In 2005 he placed 3^rd in the “Polish Strongman Championships” in Starachowice, 2^nd in the “North-South” competition and 1^st in “Poland vs. the World”, in 2009 he placed 2^nd, in pair with Grzegorz Szymański, in a duo competition “Polish Duo Strongman Championships” in Kortoszyn. Last year he placed 4^th in the “Europe Strongman Team Poland Champioships". This is the short version of Tomasz’s biggest achievements. This is the strongman who turned armwrestler. But let’s start from the beginning.

He was always into sports, mainly windsurfing and basketball, the latter for almost 8 years. As a 15 years old he tried his luck in a gym. And that’s how it all started.

I’ve always been well-built and stood out among my peers – recalls Tomek Zocholl. – In 2003a new sport became prominent in the media – “Strongman”. I’ve decided to compete in the eliminations for the “Warka Strong Polish Cup”. Unfortunately, in this first year of starts I qualified as a reserve and had only one chance to perform in the Cup. After another year of hard work I’ve placed 4^th in the eliminations and was in for the full cycle of the “Polish Strongman Cup” aired on TVN.

Tomek has fight in his blood. He’s inherited it from his father, who lifted weights regularly, and his uncle who taught him all about the fighting spirit – he was the Polish champion in wheelchair tennis, a para-Olympian in Sydney and Atlanta.

The sporting spirit is in my family’s blood – laughs Tomek.

Zocholl started in various “Strongman” competitions for ten years. His beginnings were very promising; in his second year he got to the top of his career in this discipline. However, in 2012 he decided to change his direction to armwrestling. A knee injury “helped” him make this decision, he couldn’t give 100% in Strongman competitions anymore.

I took on armwrestling because I still wanted to be in some power sport – says Zocholl. – Because of all those “Strongman” years the choice seemed obvious to me, and my power base turned out to be a plus.

But power aside, changes were not easy to implement. Both disciplines vary a lot in terms of training.

The first month of training was very hard, because of fastenings pains resulting from differences in training – says Zocholl. – The armwrestling training consists mainly of upper- body exercises, for arms and back mostly. It’s a specific training designed to build power in various bicep angles, and also focused on technique of fighting at the table. In “Strongman”, on the other hand, we train all main muscle groups: legs, back, shoulders, chest. Just pure, raw basics, like squats, deadlifts and typical strongman equipment training: “briefcases”, tires, pulling trucks etc.

The strongman training, and the strongmen contests, are much more draining than armwrestling in Zocholl’s opinion, mainly because more muscle groups are involved.

Take for example pulling a sixteen-ton airplane that I had a chance to take on during a contest – recalls Tomek. But strongman and armwrestling have some similarities too. They are both power sports, although armwrestling is much more technical and it involves facing an opponent, while strongman is all about fighting matter – sometimes very unusual, such as a 400kg tire or a 180 kg stone ball.

Tomasz decided to transport some of his Strongman experience into armwrestling.

The “TitanArm”armwrestling club is located in the same building as the gym I’ve worked out in in Opole, and the sport is getting more and more popular in Poland, I’ve decided to give it a try – says Tomek. – After a couple of trainings ate the table I’ve decided to go to a tournament in Dzierżoniów, out of curiosity. Turned out it was totally worth the try, because I’ve beaten some really experienced guys there. It was then that I’ve decided that I’m predisposed to armwrestling and that I want to give it a real shot.

In Dzierżoniów Tomek took 2^nd place in +95 kg and in the OPEN category for left arm. Next year, in the prestigious “Orawa Armwrestling Challenge” tournament he came 3^rd in +95 kg in right arm and qualified for the “Nemiroff World Cup”. He is now the vice-champion of Poland in +110 kg in left arm, and he’s preparing to fight again.

I took on armwrestling because I wanted to be in some strength sport after Strongman, and this seemed like the most natural transition – says Tomek. – The strength that I’ve built throughout my Strongman years is a good base for armwrestling. I’ve found myself in armwrestling easily, although I still learn and still polish my technique at the table. Armwrestling, in opposition to Strongman, is a sport that you can train your whole life. Besides that, it’s a discipline with over 50 different techniques. During a fight, you need to think fast, make decisions in a matter of split seconds, and react with lighting speed. What counts is speed, strength, technique, stamina and resistance to stress.

Today Tomasz is doing only armwrestling, he’s definitely done with Strongman. Although he does recall those days very fondly.

I recall the night when we pulled the plane on the Świdwin airport strip, surrounded by soldiers carrying torches – says Tomek. – This was to honor the pilots who’ve died in the CASA Mirosławiec crash. There were some very funny moments, too, like after the Rewal Strongman tournament, when we’ve soaked the master of ceremony, Irek Bieleninik, in champagne and threw him into the sea. Strongman was full of funny situations, but also dangerous ones, laughter and pain intermixed.