Arm wrestling is a sport that dates back longer than most can even fathom. It doesn’t require many people and the only real equipment necessary is oneself. It has long been a way to pass the time and it even became a professional competitive sport somewhere around the 1960s.
Today the sport has an underground, cult-like following, taking a back seat to more sexy combat sports such as boxing and mixed-martial arts; however the world of arm wrestling is a popular one and continues to thrive, despite little publicity. But the average fan knows little about the sport, with most of their information coming from the awesomely bad 1987 film Over the Top (screen capture above), which starred Sylvester Stallone as Lincoln Hawk, a truck driver who enters an arm-wrestling competition in Las Vegas.
“[The studio] took artist liberty and the actors who were portraying arm wrestlers didn’t have a true arm wrestling technique or style,” said former arm wrestling great Marvin Cohen.
The son of a boxing and wrestling coach, Cohen became interested with the sport after moving to California – where the championships were held at the time – and witnessing arm wrestling on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. He began training in the early 1980s and within no time was dominating, so much so that after being crowned champion, Cohen was brought on as a technical adviser for the film.
He was brought on not only to teach Stallone how to arm wrestle but also the sport’s styles.
“I was there every day, but believe it or not, I began selling the product placement and left the technical advising by the end, leaving that to my buddies – fellow competitive arm wrestlers,” he added.
While the film might have been a flop at the box office and the victim of harsh reviews, it brought the sport to mainstream audiences – and Cohen was a big part of that. He competed in the sport for years, becoming one of arm wrestling’s most accomplished competitors. Today he has turned his focus from competing in the sport, to growing it on a national level, mainly as an ambassador.
“The level of competition has risen immeasurably since my days of competition,” he said. “We have gentleman that bench press 700 [pounds], who do one-armed curls with 150 or 160 [pounds]. They are finely honed, strength-positioned athletes.”
On Saturday, August 24 – live on Pay-Per-View – the best competitors of the sport will gather in Las Vegas to compete in the World Bar Arm Wrestling Championships. This year certainly has more of a party feel to it as the matches will be crammed between an MTV pre-party at weigh in and an appearance from UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones during the competition.
The event is double elimination, with nine different weight classes – four men’s right hand, three men’s left hand and two women’s classes. There are over 39 countries that will be represented and some actually sponsor their athletes, giving them a yearly salary as well as bonuses based on performance.
“It’s a wide open event – meaning anyone, from anywhere, any walk of life, any weight, can enter and walk away with a slice of fame, because the pay-per-view telecast is being aired around the world.” Cohen said.
Any one might be able to enter, but training for the sport isn’t easy – and these guys do as much as a “major” professional level athlete in any other sport.
Exercising is quick and not fully extended. There is a healthy dose of pushups that athletes do in a variety of different positions. However instead of doing them normal, the exercise is sped up and reps are only done halfway to put added emphasis on specific muscles. There are lots of pulley exercises, along with arm curls and pulling against immovable objects, such as cars.
“They [athletes] work out twice a day and they pull three times a week, with fellow arm wrestlers,” Cohen admitted. “Pulling as though you’re arm wrestling in different positions on the table – winning positions, losing positions, neutral positions – is the best form of exercise for this sport.”
Over 700 participants will be competing for the top prizes of $50,000, $20,000 and $10,000, depending on weight class, so there’s plenty at stake. The main event is between the sport’s two heavyweights, “Monster” Michael Todd and the man who many regard as the best lefthander, “The Beast” Travis Bagent and while the two aren’t household names, the match could give the sport a boost.
Arm wrestling has come a long way from being represented by a marble-mouthed truck driver.
“With the affiliation of Joe Hand Promotions, the pro-circuit Pay-Per-View arm of UFC, it’s going to give a lift to this sport and put it in the face and the mainstream of the American public,” Cohen added.
Ed is an MMA/Extreme Sports contributor for CraveOnline Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @PhillyEdMiller, and subscribe at Facebook.com/CraveOnlineSports.
