Chapter 21 Arm Wrestling

Although he was not inherently someone who loved to join in on the excitement, understanding his surroundings and what was happening was a human instinct.

Having just finished three sets of pull-ups, Li Ang had planned to rest for a few minutes, so he joined the crowd as well.

As he approached the crowd, the first thing he noticed wasn't what they were doing, but a strong scent of antiperspirant mixed with a variety of body odors, each with its own style.

It was unavoidable, after all, when in America, one had to get used to these smells sooner or later.

Li Ang moved closer and realized that everyone was watching two people arm wrestle or, to be more precise, engage in arm wrestling, which is generally called 斗腕 back home.

Fortuitously, he had some understanding of this sport from his past.

For instance, there had been an episode on a variety show where the arm wrestling champion Wei Sicheng participated.

This sport, with its variety of localized rules in different regions back home, couldn't be equaled to mere arm wrestling.

Because it had a set of uniform rules which enhanced the competitiveness of the sport and, most importantly, improved the safety of arm wrestling.

Due to the variance of rules, improper exertion techniques and such, joint injuries and ligament strains were not uncommon in non-organized arm wrestling events, and there were even more severe cases like broken arms.

But in actuality, the sport of arm wrestling had a history spanning several decades internationally, with rules that were quite scientific and strict.

It allowed bodily movements and elbow slides and added handgrips, all while imposing various restrictions.

For instance, you couldn't lift both feet off the ground at the same time, while defending your shoulder couldn't drop below the table for more than three seconds, and if you were at a disadvantage, letting go would mean defeat, also your elbow couldn't leave the pad, among other rules.

Strict competition rules made it possible for the professional life span in this sport to be extremely lengthy, with many athletes, in their sixties or seventies, grey-haired, and still not falling behind in front of younger competitors.

Bringing his thoughts back to the present, one of the arm wrestlers was a well-built, white male with curly golden hair and a goatee, and the other was the Gorilla Captain, whose muscle definition was even more exaggerated, with a physique that could compete with Captain America's.

Looking at his arm and then at his own, Li Ang felt like he'd need to combine two or three of his own arms to match up.

Although the Gorilla Captain had a slightly larger arm muscle mass, the strength of the two competitors seemed quite close, still in a deadlock.

The competitor in black kept pushing on the offense, sweat pouring down and wetting the table.

In contrast, the one in white, though also gritting his teeth to defend, looked quite relaxed; his wrist almost touched the table several times, but he managed to hold it off each time.

After about three minutes like this, the competitor in white finally took advantage of the moment the other exhausted his strength, flipping the match around in the span of a breath.

The room immediately erupted in enthusiastic cheers; you could say the atmosphere was maxed out.

The Gorilla Captain, clearly frustrated, kept saying "Thanks, thanks" under his breath.

But there was no helping it; he reluctantly took out two fifty-dollar bills and handed them to the other side.

As the crowd slowly dispersed, Li Ang returned to where he had been training.

However, by now, he had begun to ponder; arm wrestling seemed like a way to make money!

What was key was that it was fast money with hardly any risk of injury.

They had been just entertaining themselves just now, but in official arm wrestling competitions, the prize money was actually quite substantial, easily amounting to tens or even hundreds of thousands of US dollars.

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Speaking of this, he was reminded of the "Slap Power" he had seen at Sheila's home a few days ago, where people were really putting their lives on the line to earn money.

However, Li Ang looked at his own arms and realized they were obviously still too weak; he would be instantly defeated if he joined.

But Lu Xun once said, "If you're bad at something, practice more!"

So, Li Ang silently increased the arm strength portion of his training plan.

At the beginning of the training, he wanted to test his bench press and squat weights to make a plan for future workouts.

The first was bench pressing the bar only; even though it was just pushing a slick bar, it actually weighed 20kg. Many beginners who had never tried it couldn't properly perform a standard bench press.

Originally, a curvy Jewish girl in yoga clothes, who occasionally glanced over at Li Ang because of his lean physique and looks, snorted and shifted her attention to a musclebound guy after she saw him bench pressing just the bar.

Even though it was just the bar, Li Ang performed every repetition with great seriousness.

He knew the standard bench press technique by heart, including grip width and style, and which muscles should be exerting more force in each variation.

But all this was theory, and what he really needed now was the relevant muscle memory.

After doing over twenty reps and feeling completely proficient in the motion, Li Ang increased the weight to 40kg.

This weight was a bit challenging for him, but he was still able to do about ten reps without a problem.

For the next set, he increased the weight to 50kg. Gritting his teeth, he managed to push it up, but was exhausted after just five or six reps.

The slightly plump Jewish girl, seeing that he had increased the weight to 50kg, was not surprised; after all, she could handle that much too.

She didn't really know much about it, though; as a beginner, Li Ang's body weight of 59kg and being able to bench press 50kg was already a decent achievement.

Moreover, this weight was not his maximum limit but his working set weight.

Those who knew about strength training could estimate that Li Ang's one-rep max, the maximum weight he could lift once, was likely around 60kg.

This weight was almost more than his own body weight and indicated that he was very talented, especially for his first workout session.

Although online forums boast that bench pressing 100kg is the beginner standard and whatnot, these claims were as reliable as Zhou on Zhihu's average annual income of a million.

In reality, the people who can bench press 100kg are not ubiquitous but are definitely the elite in the gym.

Having a fairly good understanding of his strength, Li Ang then increased the weight to 60kg. As he had anticipated, he could push it up once, but struggled with the second rep.

In fact, based on the volume of his upper body muscles, he shouldn't have been able to lift that much weight in the first place.

The only reason he could do so was due to his above-average Nerve Aggregation Ability.

The bench press testing was over, and next up was the squat.

Although it was not included in his training plan, Li Ang still wanted to know his current level of lower body strength.

For the squat, he wasn't as cautious as with the bench press and directly loaded the barbell to 80kg. Li Ang started his first attempt.

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