MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) - At first, arm wrestling was just something Brian Willett did when he was younger.
However, when Willett went to a car show in Ferguson, Iowa, eight years ago, he saw something that piqued his curiosity.
The car show had a Monster arm wrestling machine there, something Willett hadn’t seen before. By the end of the day, Willett was spending more time learning the mechanics of Monster arm wrestling than displaying his show truck, the Muscatine Journal (https://bit.ly/1GkxEDu ) reported.
Mike Krough, the eldest son of Monster owner and operator Lee Ann Krough, brought the machine to Ferguson and was impressed with Willett’s affinity in the sport.
“He said I had a natural thing for it, and that I should go to state,” Willett said.
“State” was the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, where Willett’s passion was born, even after he merely placed seventh in the middleweight division in 2007.
The Brooklyn, Iowa, native and William Penn graduate, who now lives in Muscatine, pushed and slammed his way to the top of the Monster arm wrestling scene in Iowa, and he won his 12th and 13th state titles in the heavyweight and superheavyweight divisions at the 2015 Iowa State Fair in August, his sixth-consecutive title win in both divisions.
Willett, 27, is already well on his way to breaking the record for the most state titles (17) and the most consecutive titles (eight years), in addition to a slew of records he’s staked claim to as one of the youngest and most dominant champions in the upper-weight divisions.
“He doesn’t like being second,” said Lee Ann Krough, 66, the current owner and operator of Monster machines in Iowa and herself a multi-time Monster champion, “and he started this at a time where he could be physically and emotionally ready for something like this.”
Monster puts a bicycle-handlebar-shaped apparatus between the two arm wrestling competitors, who each grab on to a handle on either end when they sit at a specially-designed table the Monster machine is affixed to.
The goal is the same as hand-to-hand arm wrestling, but the benefit of Monster is fewer injuries, something Steve Aikin of Rhodes, Iowa, saw first-hand when he went to an Omaha tournament after 2½ years of hand-to-hand.
“Three guys broke their arms there,” Aikin said, “and it made me realize that I had to work the next day and if I broke my arm, I’d have to give that up.”
Aikin said Monster feeds his competitive “addiction” with a lower risk for injury, though Willett knows from experience that being injury-free is not guaranteed.
Willett had his right hand wrenched back when he wasn’t set up correctly on the machine during a 2009 match, resulting in a loss of feeling in three fingers. The injury still affects him to this day in the pinky finger and thumb.
Besides that hand injury, Willett’s also had a torn pectoral muscle training for tournaments.
“During a match, I haven’t really had any big injuries,” Willett said. “I’m pretty precise with how I set up now.”
How a Monster arm wrestler sets up the machine separates the pros from the rookies, superheavyweight contender John Deters said.
“If they try and use only all-arm, I don’t try to slam them or anything,” Deters said. “I let them push to try and get them staying with it. I don’t want to discourage them or showboat or anything like that.”
The goal is to attract more people to Monster arm wrestling. Willett and Lee Ann Krough equally expressed desire to see Monster back at the participation levels during the 1980s, when there was enough interest for a national tournament.
As it stands now, Lee Ann Krough said there were about 60-65 people in various weight divisions at the Iowa State Fair last August.
What Willett enjoys about Monster is that it relies more on raw strength than hand-to-hand arm wrestling, and it usually results in looks being deceiving if you look at two given competitors side-by-side.
“You couldn’t pick a winner just by looking at them,” Willett added. “Technique is easy to learn but the experience takes you a long way. . I learned that early on that some people can be stronger than they look.”
Willett’s put in plenty of experience since entering the world of Monster, including winning state titles in three different states - Iowa, Illinois, Ohio - and a 430-16 overall record. Willett hasn’t lost a match at the state level since 2009 and hasn’t lost any match since 2012.
Even if they aren’t frequent, Willett learns plenty from the matches he loses. He makes sure to take video of his matches so, win or lose, he can study his technique.
“I’m a lot more focused at state than at the smaller local tournaments,” Willett said. “.I don’t underestimate anyone.”
Willett learned that last lesson in part from his most recent loss when facing Rob VanDerMolen in Chariton, Iowa, on July 4, 2012.
“I was dressed up like Captain America so I should have lost, I guess,” Willett joked. “I was a middleweight and he was a superheavyweight. … He caught me off guard and ended up putting me down.”
Fortunately for Willett, the tournament was double elimination and he rallied to win the tournament by beating VanDerMolen twice after working his way back through the bracket.
“I was mentally in a better state, knew what to expect from him,” Willett said. “I still have tough matches with him. . I’ve lost for different reasons every time, and I’ve learned a lot from those.”
The future presents different decisions for Willett.
He said he’s already reduced the number of tournaments he participates in, from 15-20 a year to five to six, in part because he’s further away now from the Des Moines-area where there are more tournaments, and also because he’s working on earning his teaching license for physical education and special education from William Penn.
One particular goal that is enticing Willett to continue making the trip to the Iowa State Fair every summer - reaching 20 Iowa titles. Willett’s current run through the heavyweight and superheavyweight divisions means that goal is reachable within four years, but the eight he’s already spent at the table have definitely taken their toll.
“I feel the wear and tear, I don’t recover as quickly as I used to,” Willett said.
Willett and his fiancé, Carly Sprague, will be married on Dec. 19.
“If I keep winning, I wouldn’t have more to really do (without nationals). … I don’t have any kids, but if I have a son I’d like to see him get into it,” Willett said. “Maybe I’ll keep doing it until I’m not having fun anymore.”
That sentiment is echoed often among his peers. Lee Ann Krough, for one, is proud of his swift rise and continued stay at the top, no matter how much longer it lasts.
“He’s a quiet dude,” she said. “And this is something that’s an aggressive go and it’s such a lateral shift. He was the guy at the back of the tournament, watching. Now he’s the guy in all the pictures and in the limelight. It’s been cool to see him grow.”
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Information from: Muscatine Journal, https://www.muscatinejournal.com
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