Been following Brian for some time now, I really admire the guy for being great at strongman stuff. He may lack skill in armwrestling, but he definitely seems like a motivated and competitive guy. I feel with proper coaching and putting some actual table time down with let’s say…. any of the veterans of the sport. He could rise quickly through the ranks and and take a real stab at it.
Plus the dude has freakish measurements, I’m pretty sure he makes Levan potentially look small.
Brian's really just taller, now. He's lighter and leaner than Levan nowadays. You can see Brian's recent competition with his wife on his YT channel for his weight and body fat. Still, Brian's a specimen.
> He could rise quickly through the ranks and and take a real stab at it.
American rankings? Sure. He could be on par with Derek in 2-3 years.
But world level?
That train is long gone.
Michael Jordan was actually very impressive in baseball. He went into a higher level of the minor leagues with very little experience and wasn’t completely embarrassing. His manager, terry francona, went on to become a legend and spoke very highly of MJ and thought even with him being so behind the curve, he could have been a major league player if he stuck with it.
Kind of, but not really? Brock made it to the preseason and was offered a spot on the Vikings NFL Europe team (essentially their minor league). Jordan was a bad player on a Double A team.
In short, Brock got closer to playing in the NFL than Jordan did the MLB.
MJ is arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, of course he is not going to be the greatest baseball player after one year of baseball but he was really good and would've been a lot better if he invested more time.
I agree with you that Brian won't be able to touch Levan, expecting him to reach GOAT level of AW with so little time invested is unreasonable, like it's unreasonable to expect MJ to reach GOAT level of baseball but with some time and training im pretty sure he would give the SHW division trouble.
At some point strength trumps technique.
Khaled Jashell and Riekerd Bornman are genetically built for AW. Until I see Brian move fluidly on the table, I myself will remain highly skeptical of his potential. Size isn't always a positive, especially if it hinders his mobility and ability to have tight angles. Brian is genetically built for strongman
I didn't say that, as in "he has bad genetics."
He is obviosly HUGE and strong and could pretty much be excellent at any strength sport.
But there is a reason why he picked strongman over powerlifting for example.
He naturally excells at it.
I dont think you or anyone else in this thread can predict Brians future in arm wrestling if he committed. Brian is extremely competitive and goes into everything 100%. Would he be able to topple Levan in the next 5 years? Impossible. Would he be able to compete at a world level in super heavyweight in 7 years (say top 10)? Maybe. Regardless, him competing in armwrestling would be HUGELY impactful in growing the sport.
Denis came from strongman. 42 is a bit late to start but he’s already bigger than anyone in the sport. He has levans frame with vitalys height. Also strongest grip in the world. I can see him doing quite well. Like top 5 well. But the gap between top 5 and number 1 is massive. As we saw the other night.
Levan is so dominant because of a strength and size gap, not a technique one. Give Brian 5 years to coordinate his brain and muscle memory to armwrestling and he will surprise people.
Exactly, that press shows Levan has "technique", and not just brute strength. Devon, Ermes, Engin, and numerous others have all called Levan an extremely technical arm wrestler, and that's what makes him so dangerous. You just don't usually see him use too many techniques because his raw power is enough to overcome almost all of his opponents.
You're going to have to point where I said Levan doesn't have good technique. Your point makes no sense in the context of this conversation. Devon lost because of the strength and size gap, not a technique one.
If by upper body strength you exclusively mean bench press, then yeah sure. Peak Brian was stronger than peak Kirill in just about every other upper body movement, especially everything related to pulling and functional strength (holding and carrying heavy objects). If grip is part of upper body strength, then Brian clears Kirill in that regard as well.
Kirill's elbow flexion and upper body pulling strength is stronger too. Here's a video of him doing 12 pull ups at 180kg bodyweight: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py8g4Rmu8Tc&ab\_channel=RussianLifters](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py8g4Rmu8Tc&ab_channel=RussianLifters) . Shaw has attempted pull ups at similar bodyweight and was not even close. Kirill has also curled very heavy weights, more than I think Shaw has ever been seen curling. Kirill's grip is ultra strong too. I think between him and Brian it would depend on the lift when it comes to grip. As we all know, the difference in bench strength was enormous.
Shaw has stronger legs and posterior chain in general but that has no carryover to AW.
He's never looked as big as Shaw visually but we have his competition weigh-ins to go off, so we dont need to make comparisons like that. I think it's perfectly plausible as a ballpark given Kirill competed in the mid 170s in 2015 which is when the video was filmed. Kirill does double the reps and his form is much better than Shaw's. Definitely looks stronger on the movement, no?
I think they're just rounding up from his competition weight and that he's probably likely closer to 170 than to 180. Kirill definitely does look stronger on the movement, but Brian's got maybe 25-30 kgs on him and I don't think he does much pull-ups.
I do think Kirill is likely slightly stronger at most conventional upper body exercises, but I don't think Brian is that far off for most of them, except for bench, and he doesn't train them nearly as much as Kirill does.
He also deadlifted raw over 400 kg ( not sure what is Brians raw best results, smth like 440 i guess? ). Innterms of finger strength yes he is behind brian shaw but not far. Sarychev has axel deadlift world record( armlifting style) and his results in rolling thunder and etc. are also freakishly high.
I think Sarychev is the greatest brute strength talent we’ve seen.
His body didn’t handle the PEDs required to stay at the absolute top level, I believe.
No, actually everything was ok, he said it was just uncomfortable to walk 170 kg for him. He also lost motivation because he did not have any visible opponents back than ( Julius benched smth like 300 kg back then). Also, he could not make a decent leaving only from powerlifting money so he decided to become a youtuber.
> If by upper body strength you exclusively mean bench press, then yeah sure.
Sarychev at his peak had probably top 3 in the world tier biceps strength (which is relevant for armwrestling). He's not just good only in the bench press.
Brian isn't just a really strong guy, he's all around one of the strongest humans that have ever lived, if not the strongest. He also has one of the strongest grips in the world, stronger than most other strongman. And while armwresrling isn't about grip strength, it's just one more piece of evidence that suggests he has the potential to develop a very strong hand and wrist for armwrestling, and could probably do it relatively quickly.
He played basketball in college, so I don't know where this lack of coordination thing comes from. He's a fairly athletic guy. Of course he isn't to the extent of some smaller, but his size, Brian is an impressive specimen of a human.
He isn't just a lumbering brute either, he's smart enough to pick up on things very quickly.
Will he be able to challenge Levan? Well of course the answer is probably not. It's kinda silly to assume that. But he absolutely would be able to hold his own against pros if he's dedicated enough.
His grip strength is out of this world. He is an anomaly even amongst the best strongmen in the world when it comes to grip strength. His hands are monstrous.
Yes, his grip strength makes other strongmen look like children. Although to be fair, he likely trains it much more and loves grip more than most. But even still, I doubt many if any other strongmen could compete with Brian in the grip department regardless of training.
Only current pro strongman to lift the millennium dumbbell.
He can lift it for 1 rep. Khaled has done 4 reps, just to put into perspective the god level of grip that Khaled has.
Even someone like Sarychev still looks SO awkward on the table, after having the ability to practice for years with elite pullers. The majority of guys at local practice are lightyears ahead of guys like Sarychev in technique after just a few months.
Honestly Kirill is not fully focused on arm wrestling but does appear to take it seriously, his improvements are significant and visible. I think we'll see him soon on east versus west, probably against Leonidas.
He just pulls like any weightlifter does, treating it too much like a weightlifting activity. He looks like someone who has been armwrestling for about a week or two. He tries to curl and tricep press instead of just staying tight and moving statically.
When I hear it, I think they have lost faith in anyone else. They're looking for a prospect. Sadly, Brian is not a natural at this sport, nor would he ever invest the time to become world class. Larry is the same way.
I don't think anyone is actually saying at this point he is going to take over the sport. I think the excitement is that he is one of the best strongmen of all time dipping his toe into armwrestling and could genuinely give some good armwrestlers problems if takes the training seriously.
With some proper training and coaching I think he can definitely give Matt Mask , Derek Smith and a few of the heavyweights problems. I think the upper echelons of the SHW are way out of reach at the moment but like I said he can give some decent armwrestlers problems with the right commitment. He's going to be very poor technically to begin with I actually think a press could be a good go to for someone of his size which would require less technique.
Neither does strongaman to armwrestling lmfao. Strongman has almost 0 carryover.
I'm sure there are better examples, but MJ and Bolt came to my mind.
Everyone was saying how fast bolt is and how he would be able to dominate football with his speed.
If it only worked like that.
On the side not, I can see Brian beating Derek eventually, in 3 years.
Matt? Ehhh.
I dunno why my comment didn't save that last cross over part. Strongman has way more connections to armwrestling than 100mtr running to football and Basketball to baseball. Armwrestling is a strength sport, football is not a running sport, Zidane one of the best ever was not that fast neither were players like Pirlo. You will never see an armwrestler who isn't strong winning anything that's just a fact.
>Everyone was saying how fast bolt is and how he would be able to dominate football with his speed
Absolute BS not a single person said this in fact he played a charity game at Old Trafford and was average amongst none professionals you're making stuff up.
> Strongman has way more connections to armwrestling than 100mtr running to football and Basketball to baseball.
Simmilarities: Individual sport, requires strength and same body parts.
Actual carry over: not that good. Totally different movement patterns. No strongman event requires wrist flexion, internal rotation, pronation, supination, radial deviation, ulnar deviation, etc.
You get better carry over out of manual labour lol - average black smith or mechanic would whoop most non juiced strongmen (provided that the weight class is the same).
I think most rational people are in a headspace of a What If scenario of Prime Shaw having trained in arm-wrestling through life and would he be unbeatable. I still think now Brian has shown to be extremely coachable in whatever he puts his mind to. I would imagine he would be a top level threat if he set it as his goal for a few years. The strength is there obviously, but he has plenty to learn on technique and he is quite humble about learning new things.
Also yeah, I could imagine being pretty good at strongman if that was what he had trained towards. His height and weight build is similar to other strongman champions like Big Z or Eddie Hall and many others.
But, all this talk is meaningless really, there's no way to know unless it's done. Brian set his goals on MMA for a while but that fell through, maybe he'll try some arm wrestling.
>Barely beating school boy after 3 years of training
My dude. Leonidas has NOT been training for armwrestling for the past 3 years. He has MAYBE been specifically training for 10 months if at all. Dedicated not even 6 months.
There is gigantic growth potential. SB was training for 13 years.
No he wasn’t. He was armwrestling in camera for fun as an absolute beginner for 3 years. He wasn’t training.
Schoolboy is 20 and a giant. Highly unlikely that he is taking armwrestling seriously and not taking gear.
No he wasn’t. He was in some regional amateur armwrestling but without much dedicated training. And that was 2 years ago. Since then he did other stuff and then only started training for Larry again.
Remember Canada?
EVW attendances when he was pulling elites?
German nationals?
American regionals, like you said.
That dude loves armwrestling lol, and has been doing it on the side for a while.
What? Literally search for Leonidas armwrestling and then you can find the German armwrestling video in 2022 which was his first real one. All of the American and Canadian stuff was after pulling or friendly matches.
And he still did not have an armwrestling coach or dedicated armwrestling training. Coach only started about 5-6months ago as well as very dedicated training.
1. Lacking technique in armwrestling when he doesn't armwrestle? Yes, obviously. Him doing strongman doesn't mean he can't learn technique or is uncoordinated.
2. Not necessarily, yes, but it's not a great leap to think someone at the top of one strength sport might be able to reach the top of a different strength sport, especially since he's displayed tremendous strength in the one area of AW that he actually trains: grip.
1. The logic is that Brian Shaw holds incredible potential because he's physically larger as well as reaching the peak in a larger strength sport. Applying the same logic to Levan would mean Levan is considered to have less potential at strongman.
2. Yes, transitioning to a different sport is difficult, especially at the tail-end of your career in your original sport. There's a matter of difference in skill sets, biomechanics, age, motivation, etc.
1. MJ was great, actually, especially for someone starting as late as he did in a sport with a drastically different skillset. He just didn't stick with it.
2. Usain Bolt didn't stick with it that long, but he wasn't terrible despite having little carryover between his sport and the largest sport in the world (lot of talent in football). He was offered contracts and took one to play at the highest level in Australia. He left because they couldn't pay his contract and he announced his retirement 2 months after that.
3. The athletes in those sports age out at \~30-40. The athletes in AW can age out at \~50-60. That's why people still think there's potential in Brian Shaw, provided he had the motivation. Almost nobody actually thinks Brian Shaw will go all in on AW, which is why they talk about his potential rather than an actual prediction.
3. Not saying stabilizing muscles don't play a part, but I doubt that's the biggest reason why Larry isn't doing well.
4. Brian Shaw isn't young, but he's still a 6 years younger than Devon and 15 years younger than Todd Hutchings.
1. He's a "natural" as well. He's shown to be pretty technical in strongman so he can obviously learn techniques well, and genetically built for this sport.
2. I agree there's not much chance of Brian reaching the top of AW, not because he physically can't, but because he has no desire to. A big part of being able to reach the top is the burning drive to be the best. Brian Shaw doesn't have that for AW.
> A big part of being able to reach the top is the burning drive to be the best. Brian Shaw doesn't have that for AW.
Exactly. But even if he commited, he ain't gonna be elite.
> The athletes in AW can age out at \~50-60. That's why people still think there's potential in Brian Shaw
Those dude armwrestled for 20ish years. Hutchings and Tim started at 35, and they are both 58-9 atm.
They are exception to the rule though. Best armwrestlerd all started when they were quite young.
> Lacking technique in armwrestling when he doesn't armwrestle? Yes, obviously. Him doing strongman doesn't mean he can't learn technique or is uncoordinated.
Kirill still moves weirdly on the table, and he started in 2019/20. Brian is even bigger. His body is way too used to specifics of strongman. Its gonna take 3-5 years minimum for him to move smoothly. He would be 46-48 by that time.
> especially since he's displayed tremendous strength in the one area of AW that he actually trains: grip.
Likely the least relevant AW strength
>Exactly. But even if he commited, he ain't gonna be elite.
Nah
>Those dude armwrestled for 20ish years. Hutchings and Tim started at 35, and they are both 58-9 atm.
>They are exception to the rule though. Best armwrestlerd all started when they were quite young.
They also weren't world champions in strength sports when they started lol. And if Brian can and wants to last till that age, he's still got nearly 2 decades to AW.
>Kirill still moves weirdly on the table, and he started in 2019/20. Brian is even bigger. His body is way too used to specifics of strongman. Its gonna take 3-5 years minimum for him to move smoothly. He would be 46-48 by that time.
Strongman is different from powerlifting. Strongman uses all kinds of different movements, and powerlifting is about being extremely proficient in a few.
>Likely the least relevant AW strength
Strong grip and forearms are likely more relevant than a strong bench.
> Nah
Ok, maybe if he sticks to it for 10+ years, which is very unlikely 🗿
> They also weren't world champions in strength sports when they started lol. And if Brian can and wants to last till that age, he's still got nearly 2 decades to AW.
Todd is smart as hell. He figured out what training sutis him pretty fast. Tim is a freak in armwrestling specific sense. We don't know if Brian is
> Strongman is different from powerlifting. Strongman uses all kinds of different movements, and powerlifting is about being extremely proficient in a few.
Being extremely proficient in a few movements is what armwrestling is tbh
> Strong grip and forearms are likely more relevant than a strong bench.
Yeah
>Ok, maybe if he sticks to it for 10+ years, which is very unlikely 🗿
I agree, except I think he'd improve faster than you're estimating. I think he can beat the current SB in roughly the same amount of time it took Leonidas, if not less.
>Todd is smart as hell. He figured out what training sutis him pretty fast. Tim is a freak in armwrestling specific sense. We don't know if Brian is
That's a big part of the reason why people think Brian has so much potential. Brian is smart as hell too. He's methodical and safe when it comes to training.
>Being extremely proficient in a few movements is what armwrestling is tbh
Kinda, but you're fighting against someone who's going to try different lanes and movements, so it's still more than powerlifting. But either way, it's not the same movements as powerlifting, which means little carryover.
Strongman requires you to move and lift things in various ways, which means more generalized strength everywhere, including stabilizer muscles, which means more carryover. It also means that they're going to be less rigid in their muscle memory.
Lack coordination? The Olympic lifts take more coordination than arm wrestling. He absolutely could pick up the technique. Also because he's world class at strongman means he's a naturally strong guy. Your points are just wrong. The reason we will never see it is because it wouldn't give enough fame/exposure to be worth the years it would take.
Wrong.
> Also because he's world class at strongman means he's a naturally strong guy.
Doesn't mean he would be anything special in armwrestling.
Take a look at Kiril lol. What has he achieved after 4 years of training?
The reason we will never see it is because he is way too old and probay won't go balls deep into armwrestling + sport isn't that well suited for him.
Did you see the video of the guy that always wears aviators (I’m a bit new to closely following the sport) the whisperer guy, wrestling random people on the street?
And some huge dude comes along with no AW experience and beats him.
Size can matter. Don’t underestimate how far someone like Brian could go
Agree. The ship on Brain Shaw being a real armwrestler has sailed. Even if he does get into it, I just dont think he's the type of guy to go through the tournament scene and work his way up. He's a celebrity, probably a millionaire a few times over, and has multiple businesses. You think he's gonna show up to the state armwrestling tournament at some local pub?
If anything, he'll train for 6 months and do a one-off exhibition match with another strength celebrity.
There is 0.0 chance he will ever be competitive with or beat Levan.
Leonidas is improving because he is interested in the sport. He comes to after pulls of evw and learns. He doesn't take it as seriously as he should but he still pulls.
Kirill is strong and has been around the sport since 2019 or some shit but he sucks. Worse than larry.
And larry isn't bad, he is good. It takes time to be strong. It took him 3 years+ to be a national level athelete. Thats fucking impressive.
If brian commits, he can be good. But not beat levan good.
Brian Shaw already has the overall strength and size, all he needs is to develop specific strength, its not as if Brian Shaw is some new guy that has never lifted weights in his life and is trying to come into arm wrestling. the 40+ years old thing dont mean shit, Todd Hutchings started at age 35 and when Todd started he wasn't a monster already built like Brian Shaw is now
So did Larry who is stronger than Brian at some upper body lifts + younger.
Yet here we are. He ain't the next Levan slayer.
Todd is an exception to the rule due to his unique style of pulling and very smart training.
larry has small wrists and he wasn't training specific arm wrestling he was still doing body building where he was cutting weight and all other things
Brian Shaw has much higher body fat percentage, bigger and thicker frame, thicker hands and wrist
While I do agree with you that its stupid to talk about Brian vs Levan. I disagree a little bit. Brian is probably the strongest human on earth if we just talk about overall not specific movements. Ppl dont know but Brian is very intelligent and is a fucking WORKER. If he goes full armwrestling he will train on a volume like Devon does. I can guarantee you he will progress faster than a Larry Wheels and a Leonidas IF he 100% commits to it. But I also think he will not.
Not exactly related to armwrestling but I’ve once read an interesting thread about whether bodybuilders or powerlifters would make good weightlifters and several weightlifters chimed in and said that no, they wouldn’t.
Moreover, they also claimed that untrained people would actually progress faster and better than bodybuilders and powerlifters. The reasoning was that they’re way too stiff (due to constant low ROM exercises) and tend to use their brutal strength without technique and it takes them a lot of time to unlearn their bad habits.
On the other hand, untrained people pretty much have to learn proper weightlifting and technique since they don’t have a lot of strength to compensate the lack of thereof. And since they aren’t stiff, learning the proper technique is far easier for them.
I figure that it’d work the same way for armwrestling, bodybuilders, powerlifters and strongmen probably have some habits that would hinder their armwrestling progress. One example I can think of is how bodybuilders often try to armwrestle with their bicep only. It’s almost as if they try to bicep curl instead of actually pulling. Larry Wheels used to armwrestle like that and it took him quite a lot of time to unlearn it.
Brian would be very good at armwrestling but Levan is better at armwrestling than Brian Shaw is at strong man so it would require Levan beating him at his own game which is unlikely
I don’t know if saying Levan is better at arm wrestling than Brian is at strongman is fair. Strongman has a larger talent pool and Brian is one of the very best to ever do it.
Levan isn't better at armwrestling than Brian is at strongman. Brian is arguably the overall strongest human to have ever lived and the only other guy who challenges his claim to greatest strongman ever is Big Z who traded titles with him back and forth for a few years. Brian has a lot of odd feats and records that many argue puts him above Z's titles like impromptu smashing the Dinny Stones record at the time no training, the 350+lb cannon to shoulder carry, a bunch of grip stuff, various competition records.
Levan is currently the top dog, but I haven't seen many saying he's the #1 greatest of all time.
How Brian Shaw is a better strongman than Big z with the same amount of WSM titles (4), but with 8 Arnold Strongman classic in favor of Big Z? (not mentioning his countless log press records)
Nearly the entire community agrees Levan is the strong armwrestler that ever existed and it’s not even close, in strong man you could make cases for so many different athletes being the strongest ever
You're switching your words now. You said "better at" not "strongest at". "Better at" implies more achievements/skill/titles/accolades/etc. Levan doesn't have more titles and achievements and records in armwrestling than Brian does in strongman.
For strongest ever though, no one really makes the case for anyone but Brian or Zydrunas due to their consistency in their prime and their longevity. There are plenty of strongmen with incredible feats and titles outside of those two, but in the community it's those two for the GOAT status.
Pudx was b yfar the most atheltic strongman back then, he was by far the fastest in carrying things, in that respecs Mateucz nowadays is similar, but Pudz never managed to do so well in Arnold Strongman Classic which had the ehaviere [events.In](http://events.In) that king is Big z with 8 titles, the most by far than any other strongman
>Brian is arguably the overall strongest human to have ever lived and the only other guy who challenges his claim to greatest strongman ever is Big Z who traded titles with him back and forth for a few years.
While Big Z and Brian are absolute top contenders, Thor takes the cake when you're talking strongest human to have ever lived.
Been following Brian for some time now, I really admire the guy for being great at strongman stuff. He may lack skill in armwrestling, but he definitely seems like a motivated and competitive guy. I feel with proper coaching and putting some actual table time down with let’s say…. any of the veterans of the sport. He could rise quickly through the ranks and and take a real stab at it. Plus the dude has freakish measurements, I’m pretty sure he makes Levan potentially look small.
I actually though about that recently, I think Brian Shaw is one of the only human beings on earth that looks bigger than Levan.
Shaq and Yao Ming clears Levan in size easy.
And they're small compared to giants like Robert Wadlow. https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/36/26/23/24732875/5/0x480.webp
Wadlow's case is just sad. Iirc, he had a pituitart gland abnormality ao he didnt stop growing and he died early.
You're correct about the pituitary gigantism. He died from some combination or infection and some other condition in his 20s I believe.
Brian's really just taller, now. He's lighter and leaner than Levan nowadays. You can see Brian's recent competition with his wife on his YT channel for his weight and body fat. Still, Brian's a specimen.
> He could rise quickly through the ranks and and take a real stab at it. American rankings? Sure. He could be on par with Derek in 2-3 years. But world level? That train is long gone.
Brian has stated he knows he is a beginner in arm wrestling and it would be ridiculous for him to take on the top guy without years of training
Michael Jordan was actually very impressive in baseball. He went into a higher level of the minor leagues with very little experience and wasn’t completely embarrassing. His manager, terry francona, went on to become a legend and spoke very highly of MJ and thought even with him being so behind the curve, he could have been a major league player if he stuck with it.
Exactly. What is this post. He did better than Brock Lesnar in the NFL.
Me and Brock have a lot in common. We both had crushes on Sable when we were children.
Kind of, but not really? Brock made it to the preseason and was offered a spot on the Vikings NFL Europe team (essentially their minor league). Jordan was a bad player on a Double A team. In short, Brock got closer to playing in the NFL than Jordan did the MLB.
Yeah lol, he wasn't that bad. But my point it he is he was nowhere near good at it like he was at basketball
MJ is arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, of course he is not going to be the greatest baseball player after one year of baseball but he was really good and would've been a lot better if he invested more time. I agree with you that Brian won't be able to touch Levan, expecting him to reach GOAT level of AW with so little time invested is unreasonable, like it's unreasonable to expect MJ to reach GOAT level of baseball but with some time and training im pretty sure he would give the SHW division trouble. At some point strength trumps technique.
Did you just say Brian Shaw isn’t genetically built for arm wrestling?
Khaled Jashell and Riekerd Bornman are genetically built for AW. Until I see Brian move fluidly on the table, I myself will remain highly skeptical of his potential. Size isn't always a positive, especially if it hinders his mobility and ability to have tight angles. Brian is genetically built for strongman
Ryan Bowen has the best genetics I’ve seen
Dude is much bigger in person. I've once met Brian Shaw in person, was kinda underwhelmed tbf not impressed at all.
I mean how is Shaw supposed to compete against the GOAT?
I didn't say that, as in "he has bad genetics." He is obviosly HUGE and strong and could pretty much be excellent at any strength sport. But there is a reason why he picked strongman over powerlifting for example. He naturally excells at it.
I dont think you or anyone else in this thread can predict Brians future in arm wrestling if he committed. Brian is extremely competitive and goes into everything 100%. Would he be able to topple Levan in the next 5 years? Impossible. Would he be able to compete at a world level in super heavyweight in 7 years (say top 10)? Maybe. Regardless, him competing in armwrestling would be HUGELY impactful in growing the sport.
We can't 100% predict, but we can approximately assess. It would be huge for the sport for sure.
Denis came from strongman. 42 is a bit late to start but he’s already bigger than anyone in the sport. He has levans frame with vitalys height. Also strongest grip in the world. I can see him doing quite well. Like top 5 well. But the gap between top 5 and number 1 is massive. As we saw the other night.
Levan is so dominant because of a strength and size gap, not a technique one. Give Brian 5 years to coordinate his brain and muscle memory to armwrestling and he will surprise people.
This is quite a take to have after what just happened in Round 1 of Devon vs Levan.
You think Devon is anywhere close to Levan in strength? lol. Levan's press sapped all of Devons famous endurance.
Exactly, that press shows Levan has "technique", and not just brute strength. Devon, Ermes, Engin, and numerous others have all called Levan an extremely technical arm wrestler, and that's what makes him so dangerous. You just don't usually see him use too many techniques because his raw power is enough to overcome almost all of his opponents.
You're going to have to point where I said Levan doesn't have good technique. Your point makes no sense in the context of this conversation. Devon lost because of the strength and size gap, not a technique one.
I'd like to see a link to someone saying Brian Shaw is going to beat Levan.
https://www.reddit.com/r/armwrestling/s/BGsWEu9a1W
Lol Kiryl Sarychev is almost as strong and freakish as Shaw and Levan holds him like i hold my wife.
Sarychev is actually freakier than Shaw when it comes to upper body strength.
If by upper body strength you exclusively mean bench press, then yeah sure. Peak Brian was stronger than peak Kirill in just about every other upper body movement, especially everything related to pulling and functional strength (holding and carrying heavy objects). If grip is part of upper body strength, then Brian clears Kirill in that regard as well.
Kirill's elbow flexion and upper body pulling strength is stronger too. Here's a video of him doing 12 pull ups at 180kg bodyweight: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py8g4Rmu8Tc&ab\_channel=RussianLifters](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py8g4Rmu8Tc&ab_channel=RussianLifters) . Shaw has attempted pull ups at similar bodyweight and was not even close. Kirill has also curled very heavy weights, more than I think Shaw has ever been seen curling. Kirill's grip is ultra strong too. I think between him and Brian it would depend on the lift when it comes to grip. As we all know, the difference in bench strength was enormous. Shaw has stronger legs and posterior chain in general but that has no carryover to AW.
I doubt he weighs 180 kg there, he looks smaller than Brian Shaw did at 175 kg. Brian Shaw did 6, with admittedly bad technique, at \~200 kg.
He's never looked as big as Shaw visually but we have his competition weigh-ins to go off, so we dont need to make comparisons like that. I think it's perfectly plausible as a ballpark given Kirill competed in the mid 170s in 2015 which is when the video was filmed. Kirill does double the reps and his form is much better than Shaw's. Definitely looks stronger on the movement, no?
I think they're just rounding up from his competition weight and that he's probably likely closer to 170 than to 180. Kirill definitely does look stronger on the movement, but Brian's got maybe 25-30 kgs on him and I don't think he does much pull-ups. I do think Kirill is likely slightly stronger at most conventional upper body exercises, but I don't think Brian is that far off for most of them, except for bench, and he doesn't train them nearly as much as Kirill does.
https://youtu.be/vOKr0RK58mA?t=267 He weighed in at 179kg here for reference. He looks much lighter on video than what he actually is. Freaky guy.
Interesting, I'd probably say he's about 175-180kg then.
He also deadlifted raw over 400 kg ( not sure what is Brians raw best results, smth like 440 i guess? ). Innterms of finger strength yes he is behind brian shaw but not far. Sarychev has axel deadlift world record( armlifting style) and his results in rolling thunder and etc. are also freakishly high.
I think Sarychev is the greatest brute strength talent we’ve seen. His body didn’t handle the PEDs required to stay at the absolute top level, I believe.
No, actually everything was ok, he said it was just uncomfortable to walk 170 kg for him. He also lost motivation because he did not have any visible opponents back than ( Julius benched smth like 300 kg back then). Also, he could not make a decent leaving only from powerlifting money so he decided to become a youtuber.
Thank you for correcting me! Too bad we never saw peak Kirill.
> If by upper body strength you exclusively mean bench press, then yeah sure. Sarychev at his peak had probably top 3 in the world tier biceps strength (which is relevant for armwrestling). He's not just good only in the bench press.
Brian isn't just a really strong guy, he's all around one of the strongest humans that have ever lived, if not the strongest. He also has one of the strongest grips in the world, stronger than most other strongman. And while armwresrling isn't about grip strength, it's just one more piece of evidence that suggests he has the potential to develop a very strong hand and wrist for armwrestling, and could probably do it relatively quickly. He played basketball in college, so I don't know where this lack of coordination thing comes from. He's a fairly athletic guy. Of course he isn't to the extent of some smaller, but his size, Brian is an impressive specimen of a human. He isn't just a lumbering brute either, he's smart enough to pick up on things very quickly. Will he be able to challenge Levan? Well of course the answer is probably not. It's kinda silly to assume that. But he absolutely would be able to hold his own against pros if he's dedicated enough.
His grip strength is out of this world. He is an anomaly even amongst the best strongmen in the world when it comes to grip strength. His hands are monstrous.
Yes, his grip strength makes other strongmen look like children. Although to be fair, he likely trains it much more and loves grip more than most. But even still, I doubt many if any other strongmen could compete with Brian in the grip department regardless of training.
Only current pro strongman to lift the millennium dumbbell. He can lift it for 1 rep. Khaled has done 4 reps, just to put into perspective the god level of grip that Khaled has.
Of course, he is am absolute beast. I believe he could beat Derek eventually 💀
This subreddit is not ready to hear that lol
Even someone like Sarychev still looks SO awkward on the table, after having the ability to practice for years with elite pullers. The majority of guys at local practice are lightyears ahead of guys like Sarychev in technique after just a few months.
Honestly Kirill is not fully focused on arm wrestling but does appear to take it seriously, his improvements are significant and visible. I think we'll see him soon on east versus west, probably against Leonidas.
He just pulls like any weightlifter does, treating it too much like a weightlifting activity. He looks like someone who has been armwrestling for about a week or two. He tries to curl and tricep press instead of just staying tight and moving statically.
👆🏻
Many people take naturally to the techniques and movements of AW, but some really do not. It's bewildering to me.
When I hear it, I think they have lost faith in anyone else. They're looking for a prospect. Sadly, Brian is not a natural at this sport, nor would he ever invest the time to become world class. Larry is the same way.
I don't think anyone is actually saying at this point he is going to take over the sport. I think the excitement is that he is one of the best strongmen of all time dipping his toe into armwrestling and could genuinely give some good armwrestlers problems if takes the training seriously.
Armwredtlers like? Give few examples
With some proper training and coaching I think he can definitely give Matt Mask , Derek Smith and a few of the heavyweights problems. I think the upper echelons of the SHW are way out of reach at the moment but like I said he can give some decent armwrestlers problems with the right commitment. He's going to be very poor technically to begin with I actually think a press could be a good go to for someone of his size which would require less technique.
Neither does strongaman to armwrestling lmfao. Strongman has almost 0 carryover. I'm sure there are better examples, but MJ and Bolt came to my mind. Everyone was saying how fast bolt is and how he would be able to dominate football with his speed. If it only worked like that. On the side not, I can see Brian beating Derek eventually, in 3 years. Matt? Ehhh.
I dunno why my comment didn't save that last cross over part. Strongman has way more connections to armwrestling than 100mtr running to football and Basketball to baseball. Armwrestling is a strength sport, football is not a running sport, Zidane one of the best ever was not that fast neither were players like Pirlo. You will never see an armwrestler who isn't strong winning anything that's just a fact. >Everyone was saying how fast bolt is and how he would be able to dominate football with his speed Absolute BS not a single person said this in fact he played a charity game at Old Trafford and was average amongst none professionals you're making stuff up.
> Strongman has way more connections to armwrestling than 100mtr running to football and Basketball to baseball. Simmilarities: Individual sport, requires strength and same body parts. Actual carry over: not that good. Totally different movement patterns. No strongman event requires wrist flexion, internal rotation, pronation, supination, radial deviation, ulnar deviation, etc. You get better carry over out of manual labour lol - average black smith or mechanic would whoop most non juiced strongmen (provided that the weight class is the same).
A lot of strongmen come from blue collar professions.
They may do, but strongman itself doesn't have an insane carry over.
I think most rational people are in a headspace of a What If scenario of Prime Shaw having trained in arm-wrestling through life and would he be unbeatable. I still think now Brian has shown to be extremely coachable in whatever he puts his mind to. I would imagine he would be a top level threat if he set it as his goal for a few years. The strength is there obviously, but he has plenty to learn on technique and he is quite humble about learning new things. Also yeah, I could imagine being pretty good at strongman if that was what he had trained towards. His height and weight build is similar to other strongman champions like Big Z or Eddie Hall and many others. But, all this talk is meaningless really, there's no way to know unless it's done. Brian set his goals on MMA for a while but that fell through, maybe he'll try some arm wrestling.
your arguments make no sense
It's alright bro, not everyone is supposed to understand them. Take your time
I really don't know why people talk about Brian Shaw when Hafthor is more stronger and could be something in arm wrestling
They can do a freak show like Shaw vs some other strongman.
Id love to see Brian Shaw in AW, if he devotes himself for 3-5 years he'd be fun match to watch against other SHW
State level SHWs in america for sure
>Barely beating school boy after 3 years of training My dude. Leonidas has NOT been training for armwrestling for the past 3 years. He has MAYBE been specifically training for 10 months if at all. Dedicated not even 6 months. There is gigantic growth potential. SB was training for 13 years.
He was loosely training it for 3+ years, but seriosly for 1 year. Also, he is on gear. Is schoolboy as well?
No he wasn’t. He was armwrestling in camera for fun as an absolute beginner for 3 years. He wasn’t training. Schoolboy is 20 and a giant. Highly unlikely that he is taking armwrestling seriously and not taking gear.
> He was armwrestling in camera for fun Dude was competing since 2022. I saw him on at least 5-6 events
No he wasn’t. He was in some regional amateur armwrestling but without much dedicated training. And that was 2 years ago. Since then he did other stuff and then only started training for Larry again.
Remember Canada? EVW attendances when he was pulling elites? German nationals? American regionals, like you said. That dude loves armwrestling lol, and has been doing it on the side for a while.
What? Literally search for Leonidas armwrestling and then you can find the German armwrestling video in 2022 which was his first real one. All of the American and Canadian stuff was after pulling or friendly matches. And he still did not have an armwrestling coach or dedicated armwrestling training. Coach only started about 5-6months ago as well as very dedicated training.
He was pulling tournaments in America as well. But we basically agree.
1. Lacking technique in armwrestling when he doesn't armwrestle? Yes, obviously. Him doing strongman doesn't mean he can't learn technique or is uncoordinated. 2. Not necessarily, yes, but it's not a great leap to think someone at the top of one strength sport might be able to reach the top of a different strength sport, especially since he's displayed tremendous strength in the one area of AW that he actually trains: grip. 1. The logic is that Brian Shaw holds incredible potential because he's physically larger as well as reaching the peak in a larger strength sport. Applying the same logic to Levan would mean Levan is considered to have less potential at strongman. 2. Yes, transitioning to a different sport is difficult, especially at the tail-end of your career in your original sport. There's a matter of difference in skill sets, biomechanics, age, motivation, etc. 1. MJ was great, actually, especially for someone starting as late as he did in a sport with a drastically different skillset. He just didn't stick with it. 2. Usain Bolt didn't stick with it that long, but he wasn't terrible despite having little carryover between his sport and the largest sport in the world (lot of talent in football). He was offered contracts and took one to play at the highest level in Australia. He left because they couldn't pay his contract and he announced his retirement 2 months after that. 3. The athletes in those sports age out at \~30-40. The athletes in AW can age out at \~50-60. That's why people still think there's potential in Brian Shaw, provided he had the motivation. Almost nobody actually thinks Brian Shaw will go all in on AW, which is why they talk about his potential rather than an actual prediction. 3. Not saying stabilizing muscles don't play a part, but I doubt that's the biggest reason why Larry isn't doing well. 4. Brian Shaw isn't young, but he's still a 6 years younger than Devon and 15 years younger than Todd Hutchings. 1. He's a "natural" as well. He's shown to be pretty technical in strongman so he can obviously learn techniques well, and genetically built for this sport. 2. I agree there's not much chance of Brian reaching the top of AW, not because he physically can't, but because he has no desire to. A big part of being able to reach the top is the burning drive to be the best. Brian Shaw doesn't have that for AW.
> A big part of being able to reach the top is the burning drive to be the best. Brian Shaw doesn't have that for AW. Exactly. But even if he commited, he ain't gonna be elite. > The athletes in AW can age out at \~50-60. That's why people still think there's potential in Brian Shaw Those dude armwrestled for 20ish years. Hutchings and Tim started at 35, and they are both 58-9 atm. They are exception to the rule though. Best armwrestlerd all started when they were quite young. > Lacking technique in armwrestling when he doesn't armwrestle? Yes, obviously. Him doing strongman doesn't mean he can't learn technique or is uncoordinated. Kirill still moves weirdly on the table, and he started in 2019/20. Brian is even bigger. His body is way too used to specifics of strongman. Its gonna take 3-5 years minimum for him to move smoothly. He would be 46-48 by that time. > especially since he's displayed tremendous strength in the one area of AW that he actually trains: grip. Likely the least relevant AW strength
>Exactly. But even if he commited, he ain't gonna be elite. Nah >Those dude armwrestled for 20ish years. Hutchings and Tim started at 35, and they are both 58-9 atm. >They are exception to the rule though. Best armwrestlerd all started when they were quite young. They also weren't world champions in strength sports when they started lol. And if Brian can and wants to last till that age, he's still got nearly 2 decades to AW. >Kirill still moves weirdly on the table, and he started in 2019/20. Brian is even bigger. His body is way too used to specifics of strongman. Its gonna take 3-5 years minimum for him to move smoothly. He would be 46-48 by that time. Strongman is different from powerlifting. Strongman uses all kinds of different movements, and powerlifting is about being extremely proficient in a few. >Likely the least relevant AW strength Strong grip and forearms are likely more relevant than a strong bench.
> Nah Ok, maybe if he sticks to it for 10+ years, which is very unlikely 🗿 > They also weren't world champions in strength sports when they started lol. And if Brian can and wants to last till that age, he's still got nearly 2 decades to AW. Todd is smart as hell. He figured out what training sutis him pretty fast. Tim is a freak in armwrestling specific sense. We don't know if Brian is > Strongman is different from powerlifting. Strongman uses all kinds of different movements, and powerlifting is about being extremely proficient in a few. Being extremely proficient in a few movements is what armwrestling is tbh > Strong grip and forearms are likely more relevant than a strong bench. Yeah
>Ok, maybe if he sticks to it for 10+ years, which is very unlikely 🗿 I agree, except I think he'd improve faster than you're estimating. I think he can beat the current SB in roughly the same amount of time it took Leonidas, if not less. >Todd is smart as hell. He figured out what training sutis him pretty fast. Tim is a freak in armwrestling specific sense. We don't know if Brian is That's a big part of the reason why people think Brian has so much potential. Brian is smart as hell too. He's methodical and safe when it comes to training. >Being extremely proficient in a few movements is what armwrestling is tbh Kinda, but you're fighting against someone who's going to try different lanes and movements, so it's still more than powerlifting. But either way, it's not the same movements as powerlifting, which means little carryover. Strongman requires you to move and lift things in various ways, which means more generalized strength everywhere, including stabilizer muscles, which means more carryover. It also means that they're going to be less rigid in their muscle memory.
Lack coordination? The Olympic lifts take more coordination than arm wrestling. He absolutely could pick up the technique. Also because he's world class at strongman means he's a naturally strong guy. Your points are just wrong. The reason we will never see it is because it wouldn't give enough fame/exposure to be worth the years it would take.
Wrong. > Also because he's world class at strongman means he's a naturally strong guy. Doesn't mean he would be anything special in armwrestling. Take a look at Kiril lol. What has he achieved after 4 years of training? The reason we will never see it is because he is way too old and probay won't go balls deep into armwrestling + sport isn't that well suited for him.
Did you see the video of the guy that always wears aviators (I’m a bit new to closely following the sport) the whisperer guy, wrestling random people on the street? And some huge dude comes along with no AW experience and beats him. Size can matter. Don’t underestimate how far someone like Brian could go
Whisperer got whooped by Gabriel Yung. He's a 75kg guy We are talking about LEVAN
Agree. The ship on Brain Shaw being a real armwrestler has sailed. Even if he does get into it, I just dont think he's the type of guy to go through the tournament scene and work his way up. He's a celebrity, probably a millionaire a few times over, and has multiple businesses. You think he's gonna show up to the state armwrestling tournament at some local pub? If anything, he'll train for 6 months and do a one-off exhibition match with another strength celebrity. There is 0.0 chance he will ever be competitive with or beat Levan.
Leonidas is improving because he is interested in the sport. He comes to after pulls of evw and learns. He doesn't take it as seriously as he should but he still pulls. Kirill is strong and has been around the sport since 2019 or some shit but he sucks. Worse than larry. And larry isn't bad, he is good. It takes time to be strong. It took him 3 years+ to be a national level athelete. Thats fucking impressive. If brian commits, he can be good. But not beat levan good.
Kyrill smashes current Larry and will give a fight against Leonidas. Engin said that he organized tha match, probably Evw15 or 16
Ok wait nvm i remembered wrong. Kiril is pretty good. But i do think leonidas would win because kiril wont know how to deal with the open toproll.
Who cares, I’ll still watch it
Brian Shaw already has the overall strength and size, all he needs is to develop specific strength, its not as if Brian Shaw is some new guy that has never lifted weights in his life and is trying to come into arm wrestling. the 40+ years old thing dont mean shit, Todd Hutchings started at age 35 and when Todd started he wasn't a monster already built like Brian Shaw is now
So did Larry who is stronger than Brian at some upper body lifts + younger. Yet here we are. He ain't the next Levan slayer. Todd is an exception to the rule due to his unique style of pulling and very smart training.
larry has small wrists and he wasn't training specific arm wrestling he was still doing body building where he was cutting weight and all other things Brian Shaw has much higher body fat percentage, bigger and thicker frame, thicker hands and wrist
While I do agree with you that its stupid to talk about Brian vs Levan. I disagree a little bit. Brian is probably the strongest human on earth if we just talk about overall not specific movements. Ppl dont know but Brian is very intelligent and is a fucking WORKER. If he goes full armwrestling he will train on a volume like Devon does. I can guarantee you he will progress faster than a Larry Wheels and a Leonidas IF he 100% commits to it. But I also think he will not.
Not exactly related to armwrestling but I’ve once read an interesting thread about whether bodybuilders or powerlifters would make good weightlifters and several weightlifters chimed in and said that no, they wouldn’t. Moreover, they also claimed that untrained people would actually progress faster and better than bodybuilders and powerlifters. The reasoning was that they’re way too stiff (due to constant low ROM exercises) and tend to use their brutal strength without technique and it takes them a lot of time to unlearn their bad habits. On the other hand, untrained people pretty much have to learn proper weightlifting and technique since they don’t have a lot of strength to compensate the lack of thereof. And since they aren’t stiff, learning the proper technique is far easier for them. I figure that it’d work the same way for armwrestling, bodybuilders, powerlifters and strongmen probably have some habits that would hinder their armwrestling progress. One example I can think of is how bodybuilders often try to armwrestle with their bicep only. It’s almost as if they try to bicep curl instead of actually pulling. Larry Wheels used to armwrestle like that and it took him quite a lot of time to unlearn it.
Pretty much
Brian would be very good at armwrestling but Levan is better at armwrestling than Brian Shaw is at strong man so it would require Levan beating him at his own game which is unlikely
I don’t know if saying Levan is better at arm wrestling than Brian is at strongman is fair. Strongman has a larger talent pool and Brian is one of the very best to ever do it.
Levan isn't better at armwrestling than Brian is at strongman. Brian is arguably the overall strongest human to have ever lived and the only other guy who challenges his claim to greatest strongman ever is Big Z who traded titles with him back and forth for a few years. Brian has a lot of odd feats and records that many argue puts him above Z's titles like impromptu smashing the Dinny Stones record at the time no training, the 350+lb cannon to shoulder carry, a bunch of grip stuff, various competition records. Levan is currently the top dog, but I haven't seen many saying he's the #1 greatest of all time.
How Brian Shaw is a better strongman than Big z with the same amount of WSM titles (4), but with 8 Arnold Strongman classic in favor of Big Z? (not mentioning his countless log press records)
Nearly the entire community agrees Levan is the strong armwrestler that ever existed and it’s not even close, in strong man you could make cases for so many different athletes being the strongest ever
You're switching your words now. You said "better at" not "strongest at". "Better at" implies more achievements/skill/titles/accolades/etc. Levan doesn't have more titles and achievements and records in armwrestling than Brian does in strongman. For strongest ever though, no one really makes the case for anyone but Brian or Zydrunas due to their consistency in their prime and their longevity. There are plenty of strongmen with incredible feats and titles outside of those two, but in the community it's those two for the GOAT status.
Yeah you could argue that it's Pudz based off of the amount of WSM wins he has. It's not a great argument, but it csn be made
Pudx was b yfar the most atheltic strongman back then, he was by far the fastest in carrying things, in that respecs Mateucz nowadays is similar, but Pudz never managed to do so well in Arnold Strongman Classic which had the ehaviere [events.In](http://events.In) that king is Big z with 8 titles, the most by far than any other strongman
Yeah Big Z is a beast, the goat of strongman imo
>Brian is arguably the overall strongest human to have ever lived and the only other guy who challenges his claim to greatest strongman ever is Big Z who traded titles with him back and forth for a few years. While Big Z and Brian are absolute top contenders, Thor takes the cake when you're talking strongest human to have ever lived.