My Arm Wrestling Revenge!

I know how silly this sounds to many, but I finally beat Bản in arm wrestling yesterday. I was so happy — it was a culmination of months of training and looking forward to this match!

So back in April, during an event in Bách Khoa university, I challenged Bản to a match. For those unaware: Bản is a calisthenics champion; he is my rival in the weighted pull-up, but his muscle-ups and many other calisthenics skills absolutely dwarf mine. He is also more muscular than I am.

As it happened, we arm wrestled for 1 and a half minutes before I gave up. He was just too strong. (this is excruciatingly long for arm wrestling; usually a match is over in 10 seconds!)

That defeat fueled my desire to get better at arm wrestling. I really wanted to get back at him. Not in a vindictive or spiteful way; I’ve always been a competitive person who enjoys a challenge, and to me beating Bản is just that — another personal challenge I’m dead set on conquering.

Training and Training

And right after that, the rest is history: I found the Thanh Nhàn arm wrestling club and began practising with them. For the past 8 months I’ve been consistently training my wrists, biceps, and forearms, while attending weekly practices and learning technique from the more senior guys.

This is one of my forearm exercises with a towel and a dumbbell:

I enjoy the training process, the constant learning and improvement, the camaraderie between the guys in the club a lot. But deep down inside I know I’m constantly thinking about my revenge against Bản.

The effort really did pay off as I’ve been consistently getting better. When I first started in May, I was beaten by everybody in the club. My technique was non-existent. My arms were in so much pain, it freaking hurt to just bend at the elbow ? I worked through the pain and gradually improved. I started to beat other guys in the club. I even managed to beat Phong with relative ease (I used to be absolutely powerless against Phong’s right arm; he was so strong! But now I can hold him with not much problem).

By now I think I probably rank 5th out of 15 in the club.

Finally on Christmas (25/12), Bản came over for a re-match. I was ultra hyped for this. I’ve been waiting for this moment for 8 months; I know I’m much stronger now, and it’s time to put it against the ultimate test.

I already had a game plan in mind. I know Bản is not well-versed in technique so he’d be pressing his arm sideways. I would start with a defensive top-roll to get control of his wrist first, then I would gradually pull his arm down.

The match happened exactly like how I had visualised:

To my surprise, I could hold him with ease! I really have got much stronger compared to back in April. I could have pinned him down quickly, but I was worried that as Bản kept looking away he could have broken his arm (really don’t want another arm-break incident…), and so I took it slowly.

The best thing is that we’re still having fun and laughing through this. No hard feelings at all. I’ve invited Bản to come practise arm wrestling with me, and I really hope he does take on the sport. With his natural strength he only has to learn the right technique, and then he’d be a beast for sure.

What’s Next

Overall I’m extremely satisfied with the results and the gains I’ve got from this past year of arm wrestling training. The evidence is out there: I’m beating people I used to lose in a flash to!

Most people express bewilderment at my obsession with arm wrestling. I know it’s just a silly children’s game, and so when I try to evangelise people into the sport, most seem pretty… flaccid about it.

But it is a hobby — a passion that I take seriously, and I’ve been truly enjoying the journey so far. It has everything that I look for: minimal equipment, camaraderie, and self-improvement. I’m really glad that from when I first wrote this post back in May, I’ve stuck around and did not give up. It sucks and hurts like hell at first — but as they say, you’ve got pay your dues right?

Now that my original goal (defeating Bản) has been crossed off the list, what’s next? I guess I’ll keep training and try to win a place in an arm wrestling tournament. It can just be a third place, I wouldn’t mind. I hope I can achieve this in 2020. I recently got Phong hooked on the sport and he’s been training with me, so hopefully everything would be somewhat easier.