Many experienced athletes know that working with weights does not give a good increase in armwrestling. Why is this happening?
Let’s say an athlete lifts a 50kg barbell on biceps. After a series of training sessions, he increases the result by 5 kg and now raises 55. How will this increase affect armwrestling?
Firstly, in a biceps curl, the pressure of the barbell is directed strictly downward, and the point of maximum tension is in a certain hand position. In wrestling, the main load is in a different amplitude, therefore an allowance must be made for this.
Secondly, the bar gives a constant load. In a fight, the enemy can make sudden movements and here is not so much maximum strength matter as the ability to withstand an increase in load over a short period of time (movement power).
And finally, thirdly, armwrestling uses many muscles in different proportions. Despite the outward similarity of the movement, wrestling may use different muscles than those used in conventional exercises with weights.
As a result, after all the adjustments, an increase of 5 kg remains, at best, a few kilograms that may simply be unnoticeable at the table. That is why arm wrestlers try to make working with iron as close as possible to wrestling, using blocks and plyometric exercises.