Bulgaria Armwrestling

Интервю с Джон Брзенк

- "Младите години"

How old were you when you started armwrestling with your father, and where did you live at that time?

- I started armwrestling well before my dad got me involved in organized wrestling.

I can recall pulling all three years in Jr. High school at Parkland Jr High in Mc Henry Illinois. We would have a 20 min roll call every morning before classes started.

During this time we would armwrestle. There were about 4 or 5 kids that did this every morning.

I was by no means the best… I didn’t start armwrestling on a regulation table until I was about 13. I hurt my elbow / broke it, at this age pulling against a friend of my dads who was a fly weight champion.

There was a period of about three years after that that I took off, except during the summer months, because I moved to Utah and lived with my mother the first three years of high school.

I didn’t start seriously Armwrestling with my dad on a regulation table until I moved back to Illinois before my Sr. year of high school. This was around age 17…

My Armwrestling career started in the Midwest Chicago area.

What was it that made your father to start armwrestling and how long had he been doing it himself when you first started out?

- My dad was a naturally strong guy who liked to stay in shape and work out with the weights. He owned a bowling alley and worked much of his time at the bar there. One of his customers told him about an Armwrestling event that was being held in the Chicago area. I don’t know how well he did, but this was all it took to get him hooked into the sport.

I was maybe 11 or 12 at the time.

And NO I didn’t start Armwrestling with him until my late teens.

Did your brother Bill start armwrestling at the same time as you, or did he start later?

- My brother lived with my Mother throughout his childhood. He was into BMX racing and didn’t do any Armwrestling until his adult years. I’d say not until his early twenties.

What year did you compete for the first time? Do you remember what tournament it was?

- My first official tournament was a small local event in one of the area Bars in the Mc Henry area. I can remember having only about 5 or 6 guys in the class. I won maybe one or two matches and then got beat by someone my dad knew.

It was an unmatched experience for me to accompany my dad to an adult bar to do this activity. I was easily hooked and continued to go almost every other week to a small event anywhere with him.

How did you do in your very first tournaments? What weight class did you attend, and do you remember any certain armwrestlers you met?

- I weighed maybe 180 or 190 back then so I could make the lightweight class for the first couple of years of my involvement… I quickly grew into my current size and weight and making the 210 lb class was more common than any other class.

I became good friends with one of the local champions and started working out with him for about 3 or 4 years … His name was Ron Weidner… I can remember learning a lot from a thin guy that would come up from the south, Bert Whitfield … he was amazing and helped me understand different angles … the top roll, and good hooking technique.

How often did you compete during your first years?

- In the early years I would attend a small event almost every other week sometimes every week.

I had accumulated hundreds of small trophy’s that filled my small work out room.

And of course we would occasionally head out on a road trip to larger events…Petaluma …Reno Reunion… Vegas.

John and Steve Cox, 1984.	John vs. John Buononato in 1985.
John and Johnny Walker in 1986.	John and David Tagles in 1987.

How was your mindset at that time during the tournaments and how would you say it has evolved up to today?

- My mindset was to surprise the larger men I would compete against. I had good strength, but my real power was in my hand and my speed to hit others out of position.

If my hit was caught I was in big trouble.

My mindset now is ..not to get hurt.

There isn't much information to find online about the events you attended before 1985. What kind of tournaments did you attend, and whom were your toughest opponents before that year?

- Well in late 84 and into 85 I was becoming a very good wrestler and there were only a few that would become on my haven’t beaten list …Johnny Walker was on the TOP of this list. He was the man to beat at 200 lbs …others included Clay Rosencrans from California and many of the heavyweights that I would occasionally test … Cleve Dean, Virgil Arciero, Ed Arnold … and the toughest surprise of them all Dave Patton.

I struggled with a few of the Top local guys but it only lasted a year or two.

I know you had a period when you trained much with Dave Patton during your early years in the sport. Please tell us about it. For how long did you train together, and what did it do for your development?

- I moved to Virginia a year or two out of High school in the summer of 84.

I lived there and trained with Dave and his group for about three or four months.

He taught me much about how to win and how to lose.

John Brzenk and Dave Patton.

He impressed me on how quite of a champion he was … very intense and unforgiving on the setup … but never would brag about his accomplishments.
He taught me at a very early stage that Size does not matter.

My understanding of the Posting top roll and how effective it could become became very clear with Dave … Back pressure even though it wasn’t one of my strong suites developed mainly because of Dave Patton. I still to this day pull exactly how he instructed me to pull in the straps.

John Brzenk and Gary Stain.

How did you prepare yourself the months leading up to Over the Top? Did you prepare for a long time? Did you train more, or just as usual?

- During the months before Over The Top I was training with a very small group of people … really only ONE guy mainly to be honest on a regular basis. A guy named Gary Stain. I continued to do what worked for me … to PULL hard once a week. With very light, limited weight lifting.

How was your mind the day of the tournament? Did it feel like you could win already before you started competing?

- I knew going in there would be two guys that would be trouble … Ed Arnold who beat me a year earlier in the qualifier in Beverly Hills and a new unknown monster named Richard Lupkes.

As luck would have it these two wrestled each other before I pulled either of them and they went to war with Richard coming out on Top.

Any one of the three of us could have won that truck that day.

I was good … and a bit Lucky.

How did it feel when you finally won the truck? Was it as amazing as one can imagine?

- I was exhausted, the final match wasn’t until about 6am the next morning.

I didn’t leave nor did I sleep for over 24 hours.

I thought it was just the beginning of bigger and better things to come for the Sport.

Yes, it was a very amazing experience for someone so young in the sport.

Unforgettable.

John just after he won the final against Ed Arnold at Over the Top.

What's the story behind how you got your role in the movie? Did you know about it already before the actual tournament Over the Top?

- I didn’t have an official Role in the Movie. The winners of each class were given a small spot after the tournament ended. These are two of the three shots you see of me in the Movie. The third shot is some footage of the actual professional event.

Super Bras de Fer in Paris was a very spectacular event that stood out in the early 1990's. What are your strongest memories from that event?

- I was very skeptical going to this event in Paris. The information about the event was very weak at best. Looking back it was a huge risk to throw something so BUG in such a huge arena.

I don’t remember much about this event it didn’t return on most of its promises.

It was more of a staged show than a good quality Armwrestling event.

Gary Goodridge and John Brzenk in the final at Super Bras de Fer in Paris 1991.

Apart from some of the European- and World championships through the years, I've got the impression that Over the Top and Super Bras de Fer were the largest events in the history of armwrestling in organizational terms, is it true, or have you ever heard of or been involved in even bigger armwrestling events?

- Well the Over The Top tournament still in my mind has the distinct award for being the Biggest Armwrestling promotion ever done.

The second in my mind would be the Early Golden Bear events in Moscow. 1990 in the circus arena was very well promoted with a great audience.

As far as strength of the field some of the early Vegas events were very tough.

Please tell us a little about your first trip to the Golden Bear in Moscow in 1990 when you met Zaur Tskadadze.

- I knew going to Russia for the first time would be like arriving in the local bar and wrestling strong guys that knew nothing about the sport. It was a big mismatch to say the least bringing a group of Arm wrestlers to compete against these guys.

But it was a learning experience for them, and of course it didn’t take long for them to figure out what was needed to become a more effective armwrestler.

How about Golden Bear in 1998, did you know that Alan Karaev would be the guy to beat before you went there?

- No, I had NO idea who Alan Karaev was, or that many of the wrestlers that day would be so advanced in the sport.

The year after, in 1999, you went to the Worlds in Japan, and there you looked in tremendous shape! Karaev never showed up and instead Ibragim Ibragimov was the one who got to feel your incredible strength in the Open final. Now I wonder - did you have Karaev in mind when you prepared for that event, or did you just go there to compete not caring if he would show up?

- No, I went to Japan to win. I believed strongly that I could beat Alan or anyone else that would show up.

I did learn from my mistakes in Russia though, and went there being very careful not to pull more than I had to. In Japan I became much more focused on staying crisp and fresh.

One thing I've been wondering is, which John Brzenk was the strongest - the one at Yukon Jack in 1996 or the one at the Worlds in Japan 1999?

- Unlike weight lifting Armwrestling has so many variables to really know when one is at their best.

There were 4 or 5 years in my late twenties that I felt I had a very substantial cushion against many of the Top armwrestlers competing during that time.

John and Bill Frank in Japan 1999.

1996 doesn’t stand out as being some special strong year for me… But I was very strong and mentally prepared with no real injuries in the 1999 Japan worlds.

I know it's a hard question, but if you could compare that strength in 1999 to your strength in Vegas 2006, which was your best shape in your career, how much stronger would you say you were in Vegas? Was it a big difference?

- My slow twitch muscle, lifting strength might have been at it’s very best for sure in 2006. I was the heaviest of my life and lifting more than I have ever lifted.

Was I as powerful as my earlier years on the table ???

I’m not so sure about that.

Because even though I was bigger and stronger than ever I still lacked the explosive speed I once had in my younger years… this makes a huge difference in this sport.

I could tighten up and hit guys that I know were three times my strength and in a slow pull would beat me every single time.

The nerve ending and lack of any pain made my hand very strong.

Strength and speed equals real POWER on the table.

I was able to pull longer and harder on the table in my younger years…

I had a good combination of both for a span in my twenties.

John Brzenk vs. Ibragim Ibragimov in their qualification match and the Open final
at Worlds in Japan 1999. (Never before seen footage!)

The best shape of John Brzenk, here he is gripping up with Jim Scott at
Ultimate Armwrestling 2006 in Las Vegas.

John and Richard Lupkes in 1988.	John and Cleve Dean in 1993.
Ron Bath and John, 1998.	John and Alan Karaev, Golden Bear 1998.
John in deep hook with Dick Ivars at John Brzenk Cup in Sweden 1999.	John vs. Ibragim Ibragimov in the Open final at Worlds in Japan 1999.