Armwrestling Move #3: The Press

The press is one of the purest power moves in arm wrestling. Having a bulky upper body certainly helps with this one. If you are confident that you have superior upper body power (especially chest and triceps) to your opponent and are at least equal in bicep and forearm strength, this is a good move to perform. If, however, your opponent is much stronger than you are in the chest and triceps, using the press might be a bad idea. This move can be beaten by a quick toproll, as it is vulnerable to strong, quick backpressure. This is because your arm must be close to your body to perform this move, so if your opponent can pull your arm across the table you will not be able to win with a press.

The press is also a good move to use in a long tournament. Unlike the hook and toproll, which rely most heavily upon the biceps and forearms, the primary muscles used in the hook are the triceps, shoulders, and chest. Thus, a good way to give your bi's and forearms a rest during a long tournament is to throw in a press when you can. Be careful, however, to use it only in situations where your chest and tricep strength is superior to that of your opponent!

HOW IT IS PERFORMED
The key on this move is to get your opponent's palm to face up toward the ceiling with your own hand on top of his. If you can get your opponent into this position, the rest is simple. Just get your body over your arm and push down your opponent's hand to the pad, using your upper body and arm. See the rollovers and still pictures below:

Notice how the wrestler on the left (Jeff) is working his opponent (barT) in the press. barT has managed to break Jeff's wrist back, though, so Jeff will have a hard time turning barT's palm upward. Even though his wrist is in the bent back, "broken wrist" position, Jeff can still win this match. A press is very hard to beat, even if your wrist is bent back.

Here is a close-up of Jeff's wrist in the above match. Notice how barT has bent Jeff's wrist backward. This is very common in the press. It is not, however, optimal. Try to keep your wrist from being bent backward. If your wrist is bent backward, you can still win, though.

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**This information was reprinted with the express written permission of Ultimate Arm Wrestling, LLC