tricep Cable Presses with Grapple Grip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujnmcUXM7Lw[/video}

[Broly]

November 8th - PULLS

Strap Wrist Curls

40x5 (seated), 42x5, 5, 4

Strap Wrist Holds

50/3 sets

Terminator Wrist Curls *I am now using the round handle and will use this going forward.

50x3(warmup), 57tq5x5, 60tq4x5, 65tq3x3, 60tq4x5

Terminator Holds

65-68/ 3sets

HD Strap top rolls

50x5, 57x3, 3

Terminator Puls

42tq4x6, 50tq4x6, 57tq4x4

HD Strap Hammer Curls

42x6, 50x4, 57x3, 3

Curl Machine Singles

95x4, 110x4, 125x3-Left, 110x4-Right

Amazing Workout. Left starting off with some pain but started to go away with some good sets, so I think as long as I got really good blow flow then I'll be fine for next week. The Terminator Handle feels much better using the round handle over the flat handle. Forearms felt like they were about to explode and just went all out. Only 1 more full blown workout left before I rest up so If I can get one more like this one then I'll feel unstoppable on the 17th.

[Broly]

TOURNAMENT RESULTS!

------34th Golden State Arm Wrestling Championships-------

Was a pretty nice turn out and a great way to end the last event for the New York area this year. Entered in both Amateur classes for Left and Right. Won 2 matches Right handed for the 175lb class and lost 2 so I didn't place. Left handed class got consolidated to Open so I was pulling against guys ranging from 155-220lbs. Finally pulled the 1st place victory and with my forearm still having pain from my injury a month ago. Felt great to come out on top with some tough matches. RIght handed still not that competitive yet but the Left Hand is definitely kicking ass so I'll just keep on training hard. Below is the final match for first place Left, was a great battle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxBiCsfP7Qk

[Broly]

Nov 22nd- PUSH

Bench Machine

230x6, 250x5, 270x3

Pec Flys Machine

270x6, 290x6, 305x6 w/hold

Shoulder Pull ins w/ Fatgripz

35x5, 42x5, 5

Reverse Shoulder ins w/Fatgripz

25x4, 5

Tricep Simulate Presses w/Grapple Grips

35x5, 4, 4

Tricep Press Machine Singles

65x6, 80x4

Dip Machine Presses *Great new addition, really blasts the Triceps, Chest and Wrists. Power move

100x6, 130x5, 5

Was feeling very sick to my stomach this morning and wasn't even sure I was going to make it to the gym today, Feeling lethargic and not in the mood but once i took a some caffeine and move around I started to feel a little better. Surprisingly enough this was a great workout and I felt very strong. First workout since the tournament, tendons slightly tender but not to the point of pain so it was no biggy. Going heavy with big rest periods and few reps seems to being paying of and will continue this type of training.

[Broly]

Nov- 24th PUlls

90 degree Lat pulldowns

180x6, 200x6, Singles- 85x5, 100x4

Cable rows w/ Fatgripz

160x6, 180x5, 200x4

1 Arm Machine Curls *different equipment with free weight vs the machine I normally do

70x5, 4, 3

Hammer Curls w/ Fatgripz

40x5, 5, 4

Strap Wrist Curls

50x7, 70x5,4

Strap Hooks

70x4, 4, 4

DB wrist curls

60x5,5,5

Started off strong but tapered off big time towards the middle. Tendons feeling unusually tender by my right elbow, couldn't really push that hard. Also starting the RRBT over again yesterday so might be why everything feels weaker.

[Broly]

Nov 29th - Pulls

1 Arm Assisted Pullups

40x5, 30x4, 3, 2 arm Pullups: 30

Grapple Grip Hammer Curls

Left: 50x5, 3, 47x4

RIght: 50x3, 3 47x3

Grapple Grip Arm Wrestling Hammer Curls

Left: 42x5, 5, 50x3

Right: 42x4, 4, 3

Terminator Wrist Curls Tq: 5

Left: 62x5, 4, 5, 5, 65x2

Right: 4, 3, 4, 4, 65x1

Strap Wrist Curls

Left: 35x4, 5, 4, 4, 42x3

RIght: 35x3, 4, 3, 42x2

1 Arm Machine Curls

95x6, 110x4 dropset: 80x6

Not my best performance, not really feeling the gym today. Came off Creatine and beta-alanine a week ago so not sure if that's why I'm not feeling that much into it or that strong.

[Broly]

Dec 8th -little bit of everything but PUSH focused

Butterfly Machine

305x7, 5, 5, Holds: 305@15secs, 10ssecs, 10 secs

Assisted Pullup machine pad pushdowns

100x7, 130x5, 5, 145x3 (too heavy to push off)

Dips

10, 10, 10 (30 second rest in between sets)

Tricep open hand cable press *New Workout

35x5, 5, 6

Grapple Grip Press

35x7, 42x5, 5

Low Pulley standing Concentration Curls *superset with above exercise

42x5, 50x4, 50x4

Shoulder Laterals to chest w/ Fatgripz

42x5 ,4, 35x6

Reverse *superset with above exercise

25x 5 ,4 ,3

Strap Lat pulldowns 2 hands

180x4 ,4 ,5

Strap Lat Pulldowns Single holds

85@15secs, 100@9secs, 6secs

Curl Machine 1 arm

95x6, 125x4, 4, holds: 140@8secs, 8 secs

Getting over a cold so decided to try and sweat it out in the gym, felt pretty good even with sneezing and blowing my nose everywhere. I'm completely off all enhancement supplements (creatine, beta-alanine, etc) and am only on my daily vitamin, protein powder and fish oil. I've even stopped taking my joint supp to see how I feel without it.

[Broly]

Dec12th- Practice

Dec13th- Light Gym day

Ended up with a nasty fever and stomach pains this week and should be done with my antibiotics Sunday

Dec 17th- Light Home workout

Pullups

15, 11, 10, 6

DB Hammer Curls

30x10, 40x6, 7

Heavy DB Wrist Curls

60x6, 7, 8

twist yo wrist

25x1, 1

Leverage Bar twists

7.5x5

Pinch Block

30@7secs, 6 secs

Light Cable/ Table Work

Wasn't really trying to go hard at all for this workout. Still on antibiotics and this was more of just to keep the muscles warm. Didn't try to use a preworkout supp or anything, just woke up and felt good to get going. Didn't want to push it too hard.

[Broly]

Dec 19th- Practice /b]

Probably my strongest practice I've had thus far and that's with my wrists a tad sore and having worked out the other day. My wrists are probably the biggest improvement and the technique is starting to feel more natural. Pulled for a good hour and a half.

I need to do research and learn how to do high intensity and high frequency training. I feel the normal way of weight training isn't going to get me that far. I need to make some changes.

[Broly]

Dec 21st

Warmed up with Dips

Assisted Pullups Pad Push downs

130x5, 6

Butteryfly machine singles

double: 305@25secs

singles: 190@25secs, 230@18secs

Tricep Machine singles

95x4, 4, 4

Strap Lat pulldown singles Holds

70x5, 85x4, 3

DB Hammer curls w/FATGRIPZ

45x4, 4, 5

Bicep machine single negatives

110x5, 140x2

Terminator Wrist Curl holds

50@8secs, 8

Strap wrist curls

*didn't keep track, was in a rush

Good workout, working out the kinks for this new way of high intensity high frequency training. Trying to work hard without killing myself, finding it difficult.

[Broly]

Dec 23rd

Neutral Grip Pullups

25, 20

Over Bench DB Curls

60x8 (easy), 70x7, 80x5

Grapple Grip Static Hammer Curls

35@20secs, 40@15secs

Pinch Grip Block

Left: 35@12, 8

Right (assisted drops): 35@3, 4

Twist yo wrist

30x 1/2 way - Wrists had pain so I didnt want to push it but forearms felt like I could handle the 5lb increase in weight

25x1

Leverage bar, arms at side

7.5x6, 6, 5

DB standing angled wrist curls

60x7, 5

Table time w/cables

Alternating sets:

Hook Holds x2

Top Roll holds x2

Back Pressure holds x2

Kind of went in between on a short semi intense workout. With xmas being tomorrow I figured I'd be very busy next few days so probably won't get a normal workout in till then so went for something kind of in between. Good workout, my pulling strength with the cables feels like it jumped in strength which is a good sign.

[Broly]

Jan 4th Home Workout

FingerTip Pushups

20, 20, 20

Single overhead DB Tricep extensions

25x10, 30x8, 35x5

DB Hammer Curls over Bench

50x8, 60x7, 65x5

Cable Bounces

40x7, 45x7, 6, 6

GG Hammer Holds

Left:45@17 secs, 18, 15

Right: 45@11secs, 12, 10

Twist Yo wrist

30x1, 1, .75

Pinch Block Only did 30lbs because I did a superset with the above exercise

30@15secs, 15, 10

Heavy DB wrist Curls

65x7, 70x6, 4

Hercules Bar Wrist Curls superset with above exercise.

10x10, 15x7, 7

Great workout, tried keeping it short but it kind of dragged out, was hard to just focus on the workout but still hit some high numbers on a few exercises.

[Broly]

Jan 5th Practice

This was not an ideal situation being as how I worked out the previous day but when there's practice you have to jump on it. There's a tournament on the 21st that I unfortunately can't go to so this will probably be the last practice till after the tournament. Even with not being 100% I was pulling harder than I ever had and am feeling like a beast left. My right was actually pretty decent as well. I can only imagine how strong I would've been pulling if I was rested.

[Broly]

Jan 8th- GYM

Singles Butterfly Machine: 210x5 Holds, 230x3 holds, 3 holds, 305x5 double holds

Pad Pushes: 115x6, 130x5 (no pushoffs), 5

Strap Dual Pulldowns

140x6 (easy) 180x5, 200x3

Wife came with me and got extremely sick and almost fainted in the gym so I had to cut my workout short and take her home. Finished up the next day.

Next Day

Rows: Warmed up with Grapple Grips (hands hurting from RRBT), used a dual handle: 160x8, 180x6, 200x4

Shoulder Laterals with Fatgripz: 20x8, 30x7, 42x6

Shoulder laterals reverse: 20x8, 25x4, 25x4

DB Tricep Extensions Singles: 35x5, 4, 4

Tricep Machine Dual: 140x3, 5

Terminator Wrist Curls: 50x8, 57x6, 65x3

Strap Wrist Curls: 30x7, 35x5, 4

This wasn't that great of a workout. The first session I was feeling good but the 2nd session was lacking. Very busy and had alot on my mind and just didn't hit my groove but even with not feeling too hot, I pulled some nice numbers on the Terminator Handle.

[Broly]

Jan 14th

Home Table Time w/ cables

There's 5 specific exercises I can do that directly relate to the table and I did 3 sets of each with 2 Aylio Orange (40lbs) and 1 Aylio Black (25lbs) bands.

Back Pressure: Cable position=Low / Home Depot Strap with a Fatgripz

Hook: Cable position= High / Handle and Fatgripz

Top Rolls: Cable position= High / Strap

Press: Cable position=Highest setting / Home Depot Strap with Fatgripz

Losing Position= Lowest setting / Handle and Fatgripz.

This was a great workout using the cables and Arm wrestling table. I just placed an order for an additional Black Aylio band for some additional tension and to decrease the distance from the door and the table. Having this setup is a huge advantage in my training.

[Broly]

Jan 16th- Biceps & Forearms at Home

Front Levers: 7.5x4, 4, 4

DB Wrist Curls: 65x6, 70x4, 4

Hercules Bar: 15x8, 17.5x4, 5

Reverse Levers: 15x5, 5, 3

Twist Yo Wrist:

32.5x 7/8

30x 5/8

30x6/8

Heavy Concentration DB Curls: 65x4, 4, 4

DB Hammer Curls: 45x5, 5, 5

Nice workout but it took a little too long, was a little distracted today.

[Broly]

Jan 19th

PRACTICE

Linked up with a friend that's also a new puller and had a great practice. Was able to use resistance bands to equal out the strength levels and make it somewhat even when pulling.