How to Arm Wrestle: Rules Every First-Timer Should Know

To arm wrestle, two people grip hands with their thumbs visible and touching and their elbows on a pad. The first to force the other's hand, wrist or arm onto the touch pad wins. That is the whole sport, and Buzzer has been taking it to city squares across Bosnia.

Simple to explain. Much harder to do.

The rules in about a minute

Each competitor puts an elbow on the pad and keeps the other hand on a side peg. The referee starts the match from a neutral position, according to Golden Grip's arm wrestling FAQ, and the match is over when a hand, wrist or arm touches the pad.

Fouls are where first-timers get caught. Lifting an elbow off the pad is a foul, while letting go of the peg or moving before the referee says go earns a warning. The World Armwrestling Federation rules say two warnings make a foul and two fouls lose the match. So the first lesson is not about strength. It is about staying where you are meant to be.

Two moves worth knowing

Two techniques come up in every beginner guide. The hook uses the wrist, cupping it and rotating it to pull through the opponent's wrist. The top roll uses knuckle pressure to peel back the opponent's fingers, according to Golden Grip.

You can see why a big arm is not the whole story. A hook is a wrist movement. A top roll is a finger movement. A strong arm that does not control the hand is giving the match away.

A table in the middle of town

Buzzer's arm wrestling challenge is a series of open events in city squares across Bosnia. The idea, in Buzzer's own words, is to show up, sit down and find out how strong you actually are.

The first stop was in Sarajevo, at Aria Centar on a Saturday in June. About three weeks later it moved to Trg Slobode in Tuzla. A padded table goes up, and anyone who wants to can sit down and take on an opponent. More cities are planned, though Buzzer has not set a schedule, and the events have not been livestreamed. The in-person event comes first, and Buzzer documents it afterwards.

The man on the other side of the table

The regular face of the series is Mubekir Zilić, a professional arm wrestler from Visoko and the founder of the Bosnian Beast Visoko club. He has represented Bosnia and Herzegovina at Balkan Top 8 level, where he finished third, and Buzzer credits him as a winner in a series called Super Mečevi.

What makes him useful to a first-timer is what he does between matches. He stays on the floor, corrects grips and explains technique to people who have never sat at a table before, according to Buzzer.

That is a nice reversal. In most sports, the professional is the one nobody can reach. Here he is standing next to the table, fixing your grip.

Why the table works

A sport like this needs very little. A pad, two people and a referee. The setup is simple enough to move from square to square, and the rules are simple enough to learn in the time it takes to queue.

It also gives a national-level athlete a recurring public stage, which Buzzer says is the point. An athlete who competes at Balkan level does not usually get to show up in the middle of Tuzla on a Saturday. Zilić does, and the people who sit across from him get a lesson with a result attached.

Where to find the next one

The next city and date are announced on Buzzer's social media channels. For more on how the series started, read the arm wrestling challenge announcement, and for events that are streamed live, like kickboxing, polo and football, head to Buzzer Arena TV.

If you are going to sit down, remember the elbow. It stays on the pad, and the other hand stays on the peg.

Cover photo by Alena Darmel.