How to get people interested in Pulling?

[Derek Smith]

So since i have been getting into this sport i have tried getting everyone i know into it in some way. I tried explaining why i love it so much and showing them my true enthusiasm. I have told my football player macho buddies about the aspect of being stronger then someone on stage with adrenaline pumping in front of everyone. I have told my gamer buddies about how its like chess but you just have to earn the pieces and do it fast paced. Hell i even told people that there is a ton of money to be made if you are good. Throughout all my efforts i have not convinced one person to take an active interest in it. I am becoming desperate.

What do you guys believe is the most efficient way to get new people into the sport? What to do/say?

[John Wilson]

Derek, it's tough because people already know one thing you haven't told them:

This sport is humbling. It can be humiliating. It is for sure an ego buster.


This sport is a tough sell to anyone who is into team sports. There is nobody else to blame the loss on because it's not a shared effort. This sport appeals to people who strive to be an individual, to succeed or fail on their own. Lifters, fighters, bowlers. It appeals to everyone I've ever met who is into extreme sports. The drawback to recruiting from the extreme sports crowd is that most of those people are not strength athletes and while they think armwrestling is awesome they are physically afraid of it.

Aside from the sports crowd, this sport appeals mostly to people who are just damn tough by nature. Mechanics, pipefitters, electricians, roofers, firefighters, masons etc. People who do hard work and have a big set of balls. People who love to be challenged and who love the thought of kicking butt. If you live by a military base, get a table into a local bar and have your practices there, and hopefully you can put on a little bitty tournament on a Friday night. No entry fees, no awards. Just a good time for bragging rights.

Everyone is going to groan- but I have found more pullers by practicing in bars than anyone would ever like to admit. Why? Because that's where ( that ^) crowd hangs out after busting their hump all day. Most of those folks don't finish a 12 hour day and then go to the gym or hang out at the health food fair.

This sport is a tough sell. And for every 10 guys you get to come to practice maybe 2 will stick around and maybe 1 will someday be the guy who moves away and starts another team somewhere.

Don't get discouraged. But the last place on earth I'd look for armwrestlers is the frat-boy jock crowd.

[Brian Malek]

for the most part people are just to lazy

[TK]

I'VE HAD A LOT OF GUYS COME TO MY PRACTICES (NEWBIES)

AND (SOME WILL SAY THIS IS WRONG) WE PUNISH THEM THE FIRST COUPLE OF PRACTICES.
THIS IS REALLY A TEST TO SEE IF THEY SURVIVE (BEGINNERS) TENDON PAIN.
USUALLY THEY DON'T OR THEY SHOW UP 3 OR 4 TIMES WITHIN A YEAR.
THE TOUGHER GUYS PREVAIL AND THATS HOW WE CONTROL OUR TEAM.

I'VE HAD AS MANY AS 15 GUYS ON MY TEAM TO NOW 6 (AND 1 OF THOSE NEVER PRACTICE WITH US)(THE OTHER HAS RETURNED AFTER A HIATIS)(THE OTHER NEVER SHOWS UP FOR PRACTICE) SO 3 SOLID PULLERS WHO TRAIN THIER AZZES OFF!

I'VE SEEN PLENTY OF NEWBIES COME THROUGH AT TOURNEYS AND A LOT NEVER RETURN.

THIS SPORT IS MADE UP OF TOUGH FOLKS ONLY, HARD WORKING, GOAL OREINTATED, & PAIN DRIVEN.

LEAVE YOUR EGO AT THE DOOR.

IT'S HARD TO GET PEOPLE TO JOIN THIS "PAIN TRAIN" (CHRIS HEATH WILL LOVE THAT)

T/K

[TK]

OH TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION?

ADVERTISE.

T/K

[Rob Vigeant Jr.]

I think John hit it right on the head.

Ego is a big hurdle. I have seen many come all fired up preaching their love for the sport and when they get twisted by a guy 3 or 4 classes lower than their own.... You start to see the enthusiasm drain.... When he finds out he is the weakest guy on the table in a room full of average pullers.... Their ideas of greatness start to fade. The gap seems to big and feeling weak when you thought you were really strong is a jagged little pill.
Most pass on the embarrassment and don't stick around to see the progress and gains that all rookies make

[David Mackin]

Even when you do get the new guys.....as soon as the newbie pains set in they all seem to quit. They aren't man enough to lay in bed and cry themselves to sleep like we all did.....while trying to hold our arms in a way to make them stop hurting. Which was impossible.

[John Schnell]

Bribe with beer, friendship and competition.

[TK]

Oct 11, 2011 9:53:47 GMT -5 David Mackin said:

Even when you do get the new guys.....as soon as the newbie pains set in they all seem to quit. They aren't man enough to lay in bed and cry themselves to sleep like we all did.....while trying to hold our arms in a way to make them stop hurting. Which was impossible.

LMAO...I wasn't gonna mention the crying part, but heck yeah...

TK

[Rick "Lummox" North]

I agre with John. I've gotten more recruits at the bar practice than the gym. But it's a hard sport to get people into, like golf, anyone can armwrestle ok, but being great takes practice sacrifice and a high pain threshold. I compete in strongman and usually break out the table after a contest. Few of the strongman guys ever get into pulling. The blue collar crowd are the prime recruits, they are tough, hardworking people who aren't afraid of a little pain.

[Michael Phaup]

Getting people to come to practice is much easier than getting them to stay. I've introduced 7 different people to the sport. Only 2 of them continue to pull. And only one of those two pulls with consistency. There are lots of reasons why people quit after a couple practices. Some have work interference. Some think they are the shiz, and can't handle losing to everyone at practice. Some are in too much pain. Some say pulling doesn't allow them to lift because of the elbows. I've personally heard all of these. And for that reason, we will always have a hard time getting people to stick with the sport.

Now as far as getting people to at least try it, you need to do a little bit of everything. Of those 7 people, 2 of those were random people who simply overheard me talking about the sport, and wanted to get involved. It's no surprise that those were the 2 that stopped coming because they thought they were all that and didn't like losing at practice. I've had one person come up to me in the gym when I was doing an armwrestling exercise, and asked me what the hell i was doing. I talked to him about the sport, and he wanted to try it out. He came to a couple practices, but he couldn't handle the pain. It interfered with his jujitsu, and his benching. 2 others were already close friends and I convinced them to come to a few practices. They don't go anymore simply because they are not very good and don't like being the weakest ones. The other 2 people actually saw some of my youtube videos and sent me a message asking me how to get involved in the sport. It just so happens that those are the two that continue to pull.

So in short, I believe you have to do a little bit of everything. You could wear an armwrestling shirt to the gym while you train. Just talking about the sport helps. You never know who will overhear. Put videos of your training and your practice on youtube. Thats what got those pullers that stayed with it. Convince your friends to come to practice, and hopefully they will stick with it.

Unfortunately with our sport, there are so many reasons why people don't continue to pull. Many of which we can't do anything about or convince them otherwise. This is probably something our sport will have to deal with for a while

[Eric Baldino]

Getting people interested in this sport is a tough one, its easier to discuss reasons people have little or no interest.
1. It physically hurts. "especially as novice"
2. It emotionally hurts the ego to loose, "especially as a novice".
3. It is dangerous. "especially as a novice"
4. Traveling to tourneys isnt cheap.
5. Spend 8 hours at a tourney, and 30 seconds pulling, often times all losses, "especially as a novice"
6. Armwrestling has a false reputation that we all are toothless neanderthals with too much testoterone and short on brains.

So I think novices have huge barriers to overcome to stick with it long enough to enjoy the sport. So why do some seem to stick with it?
1. Some are motivated to train harder by a loss rather than feeling defeated by one.
2. Some understood that you first have to loose before learning to win, if you dont do it in that order you will only learned to quit.
3. To some the thrill of competition outweighs the risk of injury.
4. Once you know who's who in the sport the time waiting between matches even becomes exciting while watching other competitors pull or just getting to talk to old freinds, but in the begining its kinda boring.
5. Once you get to know everyone you realize some only act like toothless neanderthals with too much testosterone for publicity, most are pretty cool intelligent people.

[Derek Smith]

Thanks alot guys. I work at a couple different bars and i think i have a good one to hold a practice at. We will see what pops up there. I also never thought about hitting up the hard working construction type guys which i grew up around. This is such a tough sport to sell to people, i think one of the parts that appealed to me the most when i first heard about AW is the fact that you have to go through hell just to call yourself a puller. That made it exciting to me, to earn my place.

Was their one specific trick that worked most often for you guys? like showing videos to people, inviting them to practice, letting them beat you (haha), Telling them the different aspects of pulling, etc.

[Rick "Lummox" North]

Make sure you are supervising the practice!! Watch the arm break position!! Nothing worse than getting it going and some chowderhead with beer muscles breaking his arm and ruining it for everyone!!

[Tim Lewis]

I agree with most of what has been said already but I'd like to add the following:

Unless mass media portrays the "cool" image of the sport (which doesn't seem to be likely to ever happen honestly), I believe you can't get people interested, all you can do is introduce them to the way things are now.

People have to love this sport for what it is. The friends that you meet, the places that you travel to, the adrenaline rush that you get from a long hard fought match win or lose, the reason to train and stay and somewhat decent shape after your years in most other sports have come to a close. The love has to be so great that it outweighs all the other barriers mentioned in the previous posts

Most of us live for the adrenaline rush and the friendships that we have in the sport. If someone is expecting more than that (recognition from general public, $, fame, it to be easy etc) they will not last..