Joe Kline / The Bulletin Josh Gibb, left, and Brody Olson fight for position during their amateur division match in the World Armwrestling League Oregon Tournament Saturday at Atlas Cider in Bend.

It was not until Keith Kelly won the second of the two divisions he entered — the amateur left-handed 176 to 215 weight class — that the jitters finally subsided.

Kelly, a 26-year-old resident of Newport, said he first got hooked on the idea of competitive arm-wrestling two year ago when he started watching Game of Arms, a short-lived reality show that followed several arm-wrestling clubs across the U.S. He finally got a chance to test his arms — both right and left — at the World Wrestling League Oregon State Championships, held at the Atlas Cider Company taproom in Bend on Saturday afternoon.

“I’m finally not nervous just now, now that it’s all over,” Kelly said, looking relieved. “But I was super jittery all day.”

Although there are arm-wrestling clubs across Oregon, including the Twisted Wrists based here in Central Oregon, Kelly said he has found it difficult to find other “pullers” in Newport.

“I just train by myself — I’ve got my own arm-wrestling table,” Kelly said. “Most of the time I’m just pulling on a band, a heavy band I anchor to the wall or whatever. Nobody really arm-wrestles all that much where I live.”

Kelly said he was surprised at how suddenly matches start — competitors are allowed to start pulling as soon as they wrap their fingers around their opponents hand. Kelly finished second in his right-handed division (each of the 10 divisions were decided using a double-elimination bracket) before the left-handed competition began.

“You put your thumbs together and lock them up and it starts quick,” said Kelly, who is typically right-handed but prefers to pull with his left. “That caught me off guard, for sure.”

Many of the 30 or so competitors on hand Saturday were novices like Kelly, although a few former state and even national champions were in attendance.

Nancy Hart has been training for slightly less than a year but is already an old hand when it comes to competition. The 43-year-old Portland resident said she has already won the Washington state championship, and on Saturday claimed the women’s right-handed and left-handed titles without losing a match.

“I just decided one day last November that I wanted to start doing this,” Hart explained. “I’ve just always been strong, and I thought I’d see how strong.”

Hart said she likes to stand with one foot in front of the other at the table, with her wrestling arm tight and close to her body.

“People think, ‘Oh, I’m strong and I’m just going to use my arm,’” Hart said. “No, no, no — there’s lots of technique involved. It’s arms, legs, core, everything.”

Jody Williams, who won the right-hand heavy weight division in addition to organizing and refereeing the tournament, said the key to arm-wrestling is keeping the action close to your core.

“If I hold a bowling ball close to my chest, I can hold it there all day long, but the minute I stretch, eventually my arm’s going to get tired,” Williams explained, still wearing his black-and-white striped referee’s shirt. “It’s the same concept. You’re stronger here than you are out there, unless you have a strong hand and wrist.”

Of course, a strong hand and wrist couldn’t hurt, either. Just ask Keith Kelly and his arm band.

— Reporter: 541-383-0305, vjacobsen@bendbulletin.com