‘Arm-ed and dangerous’: Over 200 competitors gather for arm wrestling tournament
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IDAHO FALLS — In a room full of people with biceps bigger than the average person’s head, 218 competitors gathered at Club Apple Saturday afternoon to determine who, and which of their arms, is the strongest of all.
The first annual Arm Wrestling Tournament, hosted and organized by Club Apple and Shane and David Palmer from Yellowstone Arms, took place inside the club’s gym, where over 300 people spent their weekend together warming up their wrists before taking on their next opponent in a good, old-fashioned arm wrestling match.
Don’t be mistaken, nothing about this event was amateur — even in the children’s division. Each competitor walked up the steps to the stage and placed themselves in front of a competition-grade arm wrestling table, across from the person they would try to overpower, pinning their forearm to the table’s pad.
One of the first children to compete was Elijah Guzman. This was the 6-year-old’s first-ever arm wrestling competition. In fact, neither he nor his dad, Daniel Guzman, knew he would even be competing before this week.
Elijah’s step-mom, Madi Bradshaw, is a staff member at Club Apple. When she heard about the tournament, she decided to check it out and see if Elijah was interested.
“I wasn’t planning for this today,” Guzman said. “(Bradshaw) told me to come and do it, and I said, ‘All right,’ and I asked him about it. He didn’t really know what it was, so I think when I showed him a couple of the things — he was anxious to do it.”
Stepping onto the stage, Elijah was met by another 6-year-old, Jaxen Burke. Looking at the two competitors, Jaxen was quite a bit bigger.
“The (kid) he went up against, I was like, ‘Oh, it’s gonna be a tough competition,’” Guzman said.
The announcer said “go,” and the two were in tight competition for over a minute, back and forth, with Jaxen coming close to pinning Elijah, and then the opposite. After about a minute and 17 seconds, Elijah came out on top. (Watch the match, and a few others, in the player above.)
“I was like, that was crazy! Dude, you’re gonna make me look bad!” said Guzman, who also competed in the tournament. “It felt good to see him do pretty well, and I’m really happy for him. …The other kid also did great; they were arm and arm for over a minute!”
Guzman said he wasn’t expecting Elijah to be so good at the very beginning, and that he will gauge his interest in continuing going forward.
“I think he’s liking the energy of this,” Guzman said. “It just seems like it’s entertaining all around — not even just for the kids, but I know (Bradshaw) was excited to cheer him on. So, yeah, if he’s willing to, I don’t see why not.”
As for Jaxen, even after the loss, he continued to push through the tournament, competing against multiple opponents. And, as it turns out, this kind of environment is not new to him.
Jaxen’s grandmother, 60-year-old Yvette Lott, is a national Arm Wrestling champion. Saturday was her last match.
“I’m the women’s arm wrestling champion for the state of Idaho, and last April, I went to nationals,” Lott said. “This is my last tournament because my husband and I will be going on a mission trip. … (My family) knew it was my last time, so they came to support me, and then the kids wanted to compete!”
Known affectionately as “Grandma” in the arm-wrestling world, Lott said she’s been arm wrestling for as long as she can remember.
“I’ve been arm wrestling all my life. My dad taught me, and then at age 57, I just thought: Oh, I’m just going to go to the fair just to try, and be an example to say that I did it, and show my kids and grandkids that they can do hard things,” Yvette said. “So I went for my first time, I had no formal training, and I won the whole darn thing.”
Lott’s granddaughter, 13-year-old Ember Burke, who also competed in the tournament, says she looks up to her grandmother as a prime example of a strong woman.
“She’s a great example to us, and it’s really fun to watch her do stuff,” Burke says. “All of my friends are scared of her.”
Kate Long, programs director at Club Apple and organizer of the tournament, said she is excited to bring part of her own world to the community.
“My family competes. I had been to an event in the fall that Shane and David Palmer were putting on in Island Park, and I was like, ‘I work (at Club Apple), and I put on events, how do I do this in Idaho Falls?’ (The Palmers) were great, and they helped me out and just made it happen,” Long said.
Much of the equipment for the tournament actually came from Long’s house, she said, where her family trains for tournaments in the area.
“My family goes once a week, and they do their practice. Those tables right there, actually, those are mine that I keep at my house,” Long said.
“If it’s something you want to do, it’s really attainable,” she continued. “Everybody’s really friendly, and it’s very family-friendly. It’s all ages, and there are so many ways that you can reach out and get involved to find the right people and go to competitions.”
Ken Boll, a long-time competitor in the professional category, said arm wrestling has been a staple in his life for many years.
“I’ve been doing this ever since I was a little kid. This is like the fourth competition I’ve been in,” Boll said.
For Boll and many of the competitors and arm-wrestling enthusiasts, they don’t do it for recognition, medals, or cash; they do it for the love of the sport.
“I was a quarterback and a pitcher, so I just always had a natural strength for my right arm, I guess,” Boll said. “(When) I was a kid in elementary school, I’d be out on the dugout bench in kindergarten beating sixth graders.”
For many, it seems their passion for the sport stems from a sense of community, an urge to compete and a reason to keep going.
“I’ve just kept going back,” Lott said.
In her first competition, she said her dad wasn’t able to go watch her though he really wanted to.
“He was 94 at the time, and he had to stay home and take care of my mom, who’d had a stroke,” she said. “… The next year, I thought, well, I’m just going to do it again because they had both passed by then. And I thought, well, they can see me now.”
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