Arm wrestling is a sport that has been around for centuries. It’s a fun way to work on your biceps and triceps, but it also requires strength and technique.
There are many different ways to improve your arm wrestling game, including hand, wrist, and forearm exercises as well as exercises that target the pectorals, latissimus dorsi muscles, and trapezius muscles.
Follow along if you’re ready to get started with some new workouts. I will take you through the 10 best arm wrestling exercises that will help you become better and potentially be a champ.
Why Exercise is Important for Arm Wrestlers
Arm wrestling is a sport that requires both strength and technique. Strength is required to force the opponent’s arm down, while the technique is required to prevent the same from happening to you.
The strength of your arms will depend on how much weight they can bear, which in turn depends on their size as well as their structure. Hand, wrist, forearm, bicep and shoulder exercises can help build strength and form.
A good workout program for arm wrestling should also involve high-volume training that focuses on high repetitions and resistance. Let’s get started with our top 10 exercises for arm wrestlers.
10 Best Arm Wrestling Exercises
Here is a list of our top ten arm wrestling exercises anyone can try:
1. Pronation Forearm Flex
The pronation forearm flex is a great exercise for building the strength of your forearm muscles. It also helps to strengthen your pronator teres muscle, which is used in arm wrestling.
To do this exercise, sit on a bench or chair and stretch out your arm with the palm facing up. Now wrap a belt around the arm. Add an 8-lb. or 10-lb. plate at the end of the belt.
Lift the weight, twisting your arm counterclockwise until you feel the pronator teres muscle contraction. Hold for a second or two, then lower the weight and repeat. Repeat this exercise 10 times with each arm.
2. Thumb-less Reverse Curls
The thumb-less reverse curl is a great exercise for those who want to work their triceps, but don’t have access to an arm bar.To begin this exercise, hold a pair of dumbbells using an overhand grip. Lift the dumbells to your chest horizontally.
Leaving the thumbs off is going to stress your forearm, making it work harder. From here, slowly lower the dumbells until they are just below your elbow. Pause for a second, then raise them back to their starting position. Repeat this exercise 10 times with each arm.
3. Do push-ups to develop the triceps in addition to the pectoral muscles
Push-ups are a great exercise for developing your chest, triceps, and shoulders. You can do push-ups with dumbbells or a weight plate if you don’t have access to an adjustable bench.
You can also use weighted vests as an alternative to doing regular push-ups with free weights (which will be more challenging).
I must mention that push-ups with dumbbells can be very difficult, especially if you’re just starting out. If this is the case, try doing regular push-ups instead and work your way up to using dumbbells.
4. Thumb-less Dumbbell Shrugs
To do this exercise, hold a pair of dumbbells the same way you did with reverse curls. You want to keep your thumbs off the dumbbells when you start doing the shrugs. Doing this will help you keep the wrists in a great semi-flexed position. This easily correlates to the arm and wrist-bending action you do when arm wrestling with an opponent.
This exercise is perfect for helping you build strength in your arms and shoulders. It’s also a great way to strengthen your forearms and wrists, as well as your back muscles.
5. Wrist Flexion
Wrist flexion or cupping involves bending or twisting your wrists inwards and try touching the inside of the wrists with your fingers. This is a very important exercise for building strength in your wrist, which can help prevent injury. You will also notice that the cupping motion helps improve your grip strength and control over your fingers.
It also helps to improve flexibility. You want to bend your hands inwards as much as possible and try touching the inside of the wrists. It will work the muscles, tendons, and bones that make up the wrist.
6. Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
The Single-Arm Dumbbell Row is a great exercise for strengthening your lats, rhomboids, trapezius muscles and grip strength.
To perform this exercise, hold a dumbbell in one hand and place your opposite knee on an incline bench or box. With the palm of your hand facing up, pull the weight towards you until it touches your side. Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions. When you’re finished, switch arms and repeat.
7. Pull Ups with Wrist Engagement
This exercise is done with a pull-up bar. It works the back, biceps, forearms, and most importantly, wrists. You probably already do pull-ups so it shouldn’t be much of a stretch to add in wrist engagement.
For this exercise, the only thing that’s going to change from your regular pull-ups is how you position your wrists.
You want to make sure your wrists are really cupped inwards like with wrist flexion. However, I must mention that this exercise is great for people who can already comfortably do regular pull-ups. It’s not something you should be doing if this is your first time attempting to do a pull-up.
8. Rack Pull
Rack pulls are an exercise that targets the muscles of the back and help you improve your grip. This is a great exercise to strengthen your back muscles and build muscle mass in your upper body.
To do rack pulls, you will need to set up a barbell in a rack and then squat down so that your shoulders are below the height of the barbell. Now, grab hold of the barbell with an overhand grip—your hands should be about shoulder-width apart.
The next step is to lift the barbell up using your back muscles, not your legs. You should be able to feel the weight of the barbell pulling down on your arms as you lift it up.
9. Dumbbell Bicep Curls with Undergrip
This exercise is a great way to build your biceps. It’s easy to do. Sit on a chair and hold the weight in front of you with an under grip. Starting from a straightened arm position, bring the weight up to your chest and back down again. Don’t use momentum, just move slowly and with control.
10. Plate Pinch Grip Strength
Plate pinch grip strength is a great exercise for the forearm flexor muscles. To perform this exercise, you’ll need a plate or kettlebell, which can be made of steel or rubber and has an outside diameter between 5-11cm (2-4 inches). You’ll also need a dumbbell that weighs about 10kg (22 pounds).
To begin holding the plate in your dominant hand with both hands on top of it, place your thumbs against each other as if they’re touching their noses. Then lift up from there until you feel the tension in your forearms and wrists.
This should take about 10 seconds to complete before lowering down again for another set of ten seconds worth of repetitions (20 total). Repeat this process three times per set with one minute between each set before moving on to something else.
If possible try keeping track of how many sets were done so that we can see how much progress was made over time.
Best Arm Wrestling Exercises At Home
Some of the best arm wrestling exercises you can do at home include:
- Single-arm barbell wrist curls
- Single-arm band triceps extensions
- Radial deviation with a towel
- Band internal rotations with supination
- High band rows with wrist curls
- Band partial curls
Best Arm Wrestling Exercise Equipment
There is so much arm wrestling equipment on the shelves today that choosing the best ones can be a little tricky. Lucky for you, I got you covered. Below is a list of some of the best arm wrestling equipment that will help you to get started and keep you in the best possible shape.
- ArmNetworking Professional Arm Wrestling Exercise Handle – Wrist and forearm Exerciser for Pronation and Rising training
- ArmNetworking Wrist Strengthener: Leverage Bar – Arm wrestling, Forearm Training Equipment
- MarcyWrist and Forearm Developer/Strengthener Home Gym Gear
- MOVEMINTAnchored Power Twister – Arm Wrestling Resistance Spring Bar Exerciser for Biceps, Forearms and Shoulders
- BisonSuper Model 2019 Strength Training Arm Machine Equipment strengthening Hands, Wrists, forearms
- WristCuppingArm Wrestling Exercise Handle Forearm Fat Grip Strong Finger Training
- ArmSharkEccentric Arm Wrestling Handle for Wrist and Fingers workout
Final Thoughts
Arm wrestling can be a very rewarding sport but only if you take the time to exercise and better your game.
While there are many more exercises you can do to improve yourself, the 10 best arm wrestling exercises listed here will help you get started and be in good shape. Try them and I am sure you won’t be disappointed.
