Name: Thomas Manghi
Class: 1989
Height: 174cm
Weight: 68 kg
Wrist: 18cm
Bicept: 39 cm
Foreamr: 37 cm
Titles: 7 times Champions 60/65/70/75kg, Coppa Italia – 80kg, EuroArm 2016 – 60kg, ZlotyTur 2016 – 63kg
Hello everyone, I’m Thomas Manghi!
My sports career began on soccer field like many kids of my country, which I subsequently had to abandon in favor of my enlistment in the army which today represents my occupation.
A day like so many others, I found myself in a pub drinking with friends and fate would have it that I met the Viruses of Varese right there who were making a demonstration on Armwrestling, so for fun I tried a few hits and I was immediately complimented on my strength in relation to my low body weight!
I admit that until then I never considered Armwrestling like a real sport so much, so that after that afternoon a bit strange, I went back to my traditional workouts.
After about 6 months, returning to that pub, I remembered that experience and so I decided to ask the owner of the restaurant for more information, so he gave me the phone number of one of those who would become my teammate.
I contacted him immediately and the same evening I found myself having a drink with him, so he began to introduce me to this somewhat particular world, from the context, to the rules and everything that was supposed to know a person who is completely unrelated to this world! There
spark struck and from that moment I understood that Armwrestling was my sport!!
Over time my workouts have evolved and at times, there was no internet and there wasn’t much material about it, so I started to travel, especially abroad and in global contexts where with the
ever-increasing thirst for knowledge, I have been able to observe since down to the smallest detail, the techniques and all the strategies useful for improving at the table, and at each competition I came back matured and with a ever greater knowledge baggage with which consequently I went to adjust my workouts, with techniques and exercises always new.
During the first year I worked exclusively with rubber bands of various strengths, which led me to my first National Senior Title and sixth place in the World Championship!
It goes without saying therefore that I consider these tools my favorites having me given so much!
At the time I was training 3 times a week and at the end of every workout I always did 30 minutes of sparring and I have been using this approach for several years…2 hours three times a week
for specific training in addition to another 2 sessions of general strengthening.
Of the matches I’ve played, I have several to be proud of, although unfortunately I lost one of these!
One of them is the match against the Georgian world champion Under21 at the 2017 World Cup where I managed to get the better of it after a transition from Hook to Toproll!
In the same year against the Kazakh Nurdaulet (who won the category) in which I was the only one able to open his wrist, only to lose in straps due to an injury (the first I suffered in
a competition) which prevented me from continuing in the competition itself.
The last match that really meant a lot to me was the one against the German/Russian Maiorov at Supermatch 2022, where we fought till you drop!
As a counter of course I have to remember one of the most defeats
burning that I suffered, which took place at a National Championship which ended with a second place.
The most painful defeats are those collected when from ours we have every certainty of being able to defeat the opponent, even here in fact having dominated for all the rounds played and having
had total control never going into the losing half of the table, I was forced to give way to my opponent after 4 fouls assign me in the winning phase… match that it still hurts me today…
During my sports career, as with many others, I had to measure with muscle strains and injuries, the first of which dates back to the 2017 World Cup as anticipated above, during which
felt a pain in my elbow that made me lose strength, which is why I had to leave the competition.
The last one dates back to Supermatch 2023, during the second match, at the “GO!” of the referee, during the wrist flexion and dorsal contraction he felt the pronator stretch badly, from there I felt
a shooting pain in the whole arm and loss of control of hand. Race over and placement at the bottom of the standings!
This has definitely been a bad setback since I was truly feeling at my peak fitness of my entire career!
Unfortunately these things happen, especially when you push your own body to the limit but now after a couple of months of training lightweight, I feel close to that great condition again!
During my career even regrets find their space, even if I consider myself rather strong in character I tend not to cry on and roll up my sleeves because in any case it does everything part of ours baggage of experiences that, reluctantly or sorely to me have led to where I am now.
Among the matches that I prefer, among those in which I am not the main subject, there is the one between Travis Bagent and Richard Lupkes, in the which Richard finally prevailed!
Travis during his one round win, managed to pin the behemoth American a few cm from the side pad and little by little, thanks to his mighty Toproll recovered from a losing phase now marked with
he yells defiantly at his opponent “stand up baby, stand up!!
This meeting was the spark that lit the fire of motivation to try to become as strong as possible!!
Among the favorite athletes, however, the legendary John “The Perfect Storm” Brzenk stands out above the others, who embodies the spirit of arm wrestling through an unrivaled mastery of every type of technique, combined to a unique correctness, humility and loyalty!!
Speaking of Armwrestling, like any sport at the top, the genetic component must certainly be considered in order to emerge from the normality even if from this point of view I have never felt particularly inclined, except in the luck of remaining rather thin.
For someone like me, therefore, that he doesn’t have an imposing physical structure with strong hands and wrists, sacrifice turns out to be the only card to play, giving 100% to every workout with constancy, dedication and discipline!
I myself for several years have put Armwrestling as a priority in my life, sometimes sacrificing even the family! It was not an easy choice, above all because guided simply by burning passion that I feel inside since from one point of view economic there is no concrete return, the only gain that is
he gets is the respect and admiration from those like me who are fascinated by this sport! So I just try to be the best athlete and as strong as i can be, in something i’m good with the which I left on equal terms like everyone else!
From a food point of view, on the other hand, I’m quite free, while only close to important competitions such as World Cups or Europeans, I follow specific diets, mainly low-calorie
only what is strictly necessary to re-enter the category.
Subsequently the weighing instead, in the following 36 hours until at the meeting, I replenish by eating and drinking practically everytime of day…maybe spaghetti allo scoglio, my favorite dish!!
One last piece of advice that I would like to give especially to those approaching to this sport for the first time, is to do as much sparring as possible, it will then be the latter who defines the specific workouts that will come and which will have to be integrated at a later time, but the real school is done at the table!!