8+ Explosive Arm Wrestling Workouts To Give You The Edge

Anatomy Of The Arms

The arm can be divided into two main parts — the upper arm and the lower arm. 

The upper arm consists of the biceps and tricep muscles. The lower arm consists of the forearm muscles, wrists muscles, and fingers. While there are more muscles, these are the main ones to focus on when it comes to arm wrestling. 

The biceps brachii consist of two main muscle heads — the biceps short head and the biceps long head. These primarily function to flex the elbows. They also help to stabilize the forearms. 

The forearm muscles can be divided into anterior or front and posterior or back compartments. The anterior muscles control flexion while the posterior muscles control extension. The main muscles to focus on include the brachioradialis, supination, pronator teres, and pronator quadratus. 

In terms of the wrist muscles, the main ones to focus on are the wrist flexors and wrist extensors. While the wrist flexors control wrist flexion, the wrist extensors control wrist extension. As you arm wrestle, they both function to maintain a stable wrist position as you push against the opponent’s hand.

Alongside the exercises above, bicep and tricep workouts can be performed. These provide targeted isolation for these upper arm muscles. 

Biceps Long Head

Most outside part of your bicep.The front of your upper arm.

Biceps Short Head

Most inside portion of the biceps. Located at the front of your upper arm closest to your chest.

Triceps Lateral Heads

Muscles located on the back of your arm between your shoulder and elbow.

Triceps Medial Heads

Small muscles located at the back of your arms. Deep to the triceps long heads between the shoulder and elbow.

Triceps Long Heads

Large muscles located at the back of your arms between your shoulder and elbow. Most outside portion of the tricep.

Wrist Flexors

Muscles that span the inside of your lower arm, between your elbow and wrist palm side up.

Wrist Extensors

Muscles that make up the back portion of your lower arm, between your elbow and wrist.

Brachioradialis

Muscle located between outside portion of your forearm from the elbow to the wrist.

Benefits Of Arm Wrestling Exercises

Arm wrestling exercises offer several functional benefits that you should be aware of. We’ve discussed the main three below. 

Increased Arm And Grip Strength

A progressive loss in muscle strength begins around the age of 40. This is estimated to be at approximately 10%–15% per decade. Above 70, this rate drastically increases.

Arm strength is primarily determined by the technique and function of the large muscle groups. The biceps make a vital contribution to pulling movements and are the primary movers in anything that involves elbow flexion. 

Performing the arm wrestling exercises above is therefore great to increase arm strength. They work many of the large muscle groups responsible for arm strength.

Most of the exercises above work the forearms, wrists, and fingers. Some of them specifically target the wrists and fingers as smaller muscle groups. Each of these plays an important role in overall grip strength.

Therefore, the arm wrestling workouts are great for improving grip strength. As a vital component of lifting performance, the role of grip strength should not be overlooked. Alongside this, it has recently been identified as a key determinant of health.

Better Wrist Stability

The wrists are highly complex body parts made up of several joints and muscles. They are responsible for positioning the hands to facilitate movement. When they function normally, they’re able to tolerate heavy loads to lift, carry, and push. 

The arm wrestling workouts above work the forearm muscles, wrist muscles, and fingers. Each of these contributes to good wrist stability.

Over time, better wrist stability may help to improve general movement and performance, This can translate into better movement, reduced wrist pain, and increased grip strength. 

Injury Prevention

When thinking about injury and the ways to prevent it, most people tend to focus on the large muscle groups. The thinking behind it is that they are bigger so must have the biggest contribution to injury risk. Improving muscle strength and function through resistance training is well-known to reduce injury risk. 

However, the smaller muscle groups that act as secondary movers play large but often unnoticed roles during movement and exercise. One of their important functions is helping the primary movers, allowing efficient movement patterns to reduce the risk of injury. 

The arm wrestling exercises above work a lot of these. Alongside function, they develop grip strength. Because of this, they can play a key role in the improvement of wrist function and pain reduction.

Safety Tips For Arm Wrestling Workouts

• Ensure you perform a suitable warm-up before the arm wrestling workout. This should consist of dynamic stretches that work the primary movers and an aerobic pulse raiser. This helps to increase muscle temperature and loosen joints, lowering injury risk.
• Perform a cool down following the arm wrestling workout. This should consist of some static stretches and a pulse-lowering aerobic exercise bout. Doing this can help to reduce injury risk and muscle soreness following a session.
• Ensure you manage volume appropriately when doing the arm wrestling workouts. There should be at least 48-72 hours between sessions. This allows for sufficient muscle recovery to reduce injury risk.

Conclusion

Each of the exercises above works the primary movers involved in arm wrestling. These include the biceps brachii, forearms, wrists, and fingers. Whether competition or doing it for fun, program the workout below as part of your training.

To avoid injury, ensure you use the safety tips above and follow the form guides. This ensures targeted muscle activation and reduces injury risk. Have a go at them and let us know what you think!