Yes, Chicago might be known as the “City of the Big Shoulders,” but don’t sell Brooklyn short when it comes to upper-body burliness.
On July 26, the Coney Island boardwalk played host to the 26th annual Kingsboro Arm Wrestling Championships, during which over 100 men and women vied for the title of “Brooklyn’s Strongest Arm.”
Alas, because there are no residency requirements, the two biggest winners were not from Brooklyn. Arsen Shoshishvili, who came all the way from the Republic of Georgia, and Mirline Berrouet, a South Ozone Park resident, took home the honors and the $100 cash prize.
But six Brooklynites finished in the top three of their respective weight classes. In doing so, they earned a trip to the Empire State Golden Arm Tournament of Champions to be held at the Port Authority Bus Terminal on November 13.
Artak Petrosyn, a Bensonhurst resident, took home first prize in the 175 lbs. or below professional category.
Harry Wilson of Boerum Hill was the champion in the Masters category for arm-wrestlers age 45 or over. Wilson also finished in second place in the 175 lbs. or below professional category.
Max Krvantsev, a Brighton Beach resident, took first prize in the 175 lbs. or below amateur category.
Kirill Shuolyar, another Brighton Beach resident, finished in second place in the 200 lbs. or below category.
Steven Broadman of Brighton Beach placed second in the Masters category.
And Red Hook resident Miguel Rodriguez finished third in the 225 lbs. and below category.
The contest showed a spotlight on the strategy and mastery of leverage these arm-wrestlers must bring to the table (literally) in order to be successful.
“A lot of people don’t realize that arm-wrestling is a real pro sport,” said Gene Camp, founder and president of the New York Arm Wrestling Association, the event’s organizing body.
“They think of it as a grudge match between barroom drunks.”
Good arm-wrestlers must possess more than brute strength, said Camp, who holds that generating maximum force is a fine-tuned athletic endeavor.
“Force is not just produced by the muscle contraction, but by the release of elastic energy from the tendon components. The key is coordinating the two so that a stiff tendon unit and strong muscles work in unison,” he said.
At the heart of an arm-wrestling contest is the battle over hand-position and grip.
“If people take away your grip, you’re a loser. But if you open up the other guy’s grip, he’s vulnerable,” said Camp.
Among arm-wrestling aficionados, a favorite move is the “Top Roll” technique, where the object is to quickly pull back on the opponent’s fingers so as to claim hand position.
The move is designed to prey on the aggressiveness of the opponent, and relies on hand quickness, suddenness, and leverage more than brute strength.
Another well-known move is the “Hook.” This power-move involves hooking the hand and, in the same motion, leaning forward and driving down with the arm and upper body.
Another move, the “Drag Hook,” utilizes the same hand-grip as the hook. But while the upper body drives forward in the hook, the drag hook calls for the wrestler to lean back with his back muscles, thus pulling the opponent’s arm away from his bodyweight to make him more vulnerable.
The artistry of these techniques aside, there are still arm-wrestlers who maintain that the appeal of the sport resides in the purity of the contest.
“It’s man against man, like you’re going back to the beginning of civilization,” said Petrosyn, a 19-year-old Armenian immigrant, who in addition to his promising arm-wrestling career, is also on the wrestling team at Hunter College.
“Nowadays, people forget what it is to be a real man. Men used to be different before. When you’re arm-wrestling, it’s like one of us is trying to get into the other one’s property and the other one’s defending it. The strongest man will survive.”
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For upcoming arm-wrestling events and results, go to www.nycarms.com, or call Gene Camp at 718-544-4592.