No Question: A T. Rex Would Beat You in Arm Wrestling

T. Rex may be ridiculed for her puny chicken-leg arms, but don’t be deceived. These are massive, bloodthirsty predators. But could a human—let’s say, a really strong human—beat T. Rex in an arm-wrestling match?

This is question is perpetually popping up out there on the internet. Because when you see those puny-looking T. Rex arms, angled just right for a wrestling match, it’s hard to think — could I take him?

Back in 2009, Popular Science consulted with Jack Conrad, a vertebrate paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History. 

“Doesn’t matter,” Conrad says. “There’s no chance that any human alive could win.”

While T. Rex’s stubby appendages might look wimpy, he explained, they were still extremely strong. Keep in mind that T. Rex towered about 18 feet tall, so this “tiny” arms are actually about 3 feet long each.

Really, it wouldn’t even be fight, dinosaur blogger (and Smithsonian alum) Brian Switek says:

Question 1: Who would win in an arm wrestle, an average man or aT. rex?

Answer: There would be no question. Tyrannosaurus rex would win. Estimates based on bio-mechanics indicate that the arm of T. rex was about three and a half times more powerful than that of the average person. The arms of T. rex were short and stocky, but very powerful.

Paleontologists studying fossil bones think T. Rex could have curled about 430 pounds, PopSci reported. Even the most ripped human can only pull off about 260 pounds.

Bottom line: T. Rex would win, and she would probably rip her opponent’s arm out of his socket before eating him, too.

More from Smithsonian.com:

Tyrannosaurus Rex: Armed and Dangerous 
Doing the T. Rex Stretch 

Rachel Nuwer | | READ MORE

Rachel Nuwer is a freelance science writer based in Brooklyn.