Press and Side Pressure: Armwrestling Exercises
Toproll and hook decide who controls the hand. The press and side pressure decide who finishes. Both move your opponent's hand toward the pin pad, but they use your body differently.
Side pressure
Side pressure pulls your opponent's hand sideways toward the pin pad, using your chest, lats and shoulder. It finishes most hook matches and many toproll matches.
The press
In a press you bring your shoulder over your hand and push down with your triceps and body weight. It is fast and powerful, but a press from a bad position puts a lot of stress on the shoulder and elbow, so learn it with a coach.
Key exercises
- Side pressure pulls with a strap or cable at table height
- Close-grip bench press and dips for triceps
- Table-specific press drills against a band