Professional arm wrestling has become one of the fastest growing sports as more and more fans continue to get swept up in all its excitement. Leading the way is the World Arm-Wrestling League (WAL). Featuring intense matches, a high-energy and up-close fan experience, and the sport’s top superstars, WAL dominates the field now more than ever.
The action returns to ESPN this Tuesday, July 19 at 7 pm EST. For more info about this highly anticipated event, visit walunderground.com.
Here are five things you should know about WAL and its meteoric rise in the world of professional arm-wrestling.
1. From the Underground
Arm-wrestling is a true-to-life, thriving subculture that has flourished around the world for decades. The WAL is taking it mainstream, introducing the sport to new arm-wrestlers and encouraging participation at every level. With an increasing pool of prolific and talented pullers, WAL will continue to add to its stable of exciting new talent for “The Pit.”
2. More Than Big Biceps
It’s not just about big guns: tactics and techniques also play a pivitol role and the mental game is critical to winning. (One of our champs went viral last year after he pinned “The Mountain” from Game of Thrones, despite giving up several hundred pounds and inches of height. Sure, you want to flex some mighty canons for the competition, but technique matters, and may be just as important.
“Pullers” come from a wide variety of backgrounds – high school teachers to diesel mechanics to engineers, firemen and accountants. What makes WAL so unique is that you’ll find competitors from every walk of life. People you’d never imagine participating in a strength dominated sport like arm-wrestling are flocking to the WAL.
4. WAL Women
As any M&Fer will tell you, women take their fitness regimen seriously, and are capable of achieving extraordinary displays of strength and athleticism. Such is the case with their participation in the WAL, where you’ll find strong, dedicated women competing just as hard as the men for a chance to come out victorious in The Pit.
5. Unique Training
There’s a lot more than just curls. Arm-wrestling requires incredibly specific strength, resulting in unique, crazy training regimens that often focus on all the unseen, unworked connective tissue and ligaments in the fingers, hands, wrists and forearms. At the same time, champions know that a successful pull involves lots of conventional arm, shoulder and back strength. It’s this combination of unorthodox and go-to strength building moves that make training for this sport so unique and vital for success.
