gymnastic training and arm wrestling

[seiyafan]

Is arm wrestling primarily bicep and forearm power? I'd assume any chin-ups and assisted oac work should help?

[Tarun Suri]

I would think it's more chest and anterior deltoid personally.

[Tyler Gibson]

Truly good arm wrestlers put their whole body into it. It's not merely a bicep curl, but an act of full body tension. If you're interested in arm wrestling, read some of Pavel's stuff. He used to be a competitive arm wrestler and knows his stuff pretty well.

[Philip Chubb]

There is a really big technique component that goes into it as well. If you are interested, there are books that show how to break your opponents grip which is what most of arm wrestling is.

[Joshua Slocum]

Arm wrestling uses a whole lot of things. The core and legs are engaged to gain the leverage you need to put force into your arm. The big shoulder muscles (lats, pecs, deltoids) are the prime movers. The biceps and brachialis are important for keeping the elbow flexed. Forearm strength is important for maintaining your grip and wrist position. 

 

So basically, just keep working GST 

[Klaudius Petrulis]

What you really need is a good hat and knowledge on how to turn it properly.

 

[Joshua Naterman]

Hahaha, and triceps.

 

Arm wrestling is a very involved subject, and there are many different ways to pull. Some involve tricep extension. It's all about countering what you feel your opponent doing, and trying to push/pull their arm in a way that they can't control but you can.

 

Edit: And, of course, literally throwing your entire bodyweight onto that one arm.

[Tyler Gibson]

I've been a little put off of arm wrestling ever since I saw Magnus Samuelson break the humerus of Nathan Jones in the 1995 World's Strongest Man competition. Granted I would never casually arm wrestle someone strong enough to break my arm, but it was still a little off putting. 

[Klaudius Petrulis]

There are quite a few videos of 'normal' people breaking their arms arm wrestling as well.

[seiyafan]

ohh.... 

[Lucas Serur]

Broken humerus during arm wrestling matches are usually spiral fractures, a consequence of letting your arm rotate externally while moving your torso to the other side, trying to save yourself from a bad position.

See this "break arm" position. The referee will call for a stop match during this move. The hands can never leave your torso during a match. See this site.

 

For anyone interested in arm wrestling, I recommend getting started with this movie:

[Klaudius Petrulis]

Fun starts at 30 seconds in.  Beware if you're squeamish.

 

 

 

[Lucas Serur]

Fun starts at 30 seconds in.  Beware if you're squeamish.

Hah. Same thing I posted above. You can tell things are going to get ugly just by the way they are sitting. The girl on the right already starts on a bad position. In a match without a referee I would probably stop trying to put my opponent's arm down if I saw I could break it.