Scot Mendelson started his 2018 domination early with wins inside the Los Angeles Convention Center at Ultimate Arm-Wrestling League (UAL) – California State Championships on Jan 6-7, 2018.
Scot is poised to continue his impressive winning streak as he sets his eyes on the Arm-wrestling World Championships in Poland on Nov 2018.
After breaking multiple world records in Power-Lifting, Scot was involved in a career-changing accident in 2013 which left permanent injuries to his left shoulder. Scot has shown incredible resilience by breaking into a completely new and highly competitive sport of Arm Wrestling.
We sit down and chat with Scot Mendelson after his weekend win during the The Fit Expo – Los Angeles weekend to get a little insight into this Champion’s head and heart.
AR: Scot, thanks for taking the time to chat with us. After last weekend’s win at the UAL Event at the Fit Expo, you must be riding high.
Scot: Yea man, we killed everybody.
AR: After this win, what’s next on your list for the new year?
Scot: World Domination… I’m serious, World Domination. I have my eye set on the 2018 Zloty World Cup in Poland in November. I won where I competed last year, except Zloty; I went in with an injury and fell short.
AR: After setting several world records in Powerlifting and now shaking up the landscape in Arm-Wrestling, what advice do you have for beginners?
Scot: As a trainer and student myself, I’d tell them to take their time and learn. Don’t break your arms, this is a brutal sport and I still hurt from it.
AR: You are trained by 3 time Arm Wrestling World Champion, Vazgen Soghoyan from Armenia.
Scot: Yea, he’s great. I don’t know if I would have moved up as fast as I have without him. He runs the Arm Wrestling program at my gym.
AR: That’s right, you have a relatively new gym called Mendy’s Gym in Van Nuys, California.
Scot: Yea, it’s a beautiful place. I handle the PowerLifting Program, we do everything out of there and we are now partnered with Saekson Muay Thai out of the gym.
AR: So Saekson Muay Thai is also in California, not only Texas.
Scot: Yes, they also have another location as well in Cali.
AR: You’ve always had roots in combat sports starting with your background in wrestling when you were a kid, your grandfather was a professional boxer with over 75 knockouts, and your wife was also a champion martial artist and black belt.
Scot: Yea, I’ve always been around martial arts.
AR: Is your training very different now that you are in a new sport?
Scot: Not too much. I still powerlift just not competitively. I still have to work on my strength but I’ve had to add Arm Wrestling elements and hand exercises.
AR: We know personally that you’re a big fan of Thai Oil and using it during training and competition. How long have you been using Thai Oil?
Scot: Brother, I’ve been using it forever. I’ve seen everything over the years including what the Russian’s do and nothing works better. I mix it with DMSO which turbocharges it into my muscle for a deeper warmup.
AR: In researching some videos on you, we came across the awesome Harley Davidson Commercial you did where you were bench pressing a Harley Davidson motorcycle. We love that commercial, it’s iconic and think it should still be airing.
Scot: I wish it was airing too, it made me a lot of money. Harley Davidson called me up and asked me to audition. When I got there, they already had a promo of me with the bike. My bodybuilding friend Rich Piana had some inside intel and was telling me the role was mine. Funny thing is that they had a model there to fire me up before the bench-press, she was supposed to smack me hard to get me going. She couldn't get around to smacking me hard so I told them that since Harley Davidson is authentic American and since I’m authentic American, it needs to be authentic. Everybody knows my wife smacks me before I compete. I told them to let her try, they saw her in action and she got that role, she was in the commercial with me.
AR: Talking about a sensitive topic, you and Rich Piana were close, we saw several videos with you two together including Arm-Wrestling each other in a Bench Pressing Competition.
Scot: Rich and I grew up together. We had great times and bad times, but he was my boy. I miss him and it’s a different world without Rich Piana. He was in my life and knew the real Rich. He helped a lot of people and was a real nice guy. Rest in Peace Rich.
AR: RIP Rich. Thank you, Scot.
Scot Mendelson and Anthony Salcedo Athlon Rub - Thai Oil Founder
6371 Van Nuys Blvd.,
Van Nuys, CA, 91401
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