My Defeat (or Humiliation)

Defeated by the Griffin

Is there anyone else out there who works out, who destroys their body in the gym evening after evening, waiting to reap the strength and fitness rewards of these endeavours?  And then the opportunity arises.  An opportunity to express this hard earned physical superiority.  A colleague challenges you to an arm wrestle on a night out, a colleague who is thirty years your senior, with an unremarkable physique.

You throw down the gauntlet, predicting an easy victory.  You place your arm on the table, and lock horns with your opponent.  The arm wrestle begins.  And then...What you never thought possible after all that pain in the gym...you lose.  You don't just lose, you lose conclusively.

This is what happened to me.

Let me start by introducing myself.

I am 27, 5ft 8", I go to the gym five times a week, and can benchpress 240lb;  I consider myself to be in good shape with above average strength.

The moment before my defeat was captured by a friend, I am going to show it to you.  If you have ever suffered this kind of defeat, you will be familiar with the bitter taste that is left in your mouth.  It is a taste that lingers, that recalls the details, and one that inspires.

For the sake of anonymity, we shall call the man on the right, The Griffin.  That's me on the left.  I have analysed this picture over and over again.  That is the look of imminent defeat on my face, a look of timidity.  I was never going to win this match.

In fact, The Griffin had the edge before we had even started.  I had already been phsyched out before this arm wrestling contest had begun.  Quite simply, even with a grainy mobile phone image like this, you can tell who the winner of this match will be.

I can hear you saying "what happened?" Well, to put it simply, The Griffin was just a lot stronger; even with no training, and an ordinary physique.  However, scratch the surface and there is more to this mystery.  The Griffin has a lifetime of manual work behind him, the kind of work that builds up a lot of strength, the kind of strength that cannot be replicated by normal training.

But, it may just be overcome by some abnormal training...

I am writing this Blog under the pseudonym Arimaspi, a mythical race who used to steal The Griffin's gold; exactly what I intend to do.

All I have to do is overturn a disadvantage of 30 plus years of manual labour in a few months.  I will be keeping you up to date on training techniques to do exactly that, as well as diet.

This Blog is our Journey to Arm Wrestling Redemption...