It all began in Petaluma, California back in 1952. The locals would all gather at Gilardi’s saloon after work to knock back a few cold ones. To pass the time, they started engaging in friendly bouts of “wrist wrestling.”
The competition soon became fierce and when bragging rights for the strongest arm in town were on the line, Gilardi’s could scarcely hold the crowds that formed. This was all witnessed by Bill Soberanes, a journalist for the local newspaper, “The Petaluma Argus-Courier.” He took an interest in these events and had the grand idea that if armwrestling could generate this kind of excitement, it should be an organized sport on the world’s stage.
Bill and his friend Dave Devoto soon organized the first World’s Wristwrestling Championship in one of Petaluma’s largest auditoriums. This event turned out to be tremendously successful, and exciting things began to happen.
From there, armwrestling made an appearance in “Peanuts” (when Snoopy traveled to Petaluma to win the title), ABC’s Wide World of Sports, The Learning Channel, Sylvester Stallone’s “Over The Top,” and many, many other places.
Yes, even though armwrestling has grown substantially with televised coverage on ESPN and championships held all over the globe, there is still nothing better than knowing you can pin anyone in the room, which is why armwrestling has been and always will be a fascinating subject as far as training goes. Despite the popularity, there hadn’t been much information written about how to armwrestle until Ernie Jeffrey, a competitive armwrestler and later a long-time referee, sat down and did just that.
In addition to seeing armwrestling from many different angles as a competitor, a referee, and a coach, he developed a unique understanding of the sport.
Jeffry wanted to know what made a good armwrestler… Was it size? Age? Strength? Desire? Technique? Sure, there were plenty of very strong guys who stepped up to the table – but the biggest and strongest didn’t always win…
Ernie figured it was a combination of all of these factors and so he set about developing his own unique system and one thing was for sure: his pupils excelled at each tournament in which they participated. It was time to take the logical next step – teaching this information to the world.
In 1977, Ernie put all he had learned into a book entitled Armwrestling: How to Become a Champion. It was the first book ever published on armwrestling, and remains one of the few ever published on the subject.
It was also one of the best “training” books ever written and because it was self-published, it was also extremely rare — and almost impossible to get a copy of, until now…
One of our scouts found a few mint cases of Ernie Jeffrey’s book that had been stashed in a storage locker since the day they had been printed. We snatched them up like lightning and are making them available to the world once again for as long as we have them in stock. Now you too can be a student of Ernie Jeffrey and learn how to become a “Terror” at the table.
Check out what you’ll learn in its pages:
- What two factors, above all else, contribute the most to winning at armwrestling, and how you can build them
- How to find your weak spots
- Where real armwrestling “Strength” comes from
- The roles of will power, concentration, and speed in your training
- How to correctly adjust the body to the table
- How to build up your energy once you approach the table
- Two different methods for the “Over The Top” move and how to execute either of them to confuse your opponent
- Building confidence with the “Drag-Down” style
- What to do in case your opponent bends your wrist back
- How to “rest” or recover from a losing position
- Rules for sit-down armwrestling
- How to referee a match
- A complete list of rules, fouls, warnings, and disqualifications
- How to “know your arm” in order to specifically train your armwrestling muscles when you workout
- The role of physical and psychological readiness in your training and competition
- How to train at home – exercises to build strength aside from armwrestling practice
- How to use cables, hand grippers, a jump rope, and a chair to build upper body strength
- A look at armwrestling equipment including the “Jeffrey” table
As you can see, this book is quite extensive. Also please keep in mind that while the rules of competitive armwrestling may have changed a bit since the time the book was written, the training information is as good as ever — and highly useful and applicable for any training program.
Train hard,
John Wood
Armwrestling: How to Become a Champion by Ernie Jeffrey