On the laundry list of things I might first notice about a woman — her eyes, her smile, whether she is aiming a large-bore handgun at me — biceps generally don’t rank too high.
But when the woman is Greeley’s Brandy Stark, one of America’s greatest arm-wrestlers, well, I check out the muscles in her shirt sleeves.
We were in the weight room at Work Out West, Brandy’s hometown gym. She was fresh from a grueling static hold with a 40-pound dumbbell, replicating the feel of locking down on an opponent’s unfortunate arm.
Brandy assessed her bulging bicep. “You know, I have no idea how big my arms are. A lot of women don’t have good upper-body strength, but for whatever reason I do.”
Her beefy forearms taper into strong wrists and small, almost delicate, hands. In two weeks she hopes to have them wrapped around a big trophy.
Stark’s goal is to be the first woman to win her sport’s triple crown. She’s one title away, needing only a victory at the U.S. Armwrestling Federation championships on Aug. 3 in Salt Lake City.
Stark also won major tourneys in May and June. In horse-racing terms, they were arm-wrestling’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. The USAF tourney is the Belmont — and the third jewel in the triple crown.
If she places first or second in Salt Lake, competing in the 176-pound-plus unlimited class, she makes Team USA and goes to the world meet.
“That’s the dream,” she said.
Stark is 35. She has the thick trunk and sturdy legs of a shot-putter, but was a volleyball player and sprinter growing up in Limon. Her spiked hair is streaked with blond.
On her right bicep is a tattoo: “Armwrestler.”
“It’s official,” she said, grinning. “I can’t quit now.”
Brandy, a mother of three, began arm-wrestling in 2003.
“I just like the adrenaline rush and being able to compete one on one,” she said. “Although I get nervous before meets. Like nauseous nervous.
“But that goes away after the first match.”
There is little money in her sport, just bragging rights.
Her husband, Russell, introduced her to the sport. He, too, is a competitive arm-wrestler, though not quite at the elite level of his wife.
Russell is an easygoing guy and doting husband. Massaging Brandy’s left shoulder, he proudly told me a story.
“I had some of my roughneck friends down one evening,” said Russell, an oil-rig worker in Wyoming. “They wanted to arm-wrestle me, but I told them they’d have to wrestle Brandy first.
“She pinned them all. And these were big, strong dudes.”
Little did the dudes know.
Along with iron biceps and forearms, arm-wrestlers develop unusual tendon strength. An average person’s elbow tendon is the diameter of a pencil. A champion wrestler’s might be as thick as a nickel.
Technique is crucial. Some competitors try to nail opponents out of the gate. Others lock their arm in place until the opponent tires, then slowly lever them over for the pin.
“It takes a certain personality to start arm-wrestling,” Brandy said. “You have so many aches and pains.”
Brandy wrestles as a righty and lefty, often exiting tourneys lugging two trophies. Nothing is left to chance: She scouts her opponents. “I don’t know if they scout me, but if they don’t, they should.”
Brandy hoisted a barbell. Russell looked on, beaming.
Forget Beijing. History awaits in Utah, just a few pins away.
William Porter’s column runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 303-954-1977 or wporter@denverpost.com.
