Toproll Technique and Exercises for Armwrestling

The toproll is the outside game in armwrestling. Instead of fighting your opponent's arm head-on, you go after their hand: you take their fingers, open their wrist and win the leverage before you finish.

How the toproll works

• Rising: lift your wrist up (toward the thumb side) to get on top of your opponent's hand.
• Pronation: turn your hand over, pressing on your opponent's fingers to open their grip.
• Back pressure: pull toward yourself so your opponent's arm extends and loses power.
• Finish: once their hand is open, move across to the pin pad.

The muscles that win it

The toproll is decided by the forearm and hand: risers, pronators and finger strength. Back pressure comes from the biceps, brachioradialis, rear shoulder and lats.

Key exercises

• Rising with a handle or a loaded stick
• Pronation with a cable or a rotating handle
• Back pressure pulls with a strap at table height
• Finger and pinch work for hand control

Start each exercise light, with good positions, and increase the load over weeks, not days.

Defending the toproll

Jedi explains how to stop a toproll from the other side of the table:

Every toproll exercise we've filmed

Full program

The PRO training plan for toproll is the 4-week, 4-day program Jānis Amoliņš used to prepare for his first WAL title, with a video for every exercise.