Welcome to the gun show … is something you’d probably say if you ran into Dan Gallo of Prince George.
One can’t help but noticed the tree trunks he has as the competitive armwrestler continues to push his limits on strength and mental toughness.
The 35-year-old recently took home his 21st B.C. provincial title, his fifth in a row, and is heading to Edmonton next month for the Canadian Championships with hopes of making it back onto the world stage later this year.
“It means everything to me as well as the guys I train with and work with,” Gallo said to PrinceGeorgeMatters, who will be going for his 11th national title on July 12. “It leads up to the worlds where I’ve been to twice and the last time I went I ended up in sixth, which is good and it’s not the world title, but I mean, Nationals is never an easy tournament. It’s the best in Canada where all of the top guys show up.”
For those of you who aren’t familiar, arm-wrestling is exactly as it sounds, two people trying to pin each other’s hands down below a line, and it is broken into categories like age, gender, preferred hand.
Gallo will be going for a third straight left-handed title in Edmonton, adding that he also likes to be a two-handed competitor (left and right).
He says there’s a certain mental challenge that comes with wrestling the best of the best in the nation in a true test of technique.
“It’s about not letting the nerves get too involved,” explains Gallo. “You’ve got to try and stay calm, but you also have to maintain focus in order to keep your bearings straight. It could cause problems later on; you can’t blow a tournament right away within the first couple of rounds. People see our sport as ‘you have to be super strong.’ Well, strength in areas is very important, but speed and technique are incorporated a lot into it. You have to be able to get your matches done really fast and sometimes, if you play your cards right, you can end up winning the whole thing.”
The Canadian Championships will bring in over 300 people ranging from young kids to seniors between 50 and 60 years old, and will follow a double-elimination format en route to hoisting the trophy.
The Prince George Armwrestling Club member's training regiment includes a three-hour workout everyday, but despite getting a top 10 finish at his last World Championship appearance, he knows it’ll take some time before he’ll be ready to compete for the gold medal against powerhouse countries.
“I’ve got a long ways to go because a lot of top guys that win are somewhere between 42 and 45 years old,” Gallo says. “It takes a long time to build that kind of strength up and living in Prince George and in Canada, and in North America for that matter, it’s not like its a major sport. There are countries in Europe where it’s an even bigger deal; they actually have full-on gyms and facilities dedicated to the one sport. So it does kind of set a guy back living here [northern B.C.] and it takes a little longer to get to where I want to be.”
According to the World Armwrestling Federation (WAF), the 2019 World Championships are scheduled for Oct. 26 to Nov. 3 in Romania.
