I am a very proud Danish Open Champion - Left Arm

It was an awesome day arm wrestling! I went in with a plan, goal and a strong arm.

What made this championship so special was the quality of my opponents.

Weight in
I headed down stairs for the weight in. In jeans and t shirt I weighted 109.1 kg which put me right where I planned to be: competing in the 100-110 kg class.

Mental warm up
All the adrenaline in my body made me strong but I felt weak. I said to myself: "remember the plan: stick to the warm up plan, it will make you ready. You have done these warm ups 100 times and it always gets you ready".

Warm up
I had no idea how long it would be before my first match so I decided it was better to be ready and wait than to go in cold.

For warm up I used:

• Indian clubs: 5 minutes of swinging. I focused on my breath and movements and put myself in the "Zone".

• Chest expander: 100 pull apart with one green band

• Bar bender: 10 easy bends with an overhand grip close to the body, then 10 with an underhand grip, finally 5 reps with straight arms over hand grip in front.

• Ironmind Captains of Crush #2.5 gripper: 5 reps easy with the right hand and 3 with the left.

I was ready.

My friend and coach for the day Kristian Kofoed was assisting. He reminded me to stay calm and focused. Kristian gave my forearms a massage and told me: You can do it. You are strong. You’re the man...

Strategy
Before the match I focused on getting the right position at the table: hips low and elbow straight in front of me, the “death grip” on the opponents thumb, right hand tight on the peg, big breath of air. On the go I relied on my chin up and wrist power and exploded back and to the right corner.

I knew better than to get into any technical matches because my lack of experience on the table, so I just used my best move and gave it all I had.

The competition
First match I was up against my training partner and friend Jackie Christensen. On the go I pulled but nothing happened. Jackie’s wrist did not budge but I pulled back with my lat (latissimus dorsi) and his arm opened a little bit, just enough. I pulled harder, rolled my shoulder and lowered his arm to the pad. It felt great to start with a win.

My next round opponent was Jesper Nielsen. I knew Jesper had been arm wrestling for 2 years and is very tough. I was nervous because I had built him up in my mind. As we gripped up I felt that my fingers were stronger than his. On the go I ripped back as hard as I could and explosively turned my fingers over the top of his as I pulled and draged his arm down to the pad. Second win. I pulled so quickly and hard I surprised myself. My confidence was growing.

In the end I won my weight class and moved on to the open.

In the open I wrestled against and won over Lasse Kickbusch and Tonni Christensen and took home the gold cup.

Thanks to everyone.


Read article where I am mentioned in Ekstra Bladet.
Watch more videos from the championship on my Youtube channel.