There will, of course, be a key question towards the end. Enjoy!

"You have a lot of potential, boy!"

The first one to see it was Dominik Gliński. And that's who Eryk started his armwrestling journey with. Some words from him:

Eryk Witecki:

I started armwrestling over 10 years ago. Everything began with some school tournament organized by Dominik Gliński. I took the 2nd or 3rd place then, in OPEN. I remember Dominik coming to me after the competition and telling me: "You have a lot of potential, boy - if you want to train this, come train with me". We met up for our first session in his house. I remember the training as something really amazing because as I usually do, I gave it my all and even more. I remember we did so much I couldn't even hold a bottle of water afterwards. I liked how original and extraordinary the sport was to the point I stayed in it for a good few years.

After less than a year of training I started succeeding slowly. I started in:

The Debuts - the podium.

A competition in Brno, February 2014 - gold and silver there.

Skierniewice Junior Polish Championships 2014 - gold and a place on the national team.

My first armwrestling club was the Warsaw Python club which was coached by Krzysztof Tur. In the end the roles switched because the last time Krzysztof fought was in the club I set up in 2016 with Dominik Gliński - HANDS OF STONE.

Now, the main question!

Why would I leave this sport?

A few things led up to my departure from armwrestling. It started from simply lacking time for any training - I was working a lot. When I finally got some free time, the next issue was finding a good time for sparrings. With time I gave up training specifically for armwrestling and focused on general training at the gym. Then I got married so all the preparations came and I tried to train whenever I had the chance to. Then the pandemic started and I gained a lot of weight and also found out I would be a father which later turned out to take all my possible training time because I was working and renovating our apartment all on my own.

When the baby was born and grew up a little, I stabilized my work situation in 2022. I told myself I want to reach my life-best shape by 30. That's how I started training regularly since June 2022 under the supervision of my good friend - Kamil Strumiński.

There is potential!

After 3 months he told me: "Dude, you're changing right in front of my eyes, you have the perfect genes for a bodybuilding - maybe you want to try it?" When I heard it, I thought it would be great to motivate myself to reach my life-best form so in October 2022 we started training for competitions seriously.

And the results? Apparently, phenomenal for the first season:

WPF Federation
1st place First timers Bodybuilding Classic
1st place Novice Classic Physique
1st place Senior Classic Physique
3rd place Senior Bodybuilding Classic

NPC Federation

2nd place First timers Classic Physique  – for those who are only starting for the 1st time in NPC
3 place Beginners Classic Physique – for those who are only starting for the 1st, 2nd or 3rd time
3 place Open regionals Classic Physique – for competitors over 15 years old
4 place Pro Qualifer senior -this is the only main category in all 9 divisions in which the competitors are fighting for one of the 9 IFBB PRO League cards. The PRO card is given to the winner of the overall or open category in each of the 9 divisions. In this category athletes are also getting points in the ranking for the NPC World Championships in the USA.

Another key question - Will you come back to armwrestling?

Eryk:

It doesn't seem like it because my plans for bodybuilding are ambitious. I want to get the pro card next year which will make me a professional and then I will be able to try myself in more prestigious competitions like Mr. Olympia.

PeSzy: Thank you and good luck!