Winning hands down: arm wrestling takes Britain in its grip

In the garage of a house in east Birmingham, dozens of people are crowded around a table where two men grapple with each other, fists interlocked, sweat dripping down their foreheads.

This is the world of competitive arm wrestling, surging in popularity across the country, with grassroots clubs popping up in garages, gyms and community centres nationwide.

“It attracted me because you’re not punching each other in the face, but you’re still fighting,” said 25-year-old Hamza Mezouari, who joined the Birmingham Bullets arm wrestling group about two years ago, after watching videos on YouTube during lockdown.

“It’s a really friendly atmosphere, but at the same time you’ve got the adrenaline, you’re releasing aggression.”

Neil Pickup, a former world champion arm wrestler and part of the British Armwrestling Federation, said the growth of the sport in recent years had been huge.

“There are more opportunities for arm wrestlers than there’s ever been,” he said, largely spurred on by videos on social media that have helped launch arm wrestling stars with big personalities.

“People see that and it inspires them. But it’s also incredibly accessible, it doesn’t cost money to train and there’s a real community feel around the sport.”

In Birmingham, the Bullets have swelled from just a couple of founding members a few years ago, to about 50 people who now meet up every Sunday to train.

This week, arm wrestlers from a Bristol club have travelled up to compete in a series of head-to-heads, but there’s no animosity between the two teams; in between matches – or “pulling” – people share advice and tips on training and techniques.

“There’s no anger, there’s no disputes, there’s no arguments, it’s a friendly group. Even when you lose, people are hugging you saying, ‘Thank you for being there,’” said Ben Madeley, a 36-year-old engineer who came across the sport on YouTube and decided to have a go.

He said the sport had given him a “morale boost” and a whole host of new friends. “It’s the adrenaline, the crowd, everyone feels like a family,” he said, adding that his two young sons loved watching him compete.

On one of the specially designed arm wrestling tables, Mezouari explains some of the rules: elbows must remain on the pads, feet firmly spread, shoulders square and, crucially, the hand grip must be even.

“Arm wrestling is simple in design and rules, but it’s quite complicated in practice,” he said. “It’s a combat sport because there’s technique to it, it’s about the fight. It’s about getting what you want and winning.

“If someone gets an advantage in the grip, even by a millimetre, it can change everything.”

Each match is monitored by two referees – one standing up and looking down on the table, another sitting below and looking up – to check neither playing is breaking the rules or causing injury. Broken arms do happen occasionally.

Techniques include “the hook”, or inside arm wrestling, where wrestlers draw their opponents arm in close and use their whole frame to bring them down – that’s all “power on power”, Mezouari said.

Outside arm wrestling is all about hand control, trying to isolate your opponent’s muscles by getting their hand in a compromising position.

“When you first start doing it, the pain can be a lot. But you get used to it with training,” said founding member Craig Sanders, 49, who has been involved in the sport since his teenage years.

“It’s brilliant seeing so many people joining. I never thought I’d see this.”

Although relatively new elsewhere in the world, arm wrestling has long been a popular sport in America, epitomised by the 1987 Sylvester Stallone film Over the Top, where he plays a champion arm wrestler.

Clive Lloyd, 62, was a champion arm wrestler in the 1980s, travelling to Las Vegas to promote the film, and after 30 years off, he’s back at the Birmingham Bullets to enjoy the buzz around the sport.

“I saw there was a lot more arm wrestling going on now than there was back then so I thought I’d get back into it, see if I could teach people some of my techniques, and learn something from them too,” he said.

“It’s just getting bigger and bigger with social media, and we’re hoping it’s going to be a real resurgence.”