John Brzenk
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| John Brzenk | |
|---|---|
| File:John Brzenk.jpg | |
| Born | John Brzenk July 15, 1964 McHenry, Illinois, USA |
| Residence | Sandy, Utah, USA |
| Nationality |  USA |
| Other names | "The Perfect Storm" |
| Education | College graduate |
| Occupation | Arm wrestler |
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) |
| Weight | 90 kilograms (200 lb) to 102 kilograms (220 lb) |
| Title | World champion |
| Religion | Christian |
| Spouse | yes |
| Children | yes |
John Brzenk (born July 15, 1964) is a professional armwrestler from the United States. He competes in the Professional Armwrestling League, and as of 2009 is the number-one armwrestler in the world.[1] John was named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the "Greatest Armwrestler of All Time"[2][3]
Contents |
[edit] Biography
John Brzenk's father was an arm wrestler[4] and John says he gained some of his forearm size through genetics. He arm wrestled across tables in school for about five years. When he was in eighth grade, he broke his arm while armwrestling a friend of his father. When he was 16 years old he participated in his first tournament.
John Brzenk won his first world title on ABC's 1983 Wide World of Sports when he was 18 years old.[3] His right forearm is 16 inches in circumference, and his left is 13.5 inches. The heaviest opponent he faced weighed 660 lbs and John beat him. John has lost a supermatch only once, and only a handful of people have beaten him (including his brother, Bill). The most noted of them are Devon Larratt and Alexey Voyevoda. Aside from arm wrestling, he works as a mechanic at Delta Air Lines.[5] He says the job is non-physical so his arms get plenty of rest. He makes $13,000 to $15,000 a year arm wrestling.
Brzenk won four world championships in the heavyweight division through 1994, and gained the nickname of "Superman" for defeating much larger opponents. In 1995, he won the middleweight world championship.[6] He had a uncredited cameo in the 1987 Sylvester Stallone film Over the Top. Brzenk was the subject of a documentary film, Pulling John in 2004.[7]
[edit] Profile
- Height: 6'1[6]
- Weight: Varies between 200 and 225 lbs. depending on competition classes.
- Biceps: 18.25 in.
- Forearm: 16.5 in[2]
[edit] Training and strength feats
- In 2005 he said that he could bench press 315 lbs for 5 reps with a close grip.
- He says that he trains biceps with 50 lbs dumbbells and does wrist curls with the same weight. When asked what his one-rep max was he replied that he never tries one rep max because he fears that he would drop the weight on his feet.
- A friend of his said that in his prime he was very close to closing the Captains of Crush Grippers #3 gripper. John says that now he is "nowhere near closing it". He trains with grippers and says that "I have a gripper in my car and when i am driving i try to make between 200 and 240 reps as fast as possible".
- He advises that the best exercise for arm wrestling is pullups.
[edit] Achievements
AAA Stand-Up National Titles:
- 1984 – R200 lbs
- 1985 – R185 lbs
- 1986 – R220 lbs
- 1990 – R220 lbs
AWI World Titles:
- 1986 – Pro Super Heavyweight
- 1987 – Pro Light Heavyweight
- 1988 – Pro Light Heavyweight
- 1995 – Pro Light Heavyweight
- 2001 – Pro Super Heavyweight
Carling O’Keefe International Titles:
- 1989 – R 200 lbs, R 231+ lbs
Forsa Tropical International Titles:
- 1998 – R198 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs
GNC Pro Performance Title:
- 2002 – R198 lbs
GOLDEN BEAR Titles: SUPERMATCH (Absolut Champion)
- R1994
Pro tournament
- R90+ kg: 1990, 1994, 1998
- R90 kg: 1990
Harley Pull Titles:
- 2000 – R220 lbs + Harley Winner
- 2001 – R220 lbs
- 2002 – R198 lbs, L198 lbs
- 2009 – R225 lbs, L225 lbs + Harley Winner
Main Event Titles:
- 1998 - R220 lbs
Mike Gould Classic Titles:
- 2006 – R220 lbs, L220 lbs
- 2010 – R220 lbs
Mohegan Sun PAC World Titles:
- 2005 – R198 lbs, L198 lbs
- 2006 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
- 2007 – R198 lbs, L198 lbs
Over the Top World Title:
- 1986 – Winner of Truckers Division in Heavyweight class
Reno Reunion Titles:
- 1999 – R200 lbs, R230 lbs, R231+ lbs, L200 lbs
- 2000 – R198 lbs, R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs, L242 lbs
- 2001 – R198 lbs, R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs
- 2002 – R198 lbs, R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs, L242 lbs
- 2003 – R233+ lbs
- 2006 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
- 2006 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
ROTN Titles:
- 2007 – R215 lbs, L215 lbs
- 2008 – R242 lbs, L242 lbs
- 2009 – R199+ lbs
Sands International Wrist Wrestling/Armwrestling Titles:
- 1988 - R190 lbs
- 1989 - R190 lbs, R215 lbs
Sherkston Beaches International Titles:
- 1987 – R200 lbs, R201+ lbs
SuperStar Showdown Titles:
- 2004 – R199+ lbs
- 2005 – R198 lbs
Ultimate Armwrestling (Las Vegas) Titles:
- 2004 - R242 lbs
- 2005 - R198 lbs, L198 lbs
- 2006 - R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
USAA National Pro-Am Titles:
- 1996 – R200 lbs, R201+ lbs
- 1997 – R198 lbs, R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs
- 1998 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
- 1999 – R198 lbs, R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs, L242 lbs
- 2000 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L242 lbs, L243+ lbs
- 2001 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L242 lbs, L243+ lbs
- 2002 – R198 lbs, R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs, L242 lbs
- 2003 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
- 2004 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L242 lbs
- 2005 – R242 lbs
- 2006 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
- 2007 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
- 2009 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L242 lbs, L243+ lbs
- 2010 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
USAF Unified National Title:
- 2005 – R220 lbs
WAF World Championship Titles:
- 1999 – L100 kg, Supermatch Winner
World Wristwrestling Championship (Petaluma) Titles:
Heavyweight Division
- R: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1996, 1998, 2001
Light Heavyweight Division
- R: 1998, 2001
- L: 1998, 2001
Middleweight Division
- R - 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1996, 1998, 2001
- L - 1996, 1998, 2001
Lightweight Division
- R - 1984
WPAA World Title:
- 1985 – Middleweight
Yukon Yack National/World Titles:
Heavyweight Division
- R: 1990, 19991, 1992, 1993,
Middleweight Division
- R: 1995, 1996.
Zloty Tur/Nemiroff World Cup Titles:
Open Cat.
- R: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Cat. 95 kg
- R: 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
- L: 2007, 2009
R - Right Hand L - Left Hand
[edit] References
- ^ Graney, Ed (2009-06-20). "Ed Graney: Top arm wrestler quashes myths". Las Vegas Review-Journal. http://www.lvrj.com/sports/48673447.html. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
- ^ a b World of Armwrestling
- ^ a b Pulling John
- ^ Lowitt, Bruce (1992-07-16). "Defending champ says it's not all in the arm". St. Petersburg Times. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KvENAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tXoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6326,186799. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
- ^ Robinson, Doug (1994-08-14). "Over-the-top sport has quiet champ". The Deseret News. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LsQRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Ce0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6378,6498185. Retrieved 2010-08-11.[dead link]
- ^ a b "Brzenk, 4 others seek arm wrestling titles". The Deseret News. 1996-09-13. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4_onAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xewDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4611,6983649. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
- ^ Calhoun, Bob (2010-05-14). "Straight to DVD: "Pulling John," arm wrestling's holy grail". Salon.com. http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/film_salon/2010/05/14/pulling_john. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
