photo by: Kim North

Jon Winkler of Wheeling demonstrates one of his training techniques that has allowed him to become a world-class armwrestler. He recently won an event at Levels Arcade in Morgantown.

WHEELING — Jon Winkler thanks the sport of armwrestling for helping him to overcome some of the most challenging times of his life.

After having never played a sport in high school, Winkler found the weight room at the age of 19 and a mere 163 pounds.

He had always been obsessed with his arms, though.

“I didn’t think they were ever big enough,” he said. “Within the next couple of years I was over 200 pounds with biceps measuring over 20 inches. At one point in my early 30s, my biceps reached 22 inches in circumference.”

Winkler said he was working out in a gym in South Wheeling when a buddy of his, Bobby Kins, walked in.

“He saw how big my arms were and asked if I had ever thought about getting involved in armwrestling,” Winkler recalled. “I never knew anyone that did it and told him I didn’t really know much about it. It wasn’t a mainstream sport, but it’s on its way.

“He said he knew some people. He introduced me into the armwrestling community and I met this guy and that guy. I’d meet a guy, train with him and pass his level up. I’d do it again. It just kind of took off from there.”

However, in 2016 at the age of 36, things changed when Winkler was diagnosed with severe ulcerative colitis. He also had to undergo lower back surgery at the same time.

“It just felt like everything was crashing down on me,” he admitted. “I was hospitalized for weeks at a time and lost 70 pounds.”

Winkler said he was treated with some medications for the colitis that had some really bad side effects.

“After being on the medications for a while, I lost hearing in my right ear in 2018. I went to a local ear, nose and throat doctor and he did a biopsy that was sent a way. It came back that I had B cell lymphoma cancer. One surgery at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown took out as much of the cancer as they could. Then I had to have six weeks of radiation treatment. I battled cancer for the next year.”

The medication no longer was an option, Winkler said. He wondered what he could do then to help his colitis. Doctors gave him one option, a J-Pouch surgery. In that procedure, Winkler said surgeons would remove the entire large intestine, most of his rectum, his appendix and the last 20 inches of his small intestine. What remained would look like a “J pouch.”

“I had that done and battled it for two years,” he said. “There were times when I couldn’t leave the house for a month at a time. I left one hospital and went to another. I also found a new doctor and had to undergo all the surgeries again. They re-did the pouch and so far, so good.”

Two-thirds of the way through the health problems is when Winkler was trying to climb the ranks of armwrestling.

“Armwrestling, or like we call it, ‘pulling,’ is not about who is the biggest guy or who has the biggest arm,” he stressed. “It’s about the training. I went to the school of armwrestling with the guys and learned what I know today. It’s all about the training, training, training.”

He said he would knead sand in a bucket for hours at a time.

“That helps in your setup at the table. You want to get higher on the grip so you don’t blow your hand up.”

He also talked about pronation and supination of the wrist.

“There are all kinds of exercises you can do, but the main thing is to get table time. You can’t simulate going against another person until you do it live.”

He said during the first six months of training he had what he called a “tooth ache” pain in his right forearm that was “probably a steady 7 on a scale of 1-10. I never thought it was going to go away and that is what deters a lot of guys away. Most of the pain eventually goes away.”

Winkler turned professional in 2021 — first competition being at an event called “Trojan Wars” on Lake Erie.

Since then, he has amassed a plethora of medals and awards from competitions to document his successes, including with both arms in the Florida state championships a few years back. Winkler is currently the No. 1 ranked light heavyweight in the state of West Virginia.

“My ultimate goal would be to be selected as a member of the U.S. national team to pull in what they call East vs. West when our best go against the best of another country .. like Russia, Turkey, Dubai. They do that about every three months.

“I’d like nothing more than to be able to put the American flag on my back and go pull for my country.”

He said his plan of attack is simple.

“Stay healthy and keep going state to state and placing at each event.”

He did suffer a minor setback during the last week when he was diagnosed with COVID-19.

“Until COVID hit, I had planned on getting ready for the nationals in Toledo, but I’m not ready. COVID hit me hard,” he stressed. “I just need to take a step back and see what’s coming down the road.”

When Winkler talked about his training partners, or the brotherhood of armwrestling, he couldn’t hold his emotions back.

“Tom Wells. Paul Talbott. Logan Cooper. Cody Eller. Those are my guys. They are always in my corner pushing me to be the best I can be. They keep me going.

“I think armwrestling, in a sense, saved my life. I was at the bottom with my health issues and I was dwindling away to nothing. If it hadn’t been for these friends … I call them my brothers … The camaraderie in the sport is unbelievable.”

He said he would like to thank Eli Kerr for sponsoring a recent event in Morgantown called ARMageddon and Christina Costello – “She does a ton for the sport.”