My Foray Into Arm Wrestling

Over the past few months I’ve developed a growing obsession with the sport of arm wrestling. It’s funny — I used to think of arm wrestling as nothing more than a fun macho contest between guys in school and in bars. Later on, seeing videos of people’s arm violently broken in arm wrestling matches, I’d think to myself that I’d never ever do this. The risk seems not worth it.

Fast forward to November 2018, I heard about this Northern Region Arm wrestling Tournament coming up. My competitive blood was pumping again, and after a bit of research I figured that with the proper technique you can minimise the risk of injury. So I decided to register just for the heck of it.

For the several weeks leading up to the tournament, I specialised my training to include more bicep and wrist work. I thought with my (relatively) solid pulling strength, I’d at least be competitive and beat one or two opponents.

Well I was dead wrong. My very first match was against Dương Đức, the most famous arm wrestlers in Vietnam and also the reigning champion (goddamn). Dude had a smile on his face, and with his arm about twice the size of mine, promptly pinned me in less than 3 seconds.

That’s it. My arm wrestling game is horrible. I was crushed by this defeat and thought I was shit, so I decided to incorporate more arm wrestling training into my routine with the hope that I’d slowly gain strength and become more competitive over time.

I wasn’t fully committed to solely training for arm wrestling though, so between Nov 2018 and March 2019 I sporadically did some wrist and bicep exercises here and there. Nothing serious or consistent.

Early 2019 I arm wrestled my dad and beat him easily. Thought he’d have some old man strength, but turned out I was still stronger. Then around February 2019 a young student (who was well trained in weight lifting and calisthenics) challenged me to a match, and I beat him with relative ease. Still, I had yet to take arm wrestling seriously.

The defining moment came in late April 2019 when we held this event at Bach Khoa university. We had arm wrestling as one of the challenges for students who visited the booth. Vương Đình Bản, my pull-up nemesis, showed up and sat down across the table. This is a guy who does 20 muscle ups and several one-arm pull-ups in a row, and he weighs several kilos more than me, so his wrist and bicep strength are no joke.

Yea, so I lost to this calisthenics beast by an extremely narrow margin. I was surprised that given the pathetic amount of resistance training I was getting, I could still hold him off for so long.

It was after this match that I was determined to become competitive at this sport. I spent hours watching vlogs by Devon Larratt (one of the best arm wrestlers in the world right now), analysing world championship matches, and read up just about anything I could about this sport. I began to understand more about the importance of hooking strength in the wrist, so every day I’d be doing reps and reps of wrist curls.

What really draws me to arm wrestling is how minimal it is — all you need is a table! And the strength you develop from arm wrestling can stay with you for life. There’s also that competitive and combative aspect of it which is lacking in regular strength sports. And much like running, arm wrestling is both a solitary and social sport. It seems like a hobby that I can stick to for the rest of my life.

On May 8th there was this friendly meet-up between arm wrestlers and the calisthenics guys so I paid a visit. I met a group of arm wrestlers, the youngest 17, whose pulling strength was absolutely phenomenal. I didn’t pull them personally, but seeing the size of their wrists and the muscle mass on their forearms was absolutely eye-opening.

The arm wrestling table was brought there and assembled by Phạm Chí Tuệ, a popular figure in the arm wrestling community in Vietnam. I asked a bunch of questions and he was extremely friendly and happy to help. Anyone can see the burning passion for arm wrestling in this man; his eagerness to popularise this sport is absolutely palpable.

I ended up pulling Hung, another calisthenics beast whose muscle density was a sight to behold. Surprisingly I beat him in the left arm. My right though was slightly injured from a heavy workout I had done the day before so I lost pretty quickly.

What I found most interesting from talking to the young wrestlers is that most of these guys have only been training for 1 – 1.5 years, and one of them had already won medals in regional competitions. Also Dương Đức, the (probably?) number one puller in Vietnam right now was a total failure when he first began training, and with dedication and consistency he has managed to climb to the top. That certainly is an inspiring story.

So what happened that day really has given me a ton of hope. I can be confident that my strength is not that bad, considering how I pinned a guy with twice the muscle density of mine. Also since I previously thought all the top arm wrestling dudes must have had years of experience under their belt, but as it turned out, a bit over 1 year is sufficient to make a formidable competitor.

Now I’m getting fully serious with this sport. I’m incorporating some form of wrist training into my daily routine, and every once in a while I’ll be working on my bicep hold and rotator cuff strength. I’ll be frequenting arm wrestling meet-ups to improve my technique too.

I hope with consistency in training, I’ll be able to come back in a year or so to take part in a regional tournament and earn at least a title. I’d be pretty happy then.