Meet the North Jersey strongman who's gone from barroom arm wrestling to national champion
LIVINGSTON — "This might be failure."
That was Brian Bellwood's declaration as he prepared to lift 201½ pounds − nearly his own weight − using just his biceps and force of will.
Bellwood pressed his back into the neon-painted wall at Zapp Fitness, the garage-like gym in Livingston where he works out. He picked up a metal canister of ammonia and inhaled deeply − a lifter's trick meant to draw more oxygen into the lungs − then put the can carefully back on the floor. He did a couple of practice curls without the bar.
Looking down at the weight, he took another deep breath.
Bellwood's arms and eyes bulged as he curled the curved bar and its weight plates up toward his chest. The bar rose to meet his chin. Bellwood exhaled a long growl.
He placed the weight down with a thud and smacked his hands together triumphantly.
"I was a smaller kid back in high school, very unassuming," said Bellwood, a 36-year-old who lives in Rockaway, but spent his younger years moving around the U.S. and Germany with a military family.
"I'd rather be all-go than a lot of show. I'd rather be super strong than bulging with big muscles. I beat everyone at the lunch table (at arm wrestling)."
Barroom arm-wrestling champion goes pro
At 5-foot-10 and 210 pounds, Bellwood doesn't stand out – particularly in a long-sleeved shirt. He's not the sort of guy to flex in a mirror.
That's how he was able to arm wrestle for $50 bets in Hoboken bars when he first moved to New Jersey 10 years ago.
Bellwood turned pro in 2015. He appeared on ESPN and in a Monster Energy commercial featuring the World Armwrestling League the following year.
He finished seventh in his weight class at the IFA World Championships. Last year, he won the New Jersey arm wrestling title at both 176 and 198 pounds.
He is ranked 25th in the United States at 198 pounds.
Strict curl rules
The strict curl, which relies on the same arm tendon strength, was a natural progression. Bellwood entered his first tournament two years ago and now puts most of his focus there.
"You see competitions when other people are lifting, and I thought, 'I can do that,'" he said. "In my first competition, two years ago, I ended up runner-up on the national level, without any training or formal, actual practice in competition.
"That gave me the bug. I started competing as much as I could."
Strict curlers typically compete on a platform backed by a padded wall. Unlike lifting in the average gym, a competitor's glutes and upper back must stay in contact with a wall at all times, with feet set 12 inches apart and pointed straight ahead. It's a measure of forearm strength, with no help from leg or back muscles.
"You can't move your butt. You can't move your head. You can't move your back. It's very strict," Bellwood said. "Anything moves, it's a bad lift."
On Saturday, Bellwood is slated to compete at the Empire State Championships in Syracuse, New York. He could win $1,000 for the heaviest curl.
"He has not been doing this as long as some of the other guys, and he has been able to compete and hang with them," said Strict Curl Nation co-President Patrick Russo, a strength coach in Cheshire, Connecticut.
"The upside and the ceiling for him is much higher than some of the other people who have been around for a while. The arm wrestlers have a certain arm strength and forearm strength that are second to none. Once they start to dial in their technique like Brian's doing, they possess an advantage, because the curl is so much hand strength."
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Bellwood trains once or twice a week for an hour or two. He focuses on technique and quality, trying to lessen the stress on his tendons.
The rest of the time, he's a married father of two and a senior customer relations manager for TD Bank.
Russo highlighted Bellwood's intensity, his ability to narrow his focus during competition. Bellwood's trainer, Joseph Puleo, met him at an arm-wrestling competition a decade ago. But Puleo admitted the student has surpassed the master.
"He's on another level," said Puleo, who owns the Zapp Fitness franchises in New Jersey. "Brian's probably the top five strongest guys I've met in my life. He's cut from a different cloth."
Bellwood was the middleweight champion at the United States Strengthlifting Federation's 2022 Strict Curl exhibition. He also holds multiple age-group New Jersey records for the 220-pound weight class. He is ranked 16th in the world for strict curl using Raw Powerlifting's formula that accounts for weight differences.
Bellwood's heaviest lifts in competition are 194.1 pounds at the Mr. America All-American Sports Festival in October and 200.5 pounds at the virtual Mr. America about 18 months ago.
Only 12 people worldwide have strict curled 200 pounds at an in-person competition. Bellwood's quest is to join that short list.
He also wants to defend his weight-class championship in March at the Arnold Sports Festival, the competition named for legendary strongman Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"If I go to a commercial gym and do some of the lifts, you have people look at you like you have two heads. It's incomprehensible," Bellwood said. "I was the new guy coming in, and I did big weight, and the rest is history. I enjoyed it. It's just you and the weight in front of you."
Jane Havsy is a storyteller for the Daily Record and DailyRecord.com, part of the USA TODAY Network. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis, subscribe today.
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This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Rockaway NJ strongman is an arm wrestling, strict curling champion
