Armwrestling Tournament Brings Attention To The Sport
Brian Willett (top center) gets another armwrestling match underway at Penn Central Mall on Saturday.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – A group of arm wrestlers took to center court at Penn Central Mall on Saturday, to showcase their sport and hopefully attract some new participants to the sport.
Many people may remember the Sly Stallone movie ‘Over The Top’, but this competition has little in common with the movie.
Brian Willett hails from Brooklyn, Iowa, earning a degree from William Penn University. He’s recently moved to Grinnell. He’s a personal trainer for Anytime Fitness both in Oskaloosa and Grinnell.
Willett, who ownes Hammer Armwrestling, competes all around the State of Iowa in armwrestling. He has become the owner of seven state titles in Monster Armwrestling since joining the sport back in 2008. After defeating a former national champion in 2009, Willett was hooked.
That’s when Willett looked to promoting the sport, and purchased an armwrestling table to enable him to travel and hold events of his own. “I’ve been holding small tournaments around the state, trying to get the sport bigger,” Willett says. “Each tournament I hold, If I can get 1 or 2 more guys interested in the sport, that’s kind of the ultimate goal for me… is to get more people competing.”
Willett would like to see the return of a national tournament, such as those held in the 1980’s.
The competitiveness of the sport is what Willett says drew him to the sport. “If you get two people that are really experienced, you’re going to see a really entertaining match,” Willett says. “It’s the strength, the speed, the endurance; it’s just a combination of everything.”
Willett says that there is a definite technique to arm wrestling. “Once you’re going against guys who have been doing it for awhile, you’re going to have to pick up some technique.”
Willett explained it’s a common misconception that an armwrestler wins on brute strength alone.
He says that at the higher level, you can’t win just on brute strength alone. “You want to be the fastest, the strongest, outlast your opponent. It’s a combination of everything.”
In order to be competitive, forearm training and developing and upper back strength are important to Willett. “It’s not just the arm. People think that it’s just arm wrestling, but it’s actually a total body.”
Even though there wasn’t a large crowd on hand for Saturday’s matches, Willett still completed one of his main goals, he helped to showcase the sport to a new group of people. You can also join Hammer Armwrestling on Facebook HERE or visit Monster Armwrestling on their website HERE.
