Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Arm wrestling grips onlookers
World champion takes on challengers, shares tips at ballpark
SPRINGDALE — Bikes, Blues & BBQ went over the top Friday when world-class arm wrestlers showed up at Arvest Ballpark and challenged everyday folks to lock arms and test their skill and will.
With his 17-inch right bicep bulging in front of him and his battle-hardened 15-inch forearm raised, Devon Larratt, the World Armwrestling
League’s 225-pound world champion, welcomed the hand of Rogers resident Erik Williams. Williams pushed with all his might, but he couldn’t topple Larratt’s tree trunk of a forearm.
“It was intense,” Williams said after his tutorial in the art of arm wrestling. “My arm is on fire.”
Williams conceded arm wrestling is more than a test of strength, but rather a contest of finesse and technique.
As Williams arm wrestled Larratt, the 41-year-old world champion from Ottawa, Canada, coached him on the subtle finger movements and arm positioning he could use to gain the best advantage.
“The hand is the most complicated apparatus we have to work with as a human being,” Larratt said. “The hand is capable of doing so many movements, and can be used combatively to apply different techniques to win.”
When Larratt isn’t winning arm wrestling matches across the world throughout the year, he and fellow World Armwrestling League luminaries tour with their
Monster Energy Drink sponsor and put on exhibitions at events such as Bikes, Blues & BBQ. The professional arm wrestling exhibition was one of many events featured at Arvest Ballpark on Friday, and returns to the ballpark at 11 a.m. today.
The 6-foot-4-inch, 225 pounds Larratt began arm wrestling at age 5, and hit the competitive circuit when he turned 18. When he’s not serving with the Canadian Special Forces, he’s taking on all comers and defending his right arm and left arm world championships and reputation as one of the best in arm wrestling.
“I just love the feeling,” Larratt said. “The real feeling I love is a feeling of freedom, to be able to act without thinking and do instinctively what you want to do, and arm wrestling gave me that.”
Larratt said when he locks arms with an opponent, he can be as aggressive as he wants, that he can fight his opponent without fear of hurting him.
“You got to be a fighter,” he said. “You got to not give up when the going gets tough. Arm wrestling takes a lot of willpower; it’s combative, and you got to be adaptive.”
But adapting in the heat of battle takes more than pushing hard with all your might, it takes skill and technique and being sly enough to turn disadvantage into advantage, Larratt said.
There are two main branches of arm wrestling techniques: inside and outside, Larrat said.
“Outside (techniques) are known as any technique that puts pressure into the fingers to varying degrees; that would also be known as ‘top rolling’ or ‘over the top,’” he said. “Inside involves having more shoulder commitment, making the opponent see their palm and exposing their elbow angle. You’re trying to open their elbow angle more than the wrist angle. It’s more of a focus.”
The typical arm wrestling match is like a drag race, Larratt said.
“They say go, (then) ‘Kablam,’ one arm’s down,” he said.
Some matches, however, are hard-fought battles, such as Larratt’s “life-altering 80-second hook match” against Brazilian powerhouse Marcio Barboza at this year’s Northern Regionals in Illinois.
“He’s diesel strong, he knows all the tricks,” Larratt said of Barboza. “We locked in and it tested my entire being. I had surgery three years ago on my elbow, and he had been beating me ever since my surgery, and that was the first time I beat him since my surgery. (That match) took a year off my life, but I love it.”
Arm wrestling became a way of life for 195-pound competitor Dan Whittle in 2001.
Whittle, who was also putting on exhibitions and giving tutorials Friday, is a Collinsville, Okla., native who happened onto an arm wrestling event at a bar in Michigan. A stocky powerlifter, Whittle joined the event, took on a 20-year veteran and learned in arm wrestling, sheer power doesn’t amount to victory.
“I hit in real hard with a hook and next thing I know my arm was getting pinned to the pad,” he said. “After that I was hooked; I wanted to know more. ‘How did this guy who was not as strong as I am beat me?’ It was humbling.”
Whittle now arm wrestles major events across the country, including the Arnold
Schwarzenegger Classic and a World Armwrestling League championship event in Las Vegas. He has also brought his son, 23-year-old Bryce Whittle, into the sport. Bryce won first place in a Dallas tournament in February and got ninth place in a World Armwrestling League regional tournament in July.
“You keep learning and changing your techniques,” Bryce Whittle said. “You study people at tournaments and find out what they’re strong in and what they’re weak in.”
Larratt, who with a grin confessed he has the 1987 cult-classic Sylvester Stallone arm wrestling movie Over the Top playing on constant rotation on his basement television, said anyone can become an arm wrestler no matter how naturally gifted they are at the sport. He said becoming an arm wrestler requires physical training, joining an arm wrestling team to learn proper techniques and most important of all passion.
“People come in at different levels, but in my opinion nothing at all beats passion,” he said. “If you love it, you will get there eventually.”
“Arm wrestling takes a lot of willpower; it’s combative, and you got to be adaptive.” — Devon Larratt, World Armwrestling League’s 225-pound world champion