Armwrestling Move #2: The Toproll

The toproll is a great move to beat your less experienced friends with. If you win with a toproll, you are winning with leverage instead of brute strength. This is because the toproll is what is referred to as an "outside" move. You are trying to put tremendous pressure on your opponent's fingers, causing his hand to open up and allowing you to gain leverage. When the opponent's hand opens up, it allows you to get further out on his hand (toward his finger tips) and makes it very difficult for him to "outmuscle" you until he regains his hand position. You, of course, should fight to maintain and improve your hand position, thereby taking his (possibly) more powerful arm out of the match! If you do it quick enough, he will have no idea what happened!

If you want to learn much more about this and many other moves, be sure to take a look at our products:

• Armwrestling Manual
• Armwrestling Video

How The Toproll Is Performed
The key to the toproll is to get high on your opponent's hand. The higher you get, the more leverage you gain on your opponent's arm and the easier he or she is to take down. There are two types of toprolls, but to make things simple, remember two things. 1) Exert maximum backpressure throughout the entire match when performing the toproll. This is important. 2) Try to walk your fingers out on your opponent's hand. Once you have succeeded in walking your fingers out some on your opponent's hand, regrip his hand and then begin to walk your fingers out further until you have enough leverage to take him down.

Rollover Images
I have just added some rollovers to the page to give you a better feel for what happens to your opponent's hand when you successfully perform a toproll. Move your mouse over the two images below and watch how the toproll opens up the grip of the opponent being toprolled.

Still Photos
Use these still photos to examine the toproll in more detail. Notice the position of the hand as well as the way the toproll pulls your opponent's hand away from his body, opening up his arm. Be sure to scroll all the way down the page, as there are additional photos and instruction below!