Travis Bagent is one of the most renowned arm wrestlers in the world today. Travis, who was born on 10th March, 1976, has been doing arm wrestling since 1997. Travis is a left handed arm wrestling champion who, when first started, lost to all its contenders. However, now at age 38, Travis has worked his way to the top since he first started out and is a world recognized star.
Travis started arm wrestling at the age of 15. The arm wrestling champion then worked his weekends in a bar, bar backing, cleaning and arm wrestling. In the bar in which he worked, Travis had direct encounters with many arm wrestlers including Ray Patton, Bob Lear, Les Whims among others.
Since 2000, Travis Bagent has gained nine National Title Rt & Lt and 5 AAA’s from 1999 to 2003. He has many other awards and recognitions to his name. While it is no doubt that Travis Bagent is today a world recognized name, he worked really hard to become what he is today. Most of his success can be attributed to his fitness, which comes as no surprise as you need to have that kind of strength for arm wrestling.
Advise For Aspiring Arm Wrestlers
- Travis Bagent trains with CrossFit and does weight training instead of relying solely on training that focuses primarily on arm wrestling techniques and tips. Travis advices new arm wrestlers to first get strong and then start arm wrestling. Moreover, as opposed to how one might generally assume about Travis, Travis actually weight trains instead of going for arm wrestling practices every week.
Tips For Building Strength
Grip Strength
- Travis Bagent trains intensely to improve his grip strength. Working on grip strength is crucial if you want to improve your overall strength for arm wrestling. You can improve your grip strength by training on cannon balls. Cannon balls are hard and small in size and therefore one can easily wrap their hands around it. In order to successfully train on the cannon balls, Travis advises to use the middle finger and thumb; use the thumb to strengthen your grip and wrap the middle finger around the other side of the grip. Once you have maintained your grip, pull yourself up and down but keep the power on your hands rather than your fingers.
Neutral Grip Pull Up Holes
- Travis Bagent also performs neutral grip pull up holes for improving grip strength. In order to perform this, lift your head above the bars and hold two bars with each hands. Remember, the idea is to rely solely on your hand strength and not your finger strength. After tightening and adjusting your grip, leave the support beneath and start hanging. It is advisable to stay up there for 30-35 seconds for starters and build on that as you go. Moreover, every time you drop performing the neutral grip pull up holes, add more weight.
Pinch Blocks
- Travis also uses Pinch Blocks for training. Travis recommends using chalk on your hands before lifting the pinch blocks.
Irrespective of whether you are using cannon balls or pinch blocks or any other equipment for building grip strength, Travis advises to use your hand power rather than relying solely on your fingers as doing so will put a strain on your wrist. With touching fingers, rotation becomes impossible.
The Diet
- Along with weight training and keeping himself fit, much of Travis Bagent’s strength has to do with his diet. The arm wrestling champion was an avid follower of the Paleo Diet, which he has said has helped him improve his strength and fitness.
- The Paleo Diet involves eating how we used to in the caveman days. This means eating meats, nuts, fish, regional veggies, leafy greens and other healthy and natural food items. Contrarily, to follow the Paleo diet and become as fit and strong as Travis Bagent, you will have to mark your exit from the conventional food items such as pasta, cereal, candy, chocolates and others.
Travis Bagent is the number one left handed arm wrestler and number 3rd right handed arm wrestler in the world. Travis, who started out at the age of 15, is also involved heavily in CrossFit- both as an announcer as well as a trainer. From his experience, for newbie’s and people interested in improving their strength and becoming arm wrestlers, Travis says not to focus solely on arm wrestling and you should also not over specialize in it as it is very rough on the tendons and joints both. Becoming a part of CrossFit, Travis was able to take time off from specialized training and wrestling and focus on other key areas of strength.