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Measure maximum force and early force separately. Existing armwrestling studies support a multi-dimensional profile, not the claim that maximum strength is irrelevant or that speed alone predicts the winner.
Three measurements, three different questions
Reaction time is the delay between a signal and the start of a response. Force at 100 or 500 milliseconds is the force reached after a defined contraction onset. Rate of force development, or RFD, describes how quickly force rises: the change in force divided by the time interval. These measures are related, but they are not interchangeable. A high force reading at 500 milliseconds is not itself an RFD value, and a laboratory contraction does not reproduce an entire competitive start. [5]
What the young armwrestlers actually showed
Bezkorovainyi and colleagues studied 29 athletes aged 14–15, comparing nine leaders with a group of twenty. The leaders performed better on several early force measures. However, they also had higher maximum force in hook and wrist-flexion tests; the results do not support dismissing maximal strength. The report’s early-force values are aggregated across four tests. They must not be presented as the force produced in one wrist curl. The chart preserves that distinction. [1]
Early force in young armwrestlers
View the values
| FIGURE | General group | Leaders |
|---|---|---|
| Left arm | 79.45 | 90.47 |
| Right arm | 85.69 | 92.75 |
Different profiles can produce high-level performance
A separate study of four elite armwrestlers described different combinations of maximum force and force-development timing. Four selected athletes cannot establish a universal sporting hierarchy, and the anonymous participants should not be assigned famous names. Another comparison, involving nine armwrestlers and nine strength-trained men, found advantages in elbow-flexor performance in the armwrestlers. Research on competition ranking also includes perceptual and anthropometric characteristics, rather than one decisive strength metric. These are associations, not experiments proving what training caused the differences. [2, 3, 4]
Turn the idea into better monitoring
The useful lesson from the narration is to stop judging every session by the heaviest load alone. Under repeatable conditions, examine maximum force alongside force at predefined early time points. Keep the joint position, starting tension and instructions constant. A rise in maximum strength with unchanged early force is a different adaptation from a faster force rise with an unchanged maximum. Develop both capacities and then assess transfer at the table; 500 milliseconds is a measurement window, not a universal deadline for every match. [5]
What this does not tell us
Samples are small or observational, and test positions differ. Neither these studies nor a single force curve can identify muscle-fibre composition, prove a genetic ceiling or predict the result of an individual match.
Source materials
RFD in armwrestling: research reportPDF in English · 11 pagesReferences
Based on the supplied English video transcript and the sources below.
- Bezkorovainyi D, Oderov A, Kravchenko A, et al. (2024). Factors of the effectiveness of competitive activity of arm wrestlers aged 14–15 years at the stage of preliminary basic training. Slobozhanskyi Herald of Science and Sport. 28(4):225–236.
- Bezkorovainyi D, Kamayev O, Vlasko S, et al. (2023). Comparative Analysis of the Efforts of Highly Qualified Elite Armwrestlers with Different Strength Abilities. Physical Education Theory and Methodology. 23(6):850–859.
- Coletta F, Cesanelli L, Kamandulis S, Conte D. (2025). Comparative Analysis of Elbow Flexor Morphology, Physiology, and Performance Between Arm Wrestlers and Strength-Trained Athletes. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 39(5):579–586.
- Akpinar S, et al. (2013). Anthropological and Perceptual Predictors Affecting the Ranking in Arm Wrestling Competition. International Journal of Morphology. 31(3):832–838.
- Maffiuletti NA, Aagaard P, Blazevich AJ, Folland J, Tillin N, Duchateau J. (2016). Rate of force development: physiological and methodological considerations. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 116:1091–1116.
