Insight with Chris Van Vliet - The World's Greatest Arm Wrestler - "Monster" Michael Todd

Episode Date: January 3, 2023

"Monster" Michael Todd (@monstermichaeltodd) is a professional arm wrestler who has won 21 World titles and 36 National titles. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios at Wynn Las Vegas to talk about how he got started as a professional arm wrestler, the best techniques to win any arm wrestling match, the injuries he has suffered, what his training looks like, why his mindset is so important to him and much more! Check out "Monster" Michael Todd's website here: https://www.monstermichaeltodd.com/ For more information about Chris Van Vliet and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Bleas! Happy New Year, my friend. So good to see you and welcome back to another audio adventure on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet, and I love that we're starting 2023 here inside the Blue Wire Studios at Win Las Vegas. You've heard me say it so many times before in the past, but I think you'd agree that recording an interview in person is just so much better. but there's something that's extra special when you're inside the studio here

that takes the conversation to a whole other level. And if you haven't seen any of the videos, if you don't know what I'm talking about, check out any of the videos, any of the interviews that we've done inside the Blue Wire Studios on my YouTube channel over the last year and a half or so. It is such an incredible spot.

I'm just so grateful to be able to record here. And today we are joined by the world's greatest arm wrestler, Monster Michael Todd is with us and he has 21 world titles and 36 national titles. And he is someone who walks the walk and talks to talk. I love that he has the mindset to want to get better every single day. And with so many people talking this time of year about New Year's resolutions, which by the way, I'm not a huge fan of New Year's resolutions, and I'm sure we'll do a whole separate episode about that and why they fail for so many people.

But since we are starting off a new year, This is the perfect conversation to kick off 2023 with. He also gives some great advice on how you can win any arm wrestling match. So when you're done with this episode, you can go have a match with one of your friends and you'll just be shocked by these. These are just like little things that you would never think about that make you that much better. Find him on Instagram. He's at Monster Michael Todd. Check him out on YouTube.

Also just Monster Michael Todd. His YouTube channel is exploding. You can find me. or my YouTube channel. It's just Chris Van Fleet. And a big shout out to Sizer Carter, our fan of the week who left this review on Apple Podcasts. It says, thank you. You rock CVV. Insight with CVV is one of my favorite podcasts to listen to on my way to work. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. We're reading one review on every single episode. So leave a few words on Apple Podcasts and we'll read it out here on one of our upcoming episodes.

Here we go. Let's dive into this. Ladies and gentlemen, Monster Michael Todd. You truly live up to your name. Like when your name is Monster Michael Todd, you have to be a relatively big dude. I appreciate, I appreciate it. I haven't always been this size. I don't believe that at all.

Stop it. Came out just like this morning, exactly like this. I've won, I've been competing for a long time, and my first ever national championships was 176. You weighed 176 pounds? Same height, same frame. That's less than I weigh. Exactly. And I'm 510.

Yeah, so I'm six, a little over 6.3. And my first national was in 1992. I was 176. And what do you weigh now? 260, probably. I've been 3.30 before, though. How many humans did you have to eat to get that bit? I would assume quite a few.

Yeah. I mean, that's like to gain 100 plus pounds? It's just, I was a 19-year-old kid at my first national championships. I started arm wrestling in 1990. I was 17 years old. And just a redneck from Arkansas. And then now I just, you know, kept getting bigger.

But I mean, I can gain weight really easy. Like, I don't have a, I have an endowork body type so I can get fat. I'm like a big 300-pound country boy if I just say what I want. But if I eat clean, I look fit, you know. So like, what's a day in your normal diet? I mean, it's normally one-to-one protein of carbs, about 300-protein, 300-3-50 cars, about 100 grams of fat. Try to keep it clean.

The leaner I get, the more freedom I have, so the more cheap meals I get to eat. Normally, it's about 4,000. 4,000 calories? If I ate 4,000 calories, I would weigh through, yeah, I'd weigh 300 pounds and not look good at all. Well, you got a pretty good metabolism. I doubt that. For now. I have pizza.

Pizza's my weakness. Oh, my God. So what's your favorite pizza? Like, favorite type of pizza? Favorite chain type, whatever you want. Because I'm about to nail you with ours, and that's why we're here. Okay. So I love pepperoni pizza.

Like, I'm a classic pepperoni pie. Right. And I love a New York style. Now that I live in California, it's very, very hard to find like a. really good New York salad pizza. So my fiancee's going to kill me because she hates the pizza from there. But I love Domino's. Dude, I love Domino's. Man, the three topping, 799 carryout. Oh my God. What are you talking about? It's such a good deal. Then they've got that other thing where it's like two items for $5.99 each. Those are medium though. That's just not going to make it. That's

not going to work for me. But yeah, I mean, seriously, as far as carryout domino's, we're big fans. But Giordano's pizza. So we're a huge Chicago style. And we were here two. weeks ago, less than two weeks ago for the rodeo, like four days and we eat your donald three times. Oh my God. We're fanatics. It's horrible. This is where we're going to have to disagree, though, because I think the Chicago-style

pizza to me is more like a casserole. Yeah, I'm cool with that. That's fine, but it doesn't feel like a pizza. Like, if I have to eat pizza with a fork and a knife, it doesn't really feel like pizza anymore to me. Yeah, maybe so, but I still love it. We're huge New York style pizza. We're huge traditional Italian pizza.

Like, when we go to Italy, yeah. I love eating pizza in Italy. But, and I hear, we have a lot of Italian friends because of our wrestling. We have friends all over the world, right? Sure. And they're like, oh, that's not a real pizza. I'm like, no, your dear donno is amazing. So if I pick up a slice of pizza and it, it flops down on me.

Oh, you know, you got the real deal. I'm out. I'm like, I don't even, I know it's going to be awful. I don't want to bite into it. Yeah. Especially when you're in New York and you grab that slice and it's just rigid and you bite into it and you get the little. And I'm like, that's it. Yeah, the crispy definitely helps a lot.

I want the little, just a little crunch there. But could you eat? Anything if you wanted to? Like, and be lean and be fit? No. There's some people, though. Yeah. So I was like 240, five days ago.

What? Yeah, so I was about 249. We came to Vegas. I ate bad for three days. I was 258. I had to make 240s for a competition five days later. So I got down to 240. And then I cheated and I'm like 260 again.

I got to make 231 for a world title match in Istanbul in like four and a half weeks. You sound like the type of guy that when you look at a lot of get food, you gain weight. I do. It's bad. So there's weight limits in arm wrestling. Okay, so I've been this, I've been the heavyweight and super heavyweight world champ in one league or another for like the last 10 to 15 years. Wow. And so I'm actually cutting down. They've got a new weight class. It's kind of they changed the weight classes up, which used to be heavyweight is now a light heavyweight of 231 pounds, 105 KG. That does not feel like a light heavyweight. It doesn't. But I'm going after that world title. It's a young man from Kazakhstan,

and Angrabayev. Hurtigali on Agarab. He's a bad dude. Bless you. Yeah, thank you. But yeah, so I got to pull him January 21st in Istanbul, Turkey for the world title. So let's take this way back. Yeah, we just jumped all over.

And I love this. We're going to talk more about pizzas later, too, I'm sure. But if we take this way back, I feel like every guy in high school is arm wrestling, just kind of like as a show of strength. How does that turn into something well beyond that where this is something you're doing for a living? Okay, so I grew up in Arkansas. So I'm just a country boy redneck from Arkansas who used to arm wrestle. Now, I wasn't really into team sports.

And my father, he had like college scholarship to go play football and all that. And he got injured his senior year. And he always wanted me to be, you know, I played backyard football, you know, like just out in the yard, slamming people to the ground and enjoyed that. But regular, you know, sports in school, I just didn't really do it. I got into martial arts. I went to a karate kid when I was a kid. And I was like, I got to take karate.

And I got a black belt when I was 14. And then I did a show to con and aquondo. in tie boxing and I was pretty proficient. But I always was a redneck who liked arm wrestling. And I used to always arm wrestle my dad. Like he'd be sitting in the recliner and I'd be a little kid and I'd put arm up in the armrest and I'd try to beat him. Never could.

When I was 15 years old, I finally beat my dad. And so I could be there by in school. And my senior in high school, I was at Botech. So I was taking auto mechanics, which I didn't really do very well at, but I did a lot of arm wrestling at auto mechanics. But I was at the, we was at cafeteria table and they're like, they go there second estate. I'm like, well, that's arm wrestling.

So I beat the guy. He's like, you should go to this tournament. And that was a Saline County Fair in 1990. I ended up taking third place. I feel like arm wrestling should be at a county fair. That's how it got started for me, right? And that was it. I took third place. I was hooked.

I came back home. I built an arm wrestling table or wrist wrestling table. That's where you lock hands in the middle and you pin your opponent to your forearm. It's not as much technique involved, a lot more of body strength. But I didn't really build at the right height. I built it for my height. So I built it like three inches too tall. And I started holding tournaments with Boys Club.

And then. Fast forward and 36 national titles, 23 world titles, and I travel all over the world. Wow. Yeah. What is it technique? Is it strength? What's the main thing that makes you such a great arm wrestler? My disgust for losing.

I've always told people my disgust for losing my outweigh your desire to win every time. The thrill of victory, like my wife, she lets me celebrate a victory for about a week. I walk around the house, chest all out. She's like, yeah, dude, it's just arm wrestling. It's not that big deal. Your week's up. But that loss eats away at me. And it's really, I just hate losing.

I try as hard as I can not do. Now, as far as whether it's strength or technique, at an amateur level, technique is very important. So if you had a twin brother and I taught you technique, and he didn't know it, you're going to kill him. Once you become a world-class arm wrestler, we all know the techniques and it comes down to who's stronger. So is it about leverage?

Is that the main thing? Yeah. So most people think arm wrestling is a pushing sport. Yeah. Like you just try to push your opponent down. Arm wrestling is really a pulling sport. It's more of a tug of war. I'm going to try to pull you as close to me as possible.

And then I try to lay over, you know, once I get you real close to my body, I try to bend my body over into opinion. I've seen all these videos online where, like, guys are like bending their bodies over and punching themselves down. Is that actually a good technique? Yeah. Okay. It's funny because when I first saw over the top years ago, I was an old school wrist wrestler

just through my shoulder behind it and I thought the whole movie was fake. I'm like, yeah, that's not even technique. And I realized, okay. crap they were doing it right you know oh wow yeah because it's outside move there's a top row which is most advanced move and that's basically you start off with your knuckles high and you use like of a hammer curl and you pull your opponent back and try to crack your opponent's wrist so you cup and then I knock on pronate through their hand to get the wrist to go back that's the most advanced move and then there's a hook and drag where you just kind of turn into a hook use your bicep drag them down

and you have the shoulder breast you just throw your body behind it what do people think that you do for a living like if you sit next to somebody on a plane or somebody watches you walk through the wind here. What do they think you do? Most of the time it's football. Ah, yeah. My wife. Or pro wrestler.

I do get pro wrestler occasionally. And sometimes I get mistaken for Triple H. I guess bald and beard. You know, I get that. Your beard's just a bit too long. I do have a long beard. Yeah.

That's because the wife as well. She likes the big, crazy look. Okay. Well, there you go. Yeah, yeah. But yeah,

so she got me this ring. I won a couple of world championship rings. And, oh, yeah, let's see that. Hold that up to the camera here. Yeah, there it is. Yeah. So, yeah, instead of wearing the brands that I have won the different leagues,

she's like, let's just get your ring made with all the professional leagues that you've been the world champion of. So it's got around the ring, it's got every league I won the world championship. That's so cool. So at a quick glance, someone's like, oh, I'm a bowl champ. Yeah, yeah, that's what they mostly think. And I mean, and then this week, in particular here in Vegas, walking around with Olympia here in town, there's just so many gigantic people.

Huge. Like, a lot of them aren't as, well, I mean, until you see the ones who, like, aren't actual competitors, but they're my height, they're bigger, and then they're massive. Most of the bodybuilders are shorter and just free. Yeah, most of them are like, we had Jay Cutler sit exactly where you sat on the show. He's like 5-9, 5-10, one of the greatest of all time. Absolutely. But he's like short and like wide.

Yeah. Just so, so thick. But every time I, I've never been to a bodybuilding show, never been to Mr. Olympia, never been to like the Arnold Classic. Because I'm like, I don't want to be the smallest guy in the entire expo. Well, the one thing that I always get when I go to these things, like, I should have been better with my nutrition because I'm walking around and everybody's super shredded. And I'm like, get my shirt on.

Do you think the people that aren't competing dial it in? They're like, oh, man, Olympia is coming up here. Oh, absolutely. I got to stand at a booth. I want to look gigantic. I definitely think there's a lot. Now, the funny thing is, and you'll see this, like, Kai Greene, he's with Redcon 1. I'm a Redcon 1.

By the way, I'm addicted to Total War. We'll have to get to just a total war. I'll let the guys know. I've had Rudy give me a bunch of it. Rudy. I love Rudy. He's awesome. He is awesome.

So shout out to rude muscle. There you go to me up with a lot of it. And I'm like, got to stop it. I've been like, sometimes I'll like take total war before an interview, which is just that you get super jacked. I guess right. Yeah, Michael. Ah, Michael Todd. Welcome.

It's kind of like that. Yeah. I love all their products. But yeah, so he always has a hoodie on. And you see that a lot with these guys who are super, super jacked and super shredded. If they're not in contest shape, I mean, they kind of got body dysmorphia. I do. Like, I was a short, chubby kid growing up, so I always feel like I'm a little fat, you know?

And it's funny because if they're not as jacked or as lean as you see them in competition, sometimes they're going to keep it hidden. So those are the type of guys that are like, man, my body fat's in the double digits. I must be like huge now. Right, right. That doesn't make any sense. No, man. I mean, that's the thing is I'm getting, as I've gotten older, I'm getting better with just being comfortable in my own skin.

Like, you know, I used to if I didn't have abs, wasn't this. I didn't feel as good. And I still do want to be the best. athlete I can be. I turn 50 in like six months. Oh, that's incredible. Yeah. So I'm real, I'm blessed that I get to, uh, that I get to, um, compete and, and still live a healthy fit lifestyle. So, yeah, really interesting thing about your sport is there's a lot of people in every other sport that when they get into their 30s, they're old. Right. When they get into their 40s, they're probably not playing unless you're Tom Brady. How, how is it in arm wrestling that

seems that the older you get, the better you get? Well, that's the one thing about arm wrestling is it's Tendin ligament strength, so it's joint. I mean, once you get real rigid, you actually become a better armrest where they're stronger in your tendons and ligaments. And like my arm, I've lost 17 and a half inches range of motion, my right arm. The doctor x-rayed at 12 years ago and said they found over 70 fractures. So I'm about to do this for the camera. So this is my left arm straightened up.

Okay. This is my right. Wait. Dude into this camera. Oh, yeah, I see. Way worse, right? Okay, so this is what's even worse than that. My left arm will come all the way back to my shoulder.

Okay. Yeah, my right won't come past here. No way. Look at the size of this bicep, though. That's why. That's because you've got this gigantic bicep there. No, it's really just multiple fractures and bone growth and all kinds of stuff. So if you have 70 or had, maybe you still do have.

I would assume I have more now because that was 12 years ago, yeah. They didn't do anything to fix this? My right arm's never had surgery. It's just keeps calcifying and just, turns into some weird, freaky joint. If you measured your right arm, would it be that much bigger than your left arm? Or is the opposite?

My right arm is about a half inch bigger than my left. Oh, that's it? Yeah. My right forearm's about three-quarter inches bigger. My right form is quite a bit. But you are also wrestling with or arm wrestling with both arms. Yeah, so one world titles, probably right down the middle. I've got 23 world titles, probably 12 right,

11 left, 36 national titles, somewhere almost even. But the left arm actually landed on the table behind me, 12 years ago in a middle of a world title match. The doctor misdiagnosed me and said I had a muscle tear. So I went into the match. I didn't test it out at all. So as I said, go, I drove into position. And it's on Eurosport.

So there's all these cameras and I'm putting on a show. I'm like, yeah. It just medial cloud ligament rips off the bone. The flexion mass rolls up the forearm and the elbow dislocates about six inches. Yeah, it literally flops the table right behind me. Like I'm facing this way to slaps the table. No way. Yeah.

So that's what that scars from. Oh, that's a big scar. But yeah. rebuilt it. I've won a couple of royal titles since then, but the left just doesn't have the same integrity as the right. Like, I don't trust it as much. Are you naturally ambidextrous? No. In 1994, I was at the national championships in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, and the first time they ever had left-handed competition at the national level. And it was on Friday. The right hand was on Saturday. I couldn't stand to watch people arm wrestle without me, so I went ahead and entered the left. So that's- You won the left? No, no, I got killed. What about the next day with the right? I actually took fifth that year. Okay. Yes, I took my first national championship. was 176 pounds in 1992. I finished seven. The next year I finished third behind the greatest arm wrestler of all time, John Brazank, and then Ron Bath is another legend. And I finished started another nationals. I went to the world championships that year and finished six. But it was, I competed for 10 years before I won my first national championships, but then I won every year for

10 years. The really interesting thing to me about arm wrestling is the barrier of entry is it's like nothing really. You know, do you have an arm? Like that's it. Whereas like if you want to play hockey, for example, you need the equipment. If you want to play basketball, you at the very least need a ball and a hoop. With arm wrestling, you could do it anywhere. Any surface.

As long as you have a surface that you can arm wrestle on. I mean, it's preferably to have a table. But any surface, and you know, you can challenge somebody in arm wrestling. Yeah,

this is very much like a school yard. I would do it all the time, and I was not great at it. And it's interesting because it wasn't always the biggest or strongest-looking guys that would be great at arm wrestling. My stepson is a seven-time national champion. And he,

right now he weighs about 180. he's won the 121s, the 132s, 1-3s, and he had my granddaughter, and so he put on some baby weight. But at 150 pounds, he could just walk through everybody in my town. What is it? He knows that arm wrestle. I mean, but he's also very, very strong in arm wrestling. People like, that guy's strong in the arm. I know his bench breast muscles are strong in mine.

My arm wrestling muscles are highly developed. So what does your normal workout look like? Is it just like right arm workouts all day? No, there are some people that do that. They just, they prioritize just training the right arm. I try to train like an athlete, and then I just incorporate arm wrestling-specific exercises inside my circuit. So I'll do like, so years ago, I used to do, you know, multiple sets. Like, say, I'm doing chest or lapwell downs or whatever.

And I do, you know, three sets or whatever. Then I was like, that just takes too long. Because it wasn't funny more. It wasn't stress relief. It was a job. It was something I had to do. Yeah. How can I get this job done as quick as possible?

So I would just do one set of 30. So then I'd go to the next exercise, one set of 30. And so I just started doing sets at 30 of everything. And then I started increasing the weight significantly. So, like, my chest workout years ago. would be 225 on the incline 30 reps. And then I do 30 pull-ups and 225 on the flat 30 reps. And then I do 30-laple-downs.

It was just, I'd just be reping 225 all the way through my workout and 30 reps. Now I do that, but I incorporate wrist rolls. So I have a wrist roller, a cable pull that mimics arm wrestling. And then I do battle ropes to blow up your hands. Yeah, I've seen you where you're like, you're on a table like with a cable. Right, right. So that's one thing. There's all kinds of different arm wrestling attachments now.

People have developed different handles, spinning handles, pro-nation handles. cupping, supination handles, just to train various techniques. Because, I mean, you're not always going to have a training partner. And sometimes if you're the strongest guy in your club or your group, it's hard to get that work. Sometimes you have to put up like a 100-pound band on the opponent, pull against them and the band. So where do you find an arm wrestling group or a club?

Well, they're all over the place. I mean, if I tell people like, well, where can I find a club? Usually just go to Facebook and type in arm wrestling in your area, and somebody's going to come up. There's actually an arm bet app that you can go on and find. and you can click are there arm wrestlers in my area and they'll come up. Yeah, so there's a lot. I mean, ever since COVID actually helped arm wrestling out a lot.

Because there weren't any like sports going on. So people went to YouTube, they found arm wrestling and arm wrestling kind of blew up. Yeah, I feel like it's like right there on the brink of being like a major sport. What's what's holding it back? Okay. So that really is the case, I believe, as well. I think we're kind of like where UFC was right before Ultimate Fighter. We're still kind of underground.

There's still a decent fan base, but it hasn't went mainly. stream yet. Yeah. To me, it's character buildup. Like, if you just turn the channel and you see two people arm wrestling, you're not invested. But if I know why I should vote for Chris or pull for Chris or why I should get behind Michael, you know, once I know who the characters are, it's a lot easier to get invested in. That's a really good point.

In my opinion. I feel like there's been some elements of pro wrestling that is kind of like seeped its way into the arm wrestling world. Right. Where there's good guys and there's bad guys. How can you bring more of this, I guess? man it's just really right now the athletes taking control of their own narrative you know having our own platforms putting out our own content letting people get to know us i'm probably one of the most hated

guys in the sport and it's because of one of my techniques is uh you got named the king's move and it's it's kind of unorthodox and it's really because of my lack of range of motion that i just had to develop a way to to still be competitive and i ended up beating one of the guys who was the most popular guy and his legion of followers just started hating me. And then it just kind of rolled from there. But it's been, I mean, it's got me a lot more. I think we've done like 113 million views across all three platforms this year. So what's the difference in the technique? Is it just that you pull them in closer on that one? Well, it's one of those where I drop down lower. Because if I want height with my left hand, I just bring my hand closer. My right won't get any higher.

So to get the height, I had to drop below to get my hand to come up higher. And it just kind of looks unorthodox to people. United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. Soccer Podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clemenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Time's ticking. I think you can feel the intensity.

All the guys are wanting to really stake their claim, and they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Henco. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. So there's this guy that pops up on my TikTok for you page all the time.

He's the arm wrestling whisperer. Yeah, the biker guy? Yeah. What do you think of his technique? He's good. He's a very fundamentally sound arm wrestlerler. He's a lightweight from Southern California. And he's done great with his brand.

It's funny because, oh, you should arm wrestling? I'm like, yeah, you should arm wrestling. I would love to. I mean, he's just, he's in California. I'm in Arkansas. It's way, way different levels. Four hour drive from here. You should go tomorrow.

Well, tell Redcon one. We should. Exactly. Hey, he can't do that. Maybe he's here. He could be here. He might be. There's actually a tournament tomorrow.

The Ultimate Arm Wrestling League's holding a tournament. It's one of the leagues on the world champion. They're holding a tournament tomorrow at the Olympians. So he might be at that. Yeah. Good kid, though. I mean, I haven't. We've just messaged a few times.

But he's a lightweight. He's probably a high state level. But he's doing great with his brand. Wait, it's just brilliant the way that he does it because he'll grab someone who looks like, he's way smaller than that guy. Right. And he'll just be like, strong. Yeah, I hold it there.

Oh, it's hilarious, too, because one of my buddies who actually trains with me, he's like the top guy in California. He's like, yeah, he actually doesn't talk like that. He only does it during his video. And then he'll be like, okay, right. And then he'll just pin the guy. Right, right, yeah. I mean, because he's going to get normal people. And that's what I'm saying, like he's like 165 pounds.

So you're saying you would destroy him. It would be bad. Yeah. But he's a good kid. Would you beat him in less than three seconds? Maybe one tenth of a second. Wow. As soon as they say, go, his hand would get pinned.

But that's most arm wrestling matches. are like that. I'm the guy that wins the long match. I'm the guy that wins the unwinnable match. Like, I get in the worst possible position and I'm too stubborn to quit so I find a way to win, hence the 70 plus fractures. Yeah, why is it so often that it's like go, pin, that's it, done? Well, at this level, and I have a lot of different, like, there's speed is very important. Timing, getting a good setup. And arm wrestling is actually kind of went to the way to where more people focus on getting everything they can in the setup versus just being the stronger guy. I'm still kind of old school and the fact that I just get a really fair grip and just want them to say go.

And then if you slip, you go to the strap. And I'm like, just duct tape. Just wrap me together with this guy. And somebody say, go. I wouldn't prefer to arm wrestle that way. But there, I haven't figured, even though I've been doing it in my 30 third year, I haven't figured out the cheating aspect of it very well yet, right? Like, I don't know how to. How can you cheat?

What's? Oh, you can manipulate the setup horribly. You can distract the referee. Why are you getting higher grip. There's, it's, it's become very manipulative. manipulative is the word I want to use, but it's just, there was a league that came out that I'm, World Arm Wrestling. I'm actually the world champion of that league as well. And it was kind of Wild Wild West. It kind of threw the traditional rules out the window because they wanted to be more

entertainment. And with that came, well, hell, what can we get away with? Right. And so a lot of the arm wrestlers started, you know, going before the go, applying pressure, rising, covering the knuck, just things that you're not supposed to do. And then they get away with it. Now it's kind of just standard practice. When I shook your hand when you walked in here, I went, man, that is a meaty fist. When I shook your hand, I'm like, dang, because honestly, it's hilarious. It doesn't matter if I'm shaking your hand or if I'm shaking old grandmother's hand. I have no idea what you tell me your name is because I'm thinking about how strong your hand is. It's horrible for business because I always have to ask your name again.

But yeah, you've got a very strong hand. Really? Yeah, I could easily teach you how to beat all your friends for sure. Really? Yeah. Well, let's, I'm going to jump over here. All right, Liz. We'll have to probably move the mic.

And then we'll get back to chatting again here. Yeah, yeah. But I want to become a great arm wrestling. So, all right. So let me jump over here. Move the mic over there a little bit. All right. Headphones on or off.

I look super cool with them on. So I'm going to go with that. And then we'll move the mic. So it's in between both of us here. Is that that that works, I guess? Okay. So first off, I want you to show me what you would normally do. So just ready you go.

I feel like I'm going to win. Yeah. And I'll show you the technique that I would use for here. Okay, so give me your normal pressure. Ready you go. So I'm going to use my elbow. So you have a 7-inch elbow pads. I'm going to drag my elbow back.

So that's back pressure. Yeah. The largest muscle you're going to use at your back, right? So your lap. So imagine doing a one-arm road. Okay, there we go. So imagine doing a one-arm row. Drag your elbow back.

Oh, I can bring my elbow back? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you see the first, see how your knuckles. Here, I'll tighten this down here. Yeah, it's all over-off. Well, it's because we're supposed, yeah, we're supposed to be sitting over there. Okay. Missile.

That'll work. You know what? That'll work. Oh, it's fun. It's okay. All right. Now everybody's watching here. So see how your knuckles are pointing in my face?

Yeah. The first thing you want to do is take your wrist and kick it down so your knuckles will point it to the feet. But now your knuckles are facing my face. Well, then I'll just raise my back up. But so what you want to do from here is you spread your fingers across the back of my hand. Okay. And on go, you want to scrunch down in this position. Ooh. And then you want to take your muscle, go high and pull straight back and start to pick the wheel. Okay. So I get dragged it. Oh, wow. Now from there, let your body get

sideways like the side bend without twisting. Twisting quirks your arm. And only take like forks your arm and take like forks your shoulder back. Yeah. Now just drag it into your left shoulder and fall back. So I'm turning away from my hand ever. Oh. Now from that position, I'm going to drag you back. Oh my gosh. Wow. But yeah, that's it. So, arm wrestling.

Sorry. Sorry, guys. We're going to. Yeah, okay, there we go. Try to get this mic here. Yeah, it just keeps floating. It's okay. So up, down.

You just put straight back to the main. Now, that pressure right there, you're way, way strong. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's a position you want to be in when you're pulling. But you can still turn it from there? Yeah, which do you want me to go inside, outside? How do you want to lose?

Okay, I'm up, I'm up, tighten up real tight. Oh, I was going to break. Well, all I'm doing is the same thing I'm teaching you to do. I'm just doing it with more power, you know, because I'm wrestling muscles are highly developed, you know. Got to win. Huh? I'm going to win. Okay.

So you're still trying to push. Yeah. You're trying to push my hand down. Rag it. Tug a war, tug a war. Just let your body keep falling. Keep going. You're like, you're the whisperer.

All right, so I'm going to go into your sideways a little bit, tighten up. I'm going to push this way. So that's side pressure. So that's a different pressure we weren't talking about. We're back over here now. Wow. Okay. Wow.

Okay. We were okay on the audio there, right? Okay. How can you, you said that when you go to Expos, you'll do that all day, like beat the champ. Yeah, and that's one. My arm hurts, and we did that for two minutes. Years ago, so when I first started, I ended up moving down to Baton Rouge. There was a guy down there that I went from my arm.

my first arm wrestling tournament, he's like, hey, you should come down here and start training with us. And I'd go down there and we'd arm wrestling. You got a bunch of fans here now. Look at this. All right. There you got. So I'd arm wrestle 500 to 1,000 matches tonight, three days a week. What?

Yeah, there'd be 20 guys and we would just bang, just get on a tail and just get. My arm feels like it's going to fall off. Well, the more you do it, it hurts. Arm wrestling. Most people who start arm wrestling quit within the first year because the arm wrestling pain is like a really bad toothache pain in your bones. So it just hurts really bad. Yeah, it's like right here.

or like the insertion of the bicep. Yeah, that's more tendon ligament. Okay. The one that gets bad is when it hurts across your humorous. Oh. It's from all that tort and it just like, it'll, and I've cried my arms to sleep so many times. But that's, I mean, that's how you get good at it.

But that's the one thing we do, beat the chance at these expos. And that's, I tell people for, from a brand perspective, having me on your team or any high level arm wrestler versus like, so you have John Jones or some UFC champ or anybody. Yeah. A wrestler. Yeah.

You can get a pitcher. get an autograph. You don't get to get in a ring and fight them. You don't get true. You can't be shooting threes with LeBron James and right. With the armrest on table, you got a chance. The funny thing is, the story can be, oh, is this close to beating the world, whether you were or not, you know? I was so close to beating you.

So close. But yes, I mean, it's a lot of fun. It's a memory, it's an interaction, it's the experience they have with that brand. And we always seem to do really well. You'll watch around and you can see at different expos. The one that has the armrestle table is always the one's got the most traction because everyone wants to armreston.

But it's something like Olympia is some gigantic dude going to come up and be like, I'm going to beat you. Well, they may come up and say that, but they're not going to be. It's just, now, there are freaks that exist in the world. And the more popular arm wrestling is getting, the more chance those people will come out of nowhere. But no one, we've yet to see anyone come out from any sport or any, just come out of nowhere who could just take on the best world. Because you have to, you have to be conditioned. there are guys that have huge hands like Shaquille O'Neal would be phenomenal. Could you beat Shaquille O'Neal?

Yeah, but if you caught him how to arm wrestle four or five years, he could be really, really good. Sure. Brian Shaw, a world's strongest man, Brian Shaw, massive individual, six foot, eight, 140 pounds. He's actually dabbling a little bit in arm wrestling around. And he has to cut down 200 pounds to make weight? No, there's no weight class. It's super heavy weight. Yeah, yeah.

So he would get to pull in the super heavyweight category, which is a category I'm usually in. That's tough. at around 270 and I'm pulling the 350, 400 pound guys. Now, my training partner, I'm going to tell you about him real quick. We call him the gorilla because he's the closest thing to human form gorilla I've ever seen. Corey West is his name. You can check him out. He's six, three and a half, four hundred and forty pounds.

And I have a video on my phone over there of him reaching down, grabbing a master lot and snapping it off with his bare hands. That's insane. It's insane. Like I wouldn't even think to try it, right? But basically what happened in the story is he was at work and they lost the key. so one guy went to a set of boat cutters and everybody else was just standing around. He reached down and grabs it, snaps it off. So I start telling the story, right?

I haven't seen it, but he told me. I'm like, hey, it's telling the truth. A couple months later, he's like, check out, check your inbox. I'm like, why he goes, well, you told the story so many times. I figured I should do it again. And he sent me a video. He was just napping the lock with his bare hands. It's insane.

What? It's unbelievable. I haven't posted yet, but when I do post it, that is definitely going to be a viral video because who can do that? I don't know. I don't know. How do you develop hand strength? Because like you and actually we talked about to Dr. Bow Hightower who connected us.

So super grateful to him for that. His hands like yours are very meaty. So my hand hasn't, I don't have a large hand for a guy in my frame, right? My hand's not huge in dimension, but it's thick. And it's thick from just years of training. And what I've done is I've just taken it like a manual labor approach to training. People say we can't train the same muscle groups every day. Well, people go on a boot camp and you pushups every day and come out of the jacket chest.

That's true. I mean, we see that all the time. Mechanics go to work every day and turn wrenches. They don't go to work today. I'm like, well, you've got to take off tomorrow because the turn wrench is yesterday. Yesterday was wrenched. Yes, you can't do it again. Carpenters, you know, pipe bidders, shrimp bow guys.

I mean, they're working their hands wrist or forms every day, you know, haul and hay, anything. Yeah. So if you just take the same manual labor approach, just train your hand wrist and form every day. So what does that look like in a gym? Well, I have a, so you can go to Monster Factory.com. I have some different training equipment. one is a wrist roller and I just set it up and I just roll forward you know weights and stacks of weight and then I let it go down there roll it backwards to forward and backwards and then spinning handles like I was saying the

spinning handles set it up for arm wrestling and just up and spin and honestly battle ropes blow my hands up like crazy people like oh you're not doing them right yeah I'm doing them for hands you know because what's it look like when you're doing for hands you just don't have to be as intense with them oh because a lot of have you ever done any BF hard training blood flow restriction yes I just did it with Diamond Dallas page. Dude, yeah. So I did yoga with Diamond Dallas Page last year. We did a crazy tour.

He's unbelievable. Yeah, awesome. Phenomenal shape. I spent a whole day living like Diamond Dallas Page. I did a hyperbaric chamber. Oh, that was awesome. Breathing. We did a cold plunge.

We did the blood restriction, restricted training, which blew my arms up. Very cool. Very cool. Yeah, so he was awesome. So I've been doing BFR since 2016. Oh, wow. I tore my right back and my physical therapist like me and started doing some BFRs.

Well, instead of doing it, instead of doing it, I'm just going to do it. I'm just going to do my normal work. workouts with Biafarza. And it's been horrible, right? It's the most exfuscating workout you ever do. Absolutely. The pump is unbearable. But it trains you. And this is what I always try to tell people. Most professional arm wrestling is one-on-one. Like you and I would arm wrestle the best of five, first one, most of six rounds, whatever. So I can go 100% of my maximum effort for up to 10 to 15 minutes because I do it every single day in my workout.

But the moment I start my workout, I set a timer and I don't stop until I'm done. Like I'm always lifting. And I always have the BFR's on. So the pump that you get during training, and I tell people, listen, if you prepare for worst case scenario, they're like, well, my hand wouldn't got pumped out of one. Well, train where your hands popped. So I train for the worst thing that could possibly happen so that when competition day comes, I'm already prepared for it, you know? Yeah. But the pumps are really bad. So I don't know what I was about to say. Oh, yeah. So in the circuit will be, like, say, it's back a back day. I'll do 30 reps, spinning handle pull downs. So the whole time is trying to rip your hand open. And then I'll go to wrist

rolls, cable pulls, and then I'll do battle ropes. And at this point, your hands are blown up already. And that's just round one. You got five rounds. So the next one is seated rows, spinning handle, same thing. Finish the circuit. And then I'll do one arm rows from a cable with a spinning handle. Sometimes a three inch thick handle is horrible. Then I do bend over rows, spinning handle, and then straight bar pull downs. It's the only back exercise I do that isn't hand and wrist-related. Put your hand and wrist wrist are so pumped throughout the circuit because you're doing wrist rolls, cable pulls, and battle rows. When you get done, it's just brutal. Put your hands like that. How much longer could you keep up this pace? I don't think I peaked yet, honestly.

Come on. I swear. I tell my wife all the time. We have something really cool plan for this next year. So we did a tour last year. Last year I jumped in. I raised about $100,000. I got an RV. I wrapped it. And we did a five-month tour. We traveled all 48 continental states, 20,000 miles. And I did an arm wrestle over 3,000 matches. I would just fill out the arm-rest and table and take on all-comers, right? Did you win all 3,000 matches? No, I probably lost about 30. No way. Yeah. It's so funny because YouTube and social media is so if you don't have a social media platform, they're like, oh, you're a bomb. So these guys that were beating me inside these huge practices were like, oh, you lost nobody. I'm like, yeah, that guy's like a three-time world champ. You know, you just don't know him. He doesn't have social media. But it was awesome. So we had a great experience.

We enjoyed it so much. And I've been so much a pro-arm wrestler doing one-on-one super matches for the last decade. I want to get back to tournament arm wrestling, double-limination tournament arm wrestling. So I partner with Redcombe won energy. And we're re-wrapping our RV. And we're going to go on the road again. And it's my quest to win 100 first places starting January 7. So I'm going to be on the road next year until I win 100 first place awards.

100 in a year or just 100? You're not stopping until you win 100. But the goal is to do it within a year. I've done it in a weekend. I've conservatively done the math. Now, that's the reason I'm cutting weight. Like I'll pull the 242 pound division right and left. Super heavyweight division right and left.

Sure. Over 40 division right and left. If there's an overall division, you know, so many if I could win every division, which I won't be able to because it'll be armist almost every week. I've conservatively done the math. And if I win most of the things, I will have 100 words by the end of August. What's your recovery look like?

Well, the way it's going to look out on the road is I'm going to do an arm wrestle on Saturday. On Sunday, I'll do back and bicep. Monday, I'll do chest and tricep. So hold on. After really working your arm, you're going to have an arm workout the next day. I'm a huge advocate. I've told everyone for years, you arm wrestle would hurt so bad. You won't be able to straighten your arms like three days.

If you do biceps, a high volume bicep workout the, the very next day, it'll be excruciating for the first three rounds. But then you get that blood in their blood heels, damaged tissue, I can go back to heavy bench in the very next day. That's, wow. Yeah. So it would be back and biceps, chest, tricep, shoulders, and then legs on Wednesday, rest, Thursday, Friday.

Now, you just mentioned it because you said you did cold plunge with them. DDP. So I just partnered with plunge, and my plunge is on its way right now. I just got a plunge. I just talked to him about it because I talked to him two weeks ago when I was here for the rodeo and I'm like, oh, dude, Chris, just got a punch. He said he just filmed some stuff with us. Yeah.

Yeah. I'm super stoked. Adam is who I was talking to. Oh, nice. Yeah, so I get my plunge coming and so I'm a big advocate. That's going to change your life. I really think so. Yeah. You know, one for the recovery, which is amazing for you as a pro athlete, but two for just like the mindset of like, it's cold this morning. Yes. I don't want to get in there, but I know that when I get out of there, one, I will have proved to myself I did something hard and two, blood rushing. Oh, no, you're releases the door for, I mean, there's so many things about it. Dopamine hit. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a big

advocate of uh you just have to be up mean you got to embrace the grind you know you got to become comfortable being uncomfortable we've heard it's i listen to matt fraser and tia clear to me and we're huge crossfit fans and the mindset of a champion it's just it sounds like me talking when i hear i'm talking you know and they're very accomplished athletes the best to ever do it but it's just there's something different about when you when you embrace the grind and you're just like listen i'm going to do what others won't do you know and that's the thing all my con i'm All my training, everything's online. Everything I do, every preparation for every match.

They're like, why do you put all your stuff out there? I'm like, well, you want to beat me after I'll work me. I'm confident you want out working, you know. Where did this mindset come from for you? Actually, I don't know. I've always just been extremely competitive. My family will tell you don't play cards with me. Don't do it.

If you and I start shooting the basketball, we've got to start picking score, even if it's 21 or four, I mean, I can't just do things for fun. We went bowling the other night for my wife's birthday party. There's about five people on the lane. I'm like, all right, guys, I'm done. I've got to get my own lane because I can't sit around a way, right? Like, I'm just, I'm extremely competitive. I've always been that way.

And it's just, I want to fulfill my potential in every area of my life, whether it's being a better Christian, better husband, better athlete, you know, so every day I just try to be better than I was yesterday. When you lock up with somebody for the first time, can you instantly feel, I am going to be this guy? 99% of the time, yeah. Yeah, you'll know, I mean, so this guy I'm pulling for the, for the light, heavyweight world title. He is extremely explosive. He has a very good hand. Um, but I don't believe he's,

I don't think he has a clear lane of where he can beat me. I don't think he's going to beat my hand enough to where he's going to put me in a disadvantage where he'd be able to transition around to pin me. There's so many different things that he'd have to do. Um, the only way I believe he could beat me is if he's able to flash near as soon as I say go. And very rarely, you already know that. Yeah, very rarely can anyone do them. Oh. I've seen so many armed wrestling matches where it looks like the one guy's about to lose. His hand is half an inch away. and somehow he comes back and pulls a win. How does that happen?

Well, I jokingly used to tell people, like, if you get me almost a pin to me and you're not going to pin me, I might as well pin you. And it just comes down to, there's not a position on the table right-handed that I'm going to come from unless I'm touching the pin pad. There's not a position on the table right hand that I can't win from. If I watched an arm wrestling match and you pulled up, I can tell you how each guy has to do to win. But it's just habit. I mean, I've done it. We're like, you must not, have you ever been beat? I'm like, dude, I've lost 100,000 times.

I just don't lose much anymore because I've arm wrestling well over a million matches, you know. And it's just, I don't know, it's this weird. I'm not a great teacher of arm wrestling because everything I do is just so instinct. Because I've been doing it for so long. But you can see stuff and go, oh, you know, change your wrist here, do this with your knuckles. I mean, I've trained exactly what you did to me. Well, I mean, I've trained probably a dozen people, but won national titles. I have a dozen people who become world champion.

But I'm like, I'm not the most patient teacher. I'm like, dude, just do it. And my wife, she's a seven-time national champion as well. What? Yeah, yeah. Wow, congratulations. She actually kills it. She's super strong.

How quickly would you beat me? Like three seconds. Okay, so if she could beat your hand, she'll beat you. But your hand's big enough that you may be able to shut her down. I don't. I haven't actually arm wrestled in 15 years or something. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's the thing is I don't let arm wrestle me in very often.

But if she can beat the hand, she's going to take it. The thing about her, though, is like in the beginning, I taught her. And then my stepson's a seven-time national champ. So I actually kind of had to pass it off the hand because I'd be like, honey, do this. And they're the fight struct. You know, because I told you, I'm not super patient. So then I get really frustrating.

Then somehow I'm in the doghouse. How many more matches you think you'll have this weekend? You know, pro matches, actual matches, and then just people coming up and being like, all right, let's do this. So the thing about this, and I'm going to tell you this real quick, we probably need an in here a little bit. But I actually have a partially torn right bicep. I did.

I did have a partially torn right bicep. This sounds like an excuse. Well, we can call it that. But I ended up having stem cells. And phenomenal. And four weeks later, completely reattached. I ended up in a second dose of stem cells. And that was three and a half weeks ago.

Wow. So I really haven't tested the arm yet. But it's amazing. You look at the ultrasound. You see the complete detachment on the top end is attached on the bottom. And then you see it completely reattached. So I'm super excited about that. Now, the left shoulder, we were hiking in the UK.

We took a two-week tour of the UK. And I took two fall. falls like within 30 minutes of each other on this height. Apparently my wife says I'm accident prone. I don't think that's the case. I just think I fall a lot. So I fell and I'd already had an injury my left shoulder. Fell wrong.

And then I fell on my right arm. And shortly after that, I had a big practice. And then shortly later I was going to meet the champion, the tear in my bosa. The left shoulder, I actually got it MRI at the same time. So my sub-scapularis is completely torn off the bone, 1.5 centimeters for traction. And then the super spinaidus is,

partially torn. So I don't know getting stem cells on both spots. I don't think it's going to do anything for the full detachment, but it's helping the super spanishment. So I'm kind of injured, but I'll get on the table some. So I'll probably a couple hundred matches. A couple hundred matches. It won't be, you know, nothing big. I mean, it'll just be, you know, I'll test it out, see what it feels. If anything feels uncomfortable, I'll stop. It's really amazing how we're talking about stem cells now, like very much in the infancy of what's possible here. I read Tony Robbins's book Lifeforce and he talks about just how great stem cells are. I feel like people will be having these types of conversations in 10, 20, 30 years. Like it's the same as like icing your shoulder or something. It's just like, oh, you haven't got

stem cells yet. Here you go. Like, oh, 100%. I mean, the thing about it, regenerative medicine, it's just the science is there. You only have one body. You only have one chance of this thing. Why not live your best life? Is it okay if I mention the guys I got it from? Of course. Check out Bata Cell Biologics. Use code monster. They are spectacular. They've really taken care of me and they're helping out. The funny thing is, since I got them, like four or five of the other aging arm wrestlers in the United States who are among the very best in the world have all gotten stem cells. So our older athletes here are about to be dominant again because we're getting those new stem cells. But it's pretty awesome.

It's been such a pleasure having to come by here. Thank you for making me a future world champion arm wrestler. I end every conversation talking about gratitude because it's such an important thing in my life. And I say out loud every day when I wake up, three things I'm grateful for. And I do it before I go to bed as well. So what are three things in your life, Monster Michael Todd, which you're grateful for right now? Man, I have an amazing wife.

So I live every day with my best friend. That's why we do this whole social media thing so that every single day I get to experience life with my best friend. So that's either see a sunset, hear a joke, and hear her laugh, you know, whatever. She's what I'm most grateful for. Lord has blessed me a lot, but I have four healthy grandchildren. with a fifth one on the way. So they're a blessing.

And just health. I'm grateful for my health. I'm grateful to be nearly 50 years old. And in my mind, still believe that there's the best is still yet to come. So just positive attitude and amazing wife and support system. And just I'm blessed every day. All right. As we wrap this up, let's compare the arms of a normal human to the arms of a monster.

Oh, yeah. They're almost the same, right? Basically exactly the same. Oh, you didn't need to zoom in like that. Come on. Sir. Thank you. What a hand. Jesus. It's like a catcher's mitt. Thanks for having it.

No, I really appreciate you. Thank you. There we go. So much value there from Monster Michael Todd. And it really makes me interested where the future of arm wrestling is headed. I mean, it's a sport that everybody's familiar with. Everybody has arm rustled somebody at some point in their life. So I feel like, you know, you got some huge personalities here.

I really wonder what's next here. Find Monster Michael Todd on social media at Monster Michael Todd. Find me at Chris Famfleet. And I'll leave you with the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Another great quiver, as we're talking about, like starting the year and all that type of stuff, write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. Be great. Be grateful.

We will see you on the next one for some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand.

He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What should be? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.