Tug of war recruits muscles from your fingers to your feet, but the workload isn’t evenly distributed. Electromyography studies show that the back muscles and the forearm flexors do the heaviest lifting, with the legs and core providing the foundation that makes pulling possible. Here’s a breakdown of every major muscle group involved and what each one actually does during a pull.
Back Muscles Do the Most Work
EMG analysis of tug of war athletes consistently shows a high degree of dorsal (back) muscle activity during pulling. The latissimus dorsi, the broad muscle that spans most of your mid and lower back, is the primary engine. It pulls your arms toward your torso and keeps the rope locked close to your body. The trapezius and rhomboids, which sit between your shoulder blades, work alongside it to retract your shoulders and resist being pulled forward. Together, these muscles create the powerful backward lean that defines good tug of war technique.
This isn’t the same kind of pulling you’d do in a rowing machine, where muscles contract and release rhythmically. In tug of war, your back muscles spend long stretches in near-isometric contraction, holding position under enormous load without much movement. That sustained tension is one reason the sport demands such high strength relative to body weight. Elite tug of war athletes have a strength-to-lean-mass ratio roughly 32% greater than rugby forwards, despite being significantly lighter.
Forearm and Grip Muscles Under Extreme Stress
Your grip is the only connection between your body and the rope, and it’s often the first thing to fail. The flexor muscles of the forearm, particularly the deep finger flexors that curl your fingers into a fist, bear the full traction load of the pull. EMG data confirms that distal muscles (closer to the hands) and flexor muscles activate more intensely than proximal and extensor muscles during tug of war.
The stress on these muscles is significant enough to cause injury. Medical case reports document ruptures of the deep finger flexor muscle and dangerous pressure buildup in the forearm compartments during tug of war. All reported upper extremity injuries trace back to the undue stress placed on the forearm muscles from gripping and pulling the rope. The recommended grip, palms facing up with arms extended forward, helps distribute force more safely across the forearm, but the demand on grip strength remains extreme.
Elite competitors reflect this reality in their training. When researchers measured a composite strength score combining grip strength and back strength relative to lean body mass, tug of war athletes dramatically outperformed rugby players matched for competition level.
Legs Provide the Foundation
Your legs don’t pull the rope, but they generate the ground contact force that makes pulling possible. The quadriceps (front of the thigh) lock your knees in a slightly bent position, while the glutes and hamstrings drive your hips backward and down. The calves stabilize your ankles and help you dig into the ground.
Interestingly, tug of war doesn’t require the explosive leg power you might expect. Elite tug of war athletes produce significantly less dynamic leg power than rugby forwards (roughly 4,660 watts versus 6,200 watts). What matters more is sustained, static leg strength: the ability to hold a low, braced position for the duration of a pull without your legs giving out. The quadriceps and glutes are working hard, but they’re resisting movement rather than creating it. Think wall sit, not squat jump.
Core Muscles Connect Upper and Lower Body
Your abdominals, obliques, and spinal erectors act as the rigid link between your pulling arms and your braced legs. Without a strong core, the force your legs generate against the ground would never transfer to the rope. Your erectors (the muscles running along your spine) keep your trunk from rounding forward under load, while your abdominals and obliques prevent rotation and lateral collapse.
This is another area where isometric endurance matters more than raw power. The core muscles maintain a fixed torso angle throughout the pull, resisting forces that constantly try to fold you forward or twist you off balance.
Shoulders and Biceps Play a Supporting Role
The deltoids stabilize the shoulder joint and help keep your arms in position, but they aren’t primary movers in tug of war. Similarly, the biceps assist in keeping a slight bend at the elbow, but the recommended technique (arms extended forward, palms up) minimizes how much elbow flexion is needed. The rear deltoids work with the rhomboids and trapezius to keep the shoulders pulled back.
Overreliance on the biceps is actually a technical flaw. Bending the elbows too much shifts load away from the stronger back muscles and into the smaller arm muscles, which fatigue faster and are more vulnerable to injury.
Why Tug of War Is Mostly Isometric
What makes tug of war unusual compared to other pulling sports is how little actual movement occurs. In an evenly matched contest, both teams may hold near-static positions for extended periods. This means almost every muscle involved is working isometrically, generating force without changing length. Isometric contractions are uniquely fatiguing because they restrict blood flow through the working muscle, creating a rapid buildup of metabolic byproducts.
Despite this, the sport has a meaningful aerobic component. Elite tug of war athletes show aerobic fitness levels of about 56 ml/kg/min, which is higher than elite rugby forwards and comparable to many endurance athletes. The sustained whole-body tension, combined with pulls that can last well over a minute, demands cardiovascular fitness alongside raw strength.
Muscle Priority for Training
If you’re training for tug of war or just curious about what the sport develops, here’s roughly how the muscles rank by importance:
- Back (lats, traps, rhomboids): The primary pulling muscles and the biggest force producers
- Forearms and grip: The critical link to the rope, and the most injury-prone area
- Legs (quads, glutes, hamstrings): The anchor that resists forward movement and drives into the ground
- Core (abdominals, obliques, erectors): The bridge that transfers force between legs and arms
- Shoulders and biceps: Stabilizers that keep the arms in position but aren’t primary movers
The common assumption is that tug of war is an arm sport. It’s really a back and legs sport where your forearms happen to be the bottleneck. The strongest pullers are the ones who can lock in a low body position, engage their entire posterior chain, and hold on long enough for it to matter.