Joe Rogan Experience #2510 - Devon Larratt

Devon Larratt breaks down the technical reality of elite arm wrestling, arguing it is a skill-based combat sport where making the opponent hold on to you matters more than raw grip. He details his unconventional training: high-rep, light-weight 'blood flow' work all day, hyper-specialization on his right arm ('pumpkin training'), and abandoning heavy lifting after a session with Jujimufu. The conversation ranges across freakish genetics (myostatin, folstatin, growth-hormone mutations in athletes like Brian Shaw), the explosion of arm wrestling via East versus West and TikTok, and the legends of the sport like John Brzenk. It closes with Larratt's military career, how he created a 'persona' to perform in combat, and wild stories from Afghanistan including an 8-foot warlord and a fellow soldier's alleged demonic possession.

• At 51, with no cartilage and bone-on-bone elbows for two decades, Larratt says he pulled off his best show ever six weeks ago.
  00:08:50
• Training one session with Jujimufu was the tipping point that made him drop all heavy lifting in favor of sport-specific table work.
  00:46:48
• Reveals he does up to 10-14 hours of wrist curls a day and trains almost exclusively his right arm ('pumpkin training').
  01:24:21
• Claims a German arm wrestler, Leonidas, beat strongman Brian Shaw in a match six weeks earlier despite a ~100 lb weight disadvantage.
  01:53:22
• Says in 2014 he was forced by JTF2 to choose between special forces and arm wrestling, took a year of leave without pay, and gambled everything on a single tournament.
  02:08:52
• Says he personally saw an roughly 8-foot-tall Afghan warlord from 200 meters during a mobility operation.
  02:29:15
• Recounts a fellow soldier in Iraq becoming demonically possessed, speaking in tongues and knowing strangers' sins, requiring a military exorcism.
  02:36:31

• David Goggins is bone-on-bone in both knees; surgeons sawed his tibia to flatten the joint so he could keep running, an example of Wolf's Law.
  00:06:14
• The core opening move in arm wrestling is 'rising'—a slipping upward motion to win the grip and force the opponent through their weakest point, the fingertips.
  00:11:56
• Some myostatin-inhibitor 'bully' whippets and Belgian Blue cattle are born hyper-muscled; folstatin therapy is sold to boost muscle and longevity.
  00:37:28
• John Brzenk, the inspiration for the movie Over the Top, ruled arm wrestling for about 25 years at only ~210 lbs by training almost solely by arm wrestling.
  01:05:29
• Early prize money was $500; post-COVID, TikTok and East versus West pushed top arm wrestlers to a healthy six-figure income.
  01:14:54
• Climber Eve Gallant can do pull-ups off a credit-card edge and won the tough Ottawa Open after only six weeks of arm wrestling.
  01:36:11
• On a grip dynamometer, UFC's Derrick Lewis casually pulled 218; Joe Rogan beat Devon Larratt despite Devon's crippled hands.
  01:48:36
• Larratt overcame fear of parachuting and combat by repeatedly watching parachute fails to desensitize himself and building a separate combat 'persona'.
  02:22:31
• Says he met a Cree man in northern Canada whose father was reportedly 8 feet tall, claiming such giants live remotely and go unrecorded by Guinness.
  02:30:49

Books, products and media the guest or host genuinely endorsed here — with the buy link.

Affiliate link — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.