Strategies for the beginning of an amateur match

To Win Against A Tough Opponent, You Must Start the Match Correctly!
This tip relates primarily to strategy in amateur matches (non-tournament matches), but can also be applied in limited form to professional matches as well. When you first lock up with your opponent, the tension that you give before the match starts could be extremely important to your chances for victory. Below are different strategies that you can employ in different situations to help you win more matches.

Strategy #1: Sidepressure from the moment you lock up
Chances are very good that if you are armwrestling an amateur, he will instantly give you a good amount of sidepressure before the match begins. Because most amateurs do not recognize the importance of backpressure, they will give only side pressure.

You can take advantage of your opponent's fixation on sidepressure to get your hand closer to your body before the match has even begun. To do so, vary the amount of sidepressure you give before the match begins. Your increasing and decreasing of sidepressure while still locked up will cause your hands to go side to side and will create constant movement. Use this opportunity to position your hand nearer to your body.

For instance, while locked up and before the match has begun, give your opponent a little sidepressure, causing his hand to move a few inches toward the table. This will cause him to want to reposition his hand to a more neutral position. When he does this, give a very brief bit of backpressure that allows you to pull your hand closer to your body. Do this as many times as necessary to get into great position by moving your opponent's hand from his body, but don't get greedy! Usually he will be so concerned with sidepressure at this point that he will not even realize that you have already put yourself at a major advantage by pulling his hand away from his body. But if you get too greedy, he might notice and you will lose the advantage you have worked hard to gain. See the picture below to understand the position you want to get into before the match begins:

Notice in this picture that the armwrestler on the right has managed to work his hand closer to his body before the match has even begun. This puts you at a tremendous advantage, and your amateur opponent will probably have no clue about it!

Strategy #2: Backpressure from the moment you lock up
This strategy works best if you plan on toprolling your opponent, and your opponent does not know how to toproll. If your opponent is significantly bigger than you, and you think that your only chance to beat him is to use a toproll, then giving him backpressure from the moment you lock up might be the best way to go. By giving instant backpressure, you give yourself the best chance to immediately perform a toproll as soon as the match begins. If you wait to give backpressure until after the match begins, you risk your bigger and stronger opponent locking you into a hook (the typical move of an amateur).

The downside of giving backpressure from the moment you lock up is that your opponent might catch on to the importance of backpressure, thus negating your ability to use your armwrestling knowledge to your advantage.

Strategy #3: Give no pressure at all
This strategy is perhaps the riskiest of all, but it can be used to beat stronger opponents. If you are not a strong toproller, or if the surface on which you are armwrestling will not allow you to toproll, then giving no tension at all will allow you to anticipate the "go." As soon as the match begins, you can then blast your opponent with all the force you have in the hope that you get a quick pin. The key, of course, is applying force before your opponent does - in other words, be faster to react to the start of the match.

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