Daniel Mosier
According to Daniel “Ironman” Mosier, arm wrestling is “where men are separated from the boys, and tough guy’s egos are destroyed.” He should know. A true champion, Daniel was undefeated at The Arnold Classic in 2018 and is now the 2019 National Arm-Wrestling League Champion at age forty-one.
A competitive kid, Daniel started this sport at age twelve and has been at it ever since. He always enjoyed trying to be the best at whatever he did, including baseball during his elementary and high school years. Arm wrestling, explains Daniel, was “just something we all did.”
Daniel grew up in the small rural town of Eddyville, Kentucky. There wasn’t a lot for kids to do, so he and his friends worked on neighboring farms to earn money. Although slightly overweight as a kid, Daniel got in shape fast. He grew strong harvesting, cutting hay, and doing other farm chores, and he began besting his buddies at arm wrestling. Even at high school parties, arm wrestling was on the table, and he soon drew attention. “It was kind of like a little hobby thing at the beginning,” he explained. “Then I met more people and got more involved in it and realized I was going to be good at it.”
In 2011, one of Daniel’s workout partners talked him into entering his first competition. It was his first time at a competitive arm-wrestling table, and he ended up winning the Ohio State Novice Championship. Daniel knew he was on to something and has since gone on to win hundreds of trophies, including the 2018 Arnold Classic Arm-wrestling Championship in Columbus, Ohio. Competitors from eighty-one different nations came to this Arnold Sports Expo, and Daniel went undefeated during the event, winning first place and taking home the coveted Arnold Classic Championship Hammer.
Twenty-six-time world champion Andrew “Cobra” Rhodes met Daniel at a Midwestern competition and knew right away he was something special. You might remember Rhodes as the referee in the Sylvester Stallone arm-wrestling movie “Over the Top,” and he isn’t easily impressed. “Daniel had a thirst to get to the top level,” Rhodes explained. “I could tell he wasn’t talking nonsense to me. He was one of those guys who train at the most elite level.”
Daniel and Rhodes trained together for a while in the Fort Wayne area, and then Rhodes introduced him to Craig “The Fury” Tullier in Louisiana, another world champion at the sport. This introduction resulted in Daniel moving to Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 2013 to train with Tullier. The two are partners in training and on the job. They currently work together in the construction of industrial and chemical plants.
“I knew the first time I worked with Daniel that he has what it takes to be the best,” said Tullier. They train together six days a week, and arm wrestles one day. They do cable exercises with handles attached, as well as resistance band exercises. Daniel explains that weight training is essential to build strength for the sport, “but nothing can compare to real table time where you battle it out against another athlete. No weight training can replicate the pushing, pulling, twisting, and changing angles another competitor can apply.”
Together, Daniel and Tullier have developed a hand and wrist routine to help build the fiendish strength necessary for success. As in many sports, all it takes is one weak link to spell defeat, so they created a unique handle for their training cables. This handle can be used to train the hand, wrist, and every finger to make each stronger.
At one-hundred and ninety-five pounds, Daniel competes in the heavyweight category. He explains that it’s hard to tell someone’s strength just by looking at him, as tendon strength is different from muscle strength. “When you see an arm wrestler, you might see someone who looks like they don’t even lift weights or work out. And then they almost rip your shoulder off; they’re that strong.”
According to Rhodes, once tendons and ligaments are built up, they remain about the same strength as long as they are worked. Muscle mass and strength diminish with age, however, so looks can be deceiving. Interestingly, there is no typical age range for top competitors, who range in age from the teens to the Master level (age fifty and up).
Arm-wrestling tournaments can be dangerous, especially at the novice table. Daniel has witnessed several broken arms among inexperienced competitors because they don’t understand proper positioning and technique. The result can be disastrous.
Rhodes says that if a person can get to the level where “pain is a friend,” he can be one of the best and that Daniel Mosier is one of those. Rhodes has trained elite athletes all over the world in various sports, “but arm wrestling is my baby.” He is proud of Daniel’s success and describes him as “one of the best.”
Daniel’s most recent win was the Bayou State Championship in August, but he’s had many memorable competitions. In 2014 he won the Four Rivers Harley Davidson Arm Wrestling Championship in Paducah, Kentucky, and got a 1200cc Harley Davidson Custom Sportster motorcycle. “I never imagined myself winning the motorcycle,” he said, “but that was my day to shine.”
Recently married, Daniel traveled to Australia, for his honeymoon, and to compete in an ArmFights Unleashed Super Match against the 100kg Australian national arm-wrestling champion. Not only did the Ironman beat the champ, but he went on to win the Super-Heavyweight Championship as well. He continued his streak in June by winning the 2019 National Arm-Wrestling Championship in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Not many elite professional athletes can work full time in addition to training for their sport. Daniel and Tullier work together on the job, as well as training together. Work can cut into training time, but the Ironman says that training is a priority in his life. If he misses his gym time occasionally, he has the equipment in his garage, and he puts in the time. That’s what makes a champion.
By Sherry Ballou Hanson