I haven’t seen one comment explain everything about the slipping, here is the explanation. Most professional armwrestling matches end up in the strap. The strap generally makes the match more about arm and elbow strength than hand strength, so it favors those with strong arms relative to their hands. Intentional slipping is technically not allowed, but if one accidentally occurs it goes to the strap. Obviously the slips are intentional but as long as competitors don’t look like they’re completely letting go it’s ok. There are two main styles, hooking and toprolling. Hooking is where they curl their wrist and hand in like you’re doing while keeping their palm neutral or up. Toprolling is where they pronate their hand while curling backwards(a hammer curl movement), this puts pressure on an opponent’s fingertips and opens them up which busts their wrist back. When you toproll you usually don’t want to grab too hard on your opponents hand because it limits the effectiveness of the move. If two people toproll, because they are pronating, their hands will automatically roll out from each other and they will slip. Toprolling is the most common technique at least in the West, less so in the East, so both opponents slipping due to a toproll is common. Some competitors know they are stronger out of a strap due to superior hand strength so they will attempt to hold on to a toprolling opponent and pull them to the pin pad.

Finally armwrestlers getting the recognition they deserve.

Yeah, arm wrestling has been around as a competitive underground sport since the early 1970s, but it has been very underground until recently. There was one man who completely dominated the sport for over 20 years. His name is John Brzenk. He is the winningest arm wrestler in history, having won more world titles than any other man, and having competed in multiple weight classes, including super heavyweight even though he himself only weighs around 220lbs at the most. Devon Larratt is the new face of the sport, but John is still widely considered the GOAT, even though Larratt defeated him very recently. John is now almost 60 years old, and still competitive on a world level. Levan is the Thanos of the sport right now, and Devon Larratt is scheduled to face him in June, which will be the biggest event the sport has ever seen up to this point.

Arm wrestling never got its recognition that it deserved because most people that get into arm wrestling can't handle the first initial few months of pain you have to deal with, in my opinion it's the best sport on the planet.

Lasha Talakhadze and Lasha Bekauri(won Olympic gold in Judo) were awarded in the nomination of "Best Athlete of 2021". I was fortunate enough to have a picture taken with Talakhadze and Saginashvili together.

An armwrestler would usually slip if they have an overal power advantage or their wrist/technique is more favorable with the strap. There is less movement possible with the hands when strapped so then the applied force is the more important factor. Thats why Larry Wheels likes the strap when armwrestling a pro

I fell in love with armwrestling when juji started doing it and it's been my favorite sport to watch by far these past few years

Zach, just read this comment for a concise history lesson. The straps were made "just in case" the hands slip apart before a pin. But there is nothing stopping someone to slip on purpose except a few rules to police flagrant desperate slipping, i.e. in some leagues you can't slip in a losing position. The straps also change a lot of the dynamics of the match, so SOME people during SOME matches may NEED the straps to cover up some of their weak points or to perform certain moves more effectively. Also, Devon lost to Dennis in 2018 on the left hand. Which is Devon's weaker hand and Denis's stronger hand. There is actually a lot of controversy surrounding this match with most Europeans saying Devon is really weak and is why he got smashed and most Americans saying Devon was still recovering from surgery and was not at his best shape. Because of this loss and a handful of others from recent years, there is huge tension between the West and the East parts of the world where the East believes they are much more superior to the West and that American armwrestling is a huge circus. This is one of the reasons why this match with Devon vs Levan is so big is because it will decide for coming years who is "on top" between the East and the West in the heavyweight division. Armwrestling has a much more rich and juicy history than what I explained, but dude it is so awesome and I am so hyped. Also, yeah there are armwrestling clubs everywhere. Download the armbet app and find a club near you.

Dude please keep learning about arm wrestling. Continue to make more videos on it. The sport is growing and people like you will only help it even if you don’t know much currently. I love it man. Keep doing your thing!!

Love it Zach, as an armwrestler, i appreciate the exposure guys like you offer by making videos like this. I would definitely recommend hooking up with a club for a visit, until you train with an experienced armwrestler you cant appreciate the intricacies of the hand/wrist strength, importance of angles, vectors etc. Its so technical and yet so strength based, all the being extremely combative.

To answer your question about Devon vs Denis. This was a left handed match, the only way he could get Denis on the table. Denis's promoter wouldn't let him face Devon right handed. Devon was primarily training for right at the time and has since stopped training left entirely ("pumpkin training"). Devon has also put on more than 30 pounds.

Welcome to my world. Of all the rabbit holes I fall in to, it’s armwrestling in the spring of 2020. Now after hundreds of hours of KZfaq videos I’m well versed in the sport and I am a ppv buying fan. It’s fucking addictive and exciting and is gaining popularity all the time. The history of it and the current monsters involved is unreal.

You should watch the documentary “Pulling John” about the worlds greatest arm wrestler, John Brzenk. Fun fact, John lives down the street from me, so if you wanted to interview him, I’m sure he’d be open to that. Nicest dude ever.

Armwrestling definitely deserves attention as a strength and fight sport. Already seen all of those vids but amazing to watch that compilation and my own thoughts getting cough by zac commenting.

Armwrestling gets into straps if the competitors fail to have the grip. Yes it's sometime intentional. Under federations like WAF it is a loss. Cyplenkov is currently recovering from kidney injury that is mentioned in the video and would probably comeback by Jan if his doctors say yes. BTW you should review about John Brzenk. He held the world title for 40yrs undefeated. The man has hands like cyplenkov too.

georgian here. lasha is like a demigod here. he is praised like some national hero haha and tbh he deserves it

Alex is a sick dude and deserves lots of nice things ♥️

“Let’s see Paul Allen’s snatch.” 😂😂😂

Loved this as an arm wrestler. Alex you the man. Zach try some training!! (Would watch 100%)

You are providing a lot of great exposure to these other lesser known strength sports and that's awesome! You are doing a great job! 👍💪🤛✊

To explain what happened when Cyplenkov slipped the grip against Andriy Pushkar. He was looking to gain hand control by climbing his hand up and over to then open up Pushkar's hand to top roll him. Because it slipped, the strap was applied which somewhat removes the element of hand control.

You should do a video on Cyplenkov cuz you would love the guy much more, beside being untouchable in term of power in arm wrestling, he was powerlifter, strongman etc.. Born like freak, train like a freak and many more😂🦍

My dudes physique is something else. Just more and more I notice certain muscle groups that just look like you took a slider a bit too far so it doesn't look proportional. Don't get my wrong dude looks good, he just has certain muscles that are way bigger due to specializing so hard. It's no different than how us sumo wrestlers have some of the biggest quads you've ever seen, our training makes your quads, groin muscles, and glutes huge. I also in a way have a thing for that specialized training. Like watching the dude mimic the wrist twist on a machine is super cool. I love when you get to a point in training where just doing a weight version of whatever it is is the only way to improve. Hell sometimes it's not even that, for instance, to get my body to stop wanting to get front heavy my coach had me hold on to a sand bag while doing suriashi our movement drill. By doing that it pretty much forced my back to the right position and it made me have more power in my arms and legs in matches. Just a subtle change like that to a drill.

Your videos have been great recently, keep it up man much love

Alex's compilations (and your reactions to them) are what made me a subscriber.

Your videos have been brilliant. Since the 'you are not Lu' video, i've been watching more and more. I love your content and commentary on sports has been much appreciated. With the clips in addition to your input, the videos are even better and if Alex has been compiling them, I would like to thank Alex as well.

cyplenkov repping 140 kg cheat curls to call me maybe is a thing of beauty

Levan, after a decade of not deadlifting, almost got a 585 lb deadlift DOUBLE OVERHAND. He's simply a MONSTER.

Hi Zack. Just started watching your vids and really enjoy them. Nice to see you doing some arm wrestling coverage. Contrary to popular belief, grip strength isn’t as beneficial to arm wrestling as is your pronation, supination, cupping, and wrist flexion strength. The strap can provide a significant advantage to a weaker competitor, which, like you said, is a reason why some guys purposefully slip. Just some little facts I thought I’d throw your way :) Take care!

The guy with the grapefruit bicep actually has the world record in the strict 2 armed curl

C'MON IRELAND! Love your Ireland Shirt and the Cliffs of Moher backdrop Zack!

No way your outro song is Max i Intro- Ostavi Sve, epic :D

Good to see you getting a into my favorite sport

lol @ the coppertopp22 reference!!!!!!!. That's our boy hemmingway!

1:50 I like how normal the ppl in the background are and then you just see two houses casually exerting 100s of kilos without even making a sound.

He curls it in, he learned that from Over the Top and Sly’s Semi-Truck cable machine.. 🙌

You’re killing it Alex, deserve a raise

Our boy Alex coming through with the best compilations for our favourite giraffe

Arm wrestlers generally slip because its a bad idea to "hold on" to the other persons hand. If you are squeezing and gripping the other persons hand, it gives that person a target to hit. Generally you are creating a static lock in finger flexion, wrist flexion (although wrist flexion will ideally be concentric after the go) and elbow flexion and then you are just going back and sideways. If the other person holds on you, they are basically letting you pull them to the pad. Some guys have such good hand control that they can prevent the other person from slipping. In that case you have to come in and use a hook.

You gotta see some devon larratt speaking videos to know a lot about it, strength foundamentals and technique also with strap. Usually fighters tend to slip off to regain the center after compromising position during match or because they both go to hit the outside of opponents' hand, pronating, finally on purpose if the fighter thinks he could do better with hands tightened up cause it takes off the problem of controlling hand slipping and directly connects his body to what he must exert force to, gaining opportunity to mostly relay on their raw, back, frame strength.

ZT, you should get in touch with Devon and get into the armwrestling world, you'd have a huge leg up just because of your base strength and kinesthetics

honestly those "watching strange stuff Zack's Editor Found"-Videos are actually damn fun

The top roll is basically when you pull straight back, or even diagonally, towards your own shoulder, while of course leaning to the side for the pin, while also pronating through your opponent`s hand. I train for arm wrestling myself.

I really appreciate this format Alex. Doing goods work

Your editor is a fucking gold miner with all the clips

17:33 "I know some of you out there that is your max deadlift". Why you do me dirty like that. Crying emoji.

They twist out if they are in a disadvantage, better to restart the match with a strap rather than losing a point.

top roll means to apply pressure with your thumb ridge / radial side of hand ("outside" pulling), and pronate through the opponents wrist flexors by rolling through/over the fingers of your opponent. it can feel like trying to slip out of the grip, since you are trying to open the opponents fingers and wrist to gain leverage. if both fighters toproll a slip is very likely as opposed to hook technique, where you apply pressure through the pinky side of your hand (and even the wrist/ulna directly - "inside" pulling) by cupping/supinating and driving sideways. this feels like trying to hold on, if both fighters go for a hook then they won't slip

Man juji 3-4 years ago was such a hub for other great youtubers, clarence and yourself, devon larrat, larry wheels, martins licis, bugenhagen, haftor, magnus midtbo. All great characters from different fields in the "fitness industry"

Amaziing video, the Blaha reference killed me.

The song is "Call me maybe". Didn't expect to see a massive arm wrestler doing cheated curls with 140kg while listening to Carly Rae Jepsen

5:50 this dude is a tank and a half

Alex you are my spirit animal.

That arm wrestling ref is pretty jacked!

Sick compiled content, I enjoyed.

Finally, an armwrestling video. I hope you do more covers on this topic Zack

I Fucking love you Zack, hes just on another level man

Zack you should try some of the arm wrestling exercises. Surprisingly nice carry over to BJJ grips.

Bro It would be so cool if you got deeper into armwrestling! Loved the video

This is excellent for the sport Zach! Thank you so much.

Throwback Diamondbacks gear brings a tear of pride to my eye.

Zack im georgian and yes,you are right-LASHA is biggest georgian athlete here,he became best georgian athlete of 2021,LEVAN is also very popular in georgia,we are very proud of our georgian hulk.we georgians are population of 4 million people and we are so proud to have such legends-LASHA AND LEVAN.also pls check out TOCHINOSHIN-he is a sumo wrestler and he is also from georgia.we compete very well in combat sports also,such as MMA.

Zack, you need to get involved in arm wrestling bro, you would be so good for the community

love seeing people learning about armwrestling!

those backgrounds are amazing

Thanks Zack and thanks Alex! Please do another video similar to "RIcky the discuss thrower". That was fascinating and entertaining. A man on the edge willing to do anything to win.....

These videos are awesome, keep'em coming.

Nothings better then when you train for armwrestling and you win a match.

Nice commentary, I subscribed

That big guy, Denis Cyplenkov (the one that was crushing the walnuts with his hands), he actually legit cant straighten his arms (majority of arm wrestlers can, even if, normally, they arent generally straight), but that was some condition he had, i believe. Other arm wrestlers end up getting injured, and when the bone is repaired, they usually no longer can fully straighten their arm....because a lot of the problems happen in the inner elbow.

When two armswrestlers slip, it’s usually that both are top rolling. Toprolling involves pulling back into the fingers of the opponents with pronation of the hand and forearm. The slip occurs when the fingers of the opponent aren’t strong enough to contain the pressure

Anyone else notice their hands turning purple at 15:00

Video idea: Powerlifters strongman etc who you'd want to see or have seen in oly lifting

Brilliant Episode!!!

The guy with the huge thumb has the strict barbell curl record.

Keep these kinds of videos coming mate

18:36 "ну, дури много" = "you are very stong" хахахаха

I too have been getting into arm wrestling a lot lately.

Let's see Paul Allen's video about armwrestlers

The strap allows you to get more connected to the arm through the hand. A hand dominant guy normally doesn't want a strap.

No, Devon is past his prime. Levan is literally the Lasha of arm wrestling, not just in size but dominance. Devon has a very small chance in winning a single match vs Levan..

I am loving this videos!

Alex is so sick putting these together

Finally watching lunchtime content while I eat lunch

Straps usually needed if guys want to negate the others stronger hand and wrist. Slips are intentional most of the time

My two worlds meeting so exciting. My two favorite strength sports

The story of how Armwrestling was introduced to the Soviet Union is a really cool story

Alex make a highland games compilation thats a fun strength sport with some beastly athletes at the top

ALEX, GOOD JOB!!!

That was Andrey Pushkar where you said he tried to slip. In that instance, i dont think he was trying to slip, but instead get control of his fingers so he could pin him easier, though sometimes the goal is to slip. Sometimes both arm wrestlers slip on purpose just to go straight to the strap, because since the scrap ties the hands together, it reduces the need for that extra bit of hand strength that becomes so important outside of the scraps. In the straps....its generally greater arm strength that wins.

13:45 Two powerful top rollers slip from each other, hence the need to keep their hands together. A powerful hook will tend to stay clinched to the opponents arm. See lots of WAF euro/world championships to get an insight to various techniques. And almost all top end WAL and old Arm Wars in vegas is super entertaining :D

Alex, you’re dope bro thanks for everything! 😎🙏

Slipping: So when top rolling, both are targeting the opponents fingers, this causes the hands to slip many of the times, since they are stronger in the rest of the arm than the fingers. Also this can be used as a tactic as some armwrestlers are better in the strap, since you cant target the fingers as much, you then have to beat the rest of the arm and upperback to win.

Beginning of a match you want to get high grip on people thumb, this allows you to top role easily and give better leverage. From there you are gripping hard to try top roll and cup so you can use the bicep to pull them closer to you. From there you engage your core to try generate force and transfer that force to the back so you can rotate thus pinning someone. Where this gets techincal is that you are trying to maintain thumb control and grip the whole time. You see people "slip" on purpose when fatigued or losing so they can go into a strap. As seen at 13:45. Some wrestlers prefer to be in a strap because it takes the pressure away from the "grip/thumb" where they are weak and allows them to just casually top role and ultimately makes cupping easier.

You should take a look at girevoy sport. It's not very popular in the states but it's a lot of fun.

90 degree angles only? Joel Seedman havin a field day

HE SAID DEVON! I PRESS LIKE!

That Denis guy from the thumbnail - natty as furk

That was Dennis.. the 6-0 guy. Record holder strict curler.

I subscribed just bc you did an arm wrestling video. So there better be more lol 😉