Oregon native brings home another championship
Two years ago Oregon native Brad Johnson, 49, decided to come out of retirement and see how he would stack up against the best arm wrestlers around at the Iowa State Championships.
A pair of left-handed championships later he has shown that he still has what it takes to be on top of the sport he loves.
Johnson traveled to the Iowa State Championships Aug. 15 in Des Moines, Iowa, along with Dave and Cory Borgmann, Leaf River, and won the left-handed middle-weight championship.
Cory Borgmann brought home a third, and Dave Borgmann finished fifth in their respective divisions.
Johnson was competing both right handed and left-handed during the state championships, and he lost in the semifinals of the right-handed competition.
“I lost it on a stupid mistake,” said Johnson.
That didn’t change how he felt about the competition.
“I was there to defend my left-handed championship, and that is what I did,” said Johnson.
Johnson started arm wrestling in the early 1980s, and reached the peak of his career in 1984 when he brought home the national championship. He followed that up with a third place finish in 1985, and he continued to compete locally on and off for the next 10 years.
“I went to a local tournament in Iowa with an uncle and just got hooked on it,” said Johnson.
He decided to change his focus to starting a family, and that made retiring from the sport necessary.
“I just didn’t have time to train anymore,” said Johnson.
After he competed for a while he decided to put on the tournaments that he had so much success competing in, and that continued for the next four years.
In 2008 he decided that he still had the itch to wrestle, and that decision was solidified when he brought home the left-handed Iowa State Championship. He followed that up by defending his championship this year at the Iowa State Fair with his left hand.
“I did it to see if I had one more in me,” said Johnson. “I decided to stick with it for a while and see what happened.”
What happened was that he didn’t lose a single match since coming out of retirement until he lost with his right hand this past weekend at the Iowa State Championship, compiling a record of 103-2.
There are a lot of reasons that he competes. Part of it is his competitive nature, another part is his exceptional ability in the sport, but the feeling he gets with 200-300 spectators cheering him on during a match is just as motivating.
“I wish more people followed the sport. It is an intense, fun spectator sport,” said Johnson. “The competition, the intensity of it, it is one of the most enjoyable things you will ever watch.”
Now that he is getting older, Johnson, who was one of the oldest in the championship competition in any weight class, has to rely on technique more than brute strength.
“You have to have technique at my age,” said Johnson. “I’m competing against 20 and 30 year olds with arms the size of my thighs, so I have to rely on a lot of technique.”
To prepare himself for the championship competition he works out three to four times a week, and also runs five times a week. He also kicks his workouts up a notch for the final three months before the big day.
He actually dropped 12 pounds before the competition in order to compete in the middle class division.
“When you get to this level you are wrestling former state champions every match,” said Johnson. “The field was extremely difficult.”
Now that he has won the tournament again, there really is no question whether he will be attempting to bring home another left-handed championship next year.
“I will be 50 next year,” said Johnson. “You can either go out on top, or keep giving the guys a shot at you.”
As of right now it looks like the guys will be getting at least one more shot.
“There’s no doubt I’ll go back,” Johnson said with a smile.
