Question: "How do you setup your strap when you know you are going to toproll? Before the go how are you loading? Do you do anything special with your hand during the setup to allow you to toproll easier? Do you perfer a very tight strap or a looser strap? Also how do you get a match started straight if the ref will not keep it straight?"

Answer: I would make sure that my forearm is not supinated when the strap is put. I also put the strap lower than my wrist joint. Some prefers to put the strap high on the wrist to be able to use the arm in the way to avoid the direct pressure of the strap while some like to load against the strap to make his opponent feeling his back pressure. The way that you load is also up to your opponent. In ref’s grip you can not load by moving so it needs to be tightness with milimetric movement (talking about WAF rules). Tightness of your opponent may allow you to load more as the pullers will balance eachother’s pressure. If your opponent is a hook puller with a lose grip and you are in ref’s grip then make sure that your back pressure tightness will not unable you to move quick. Also it depends on what kind of hook movement your opponent applies. If your opponent is a forward moving full supination type of a hook puller then you may drop your front wrist a bit to keep your arm farer. But there is always a risque with dropping the front wrist esspecially if your opponent can pull both in and outside as he may quickly hit outside while you wait for a hook movement by him. If your opponent has no choice but going a forward moving hook then make sure that you don’t only drop your front wrist and depend on your brachiradialis but also need to do a lower wrist tendon curl with a rowing move to control both arm and wrist of your opponent, if you don’t do this then you may be dead wrist press even if you take your opponent’s wrist. I usually don’t prefer to drop my front wrist as i believe in using my wrist flexor in armwrestling. Dropping the front wrist will unable me to use my full power of wrist curl. Anyone who is armwrestling should know that winning in armwrestling is all about winning pressure. Of course that hand control is very very important but you can not become the best without having a powerful pressure. The pressure that i talk about is not only hook or shoulder pres but anything that brings your opponent’s hand to the pin pad. I prefer to do this pressure with my wrist and pronator, some others like to do that with shoulder & tricep, some do this with supinated forearm grip.

What i try to say is that just because you are a toproller it does not mean that you should be able to toproll everyone’s wrist. Your pronator can be used both for toprolling the wrist and unabling the wrist to curl you in. Toprolling someone’s wrist is mostly about the hand strength and ability. Hand toprolls the hand, back pressure and pronator help this technique. Of course the effectiveness of the movement can be different on different opponents. Some does not have a solid wrist handling and once a strong back pressure is applied it becomes bent back already. Some is so solid that when you apply back pressure your brachiradialis is in a hopeless game against your opponent’s lat strength. Some has strong fingers that when you attack his fingers you feel him rock solid but he may have a wrist that may be toprolled once you have a solid grip with your two bottom fingers and apply the pronation to your winning side instead of back. In armwrestling no matter which style you use your number priority should be curling your opponent’s pronation into your forearm. It does not matter if you do this with supination, pronation or in between. Your rowing strength controls your opponent’s back pressure and then your wrist flexor controls the pronator of your opponent. Also no matter which tecnique you use you must have a good side pressure and solidness. Once the go comes you should target bringing your opponent to your winning side no matter which technique you are using unless a defensive move is necessary for a special case. You must not limit your armwrestling understanding with toprolling everyone. Of course it is okay if that is your main target but you must also have alternative strategy to bring your opponent’s hand to the pin pad. So try to combine your pronator strength with your pinning pressure and this way you may be able to unable your opponent hooking you even if you can not take his wrist. Pronator is not only to toproll someone but also for a defensive block. Some people will sacrifice from their strongest angle just to hook you and you can not be stubborn to toproll and lose. If you build a powerful pinning move then once they move to your angle you can flash them. People’s hook may be stronger than yours but not always when they can not get into the locked position as they want. So focus on curling your wrist and pinning the opponent’s arm as much as toprolling your opponent’S hand. I prefer the strap in a normal way, not too tight and not too light. If the ref intentionally does not start the match squared then there is not much to do except complaining about it. But if the ref does not have bad intention then you may supinate your forearm even more for him to realise that he needs to square the hands.