Growing up in the 209 I have gotten into many unnecessary fights. I did not know what in arm bar was or a rear naked choke; if I would have my fights may have turned out differently. So here are some fights that were popular when I was a kid that you will probably never see in the octagon.

The first is 1…2…3…4 I declare a thumb war. This form of fighting is less aggressive then what you might experience in the octagon, but it could take twice as long. Stamina is the key factor to winning this fight. The way one may train for this is thumb curls. It’s where you take a wad of Q Tips tape them together and put it in the crease of your thumb and began to curl up. This may seem easy, but you also have to factor in balance of the Q Tips on thumb. Now my dad was really good at this, because he was double jointed. This is also a nice trait to have. Unfortunately not everyone is double jointed. My advice is dislocating your thumbs. Yes, this is painful, but as my thumb war trainer used to say, “NO pains NO gain….Thanks dad. Then there is the tag team method. Not too many people know about this, because I created it. When you know that this thumb match is getting a little long and you are both pulling away, you then extend your index finger out as if to make a gun with your hand and then pull it back latching on to the other person’s thumb causing a double pin. I have never lost using this move.

The next one that you will never see in the octagon is arm wrestle contest. This one is a little more known style of fighting thanks to the 80’s movie Over the Top featuring Sylvester Stallone. Training is the same as you would for any other upper strength sport. However you can always tell who the amateur or pro arm wrestler is by comparing the upper body to the lower body. It is sort of like taking the “Far Side Cartoon” and putting it in reverse; big upper body and wimpy lower body. Unfortunately for those have been pumping iron or who have been turning there trucker hats backward the key to this is positioning. There was this kid on my block that thought he was “the man” and he challenged me to arm wrestling, he had a few extra pounds on me and I was reluctant at first because I was what you would call scrawny. The kid beat me two out of three. Later that night I went to my fight trainer (dad) and asked for his help. He was delighted that the topic was not on video games so he showed me some techniques. The next day I beat him 2-1. I did it by positioning; position of my body, hand, and legs. First let’s start with the body. You can not be a slouchier and make it pro. You have to be upright so when they say go you can lean your body into the direction that your arm is moving. The second part of positioning is your legs. Most of the time you are at a table, people can not see what is going on underneath, sort of like a duck in water. On the surface everything is going fine, but underneath your legs are in a steady strong position, this helps your body stay balanced. And last but not least your hand. I call this the Alpha male. As an Alpha male myself I like be on top (no I wont go there). The top of my class, the top of the internship I was in, the top in my company, and be on top in arm wrestling. So when you start your hand has to immediately make its way on top of the other guy so you can win and have the advantage. If you do all three of these things and still lose my only advice for you is to go back to thumb wars.

These are just two examples of some fights…stay tuned for more

…and with that you have just been punked!!!