Arm wrestling has long had a reputation for being a "blokey" sport where brawny competitors go arm to arm in a showdown of strength.

But at a working meat factory in Melbourne's south east, a group of women are part of an arm wrestling club called "The House of Pain".

Every Wednesday night, club members pack into the factory's small front office for training.

The tight space has been equipped with special arm wrestling tables, and is decorated with unique touches including a wall of used energy drink cans.

Attendance varies week to week, but on this occasion at least 20 people have gathered, including a new mother, a tiler, and a disability support worker.

There are no handshakes here. Members greet each other with a friendly fist bump.

Club member and Victorian director of the Australian Armwrestling Federation, Celine Van Os, says there has been a big jump in female participation since she discovered the sport in 2016.

"My first competition was by accident. I was there to watch the event, and they had bought three medals for the three podium finishers for the women's class, and they only had two women rock up," Ms Van Os explains.

"When I walked in, my coach Andrew Lea pointed me out and said, 'Oh, there's our third female. Celine, you're competing today.'

"I'd never been on an arm wrestling table before. I barely knew anything about the sport."

A highly technical sport

Andrew Lea founded The House of Pain in 2012, and says he immediately noticed there were not enough women in the sport.

"I've always tried to encourage women to firstly come to the club to actually learn about arm wrestling and then compete, which was the second step," Mr Lea says.

There are now at least 50 women nationwide who regularly train and compete at arm wrestling events across the country.

"From the outside, it looks like a typical strength-based sport, a very masculine, strength-based sport," Ms Van Os says.

"But once you're introduced to the technical side of the sport and how many different ways there are to leverage your strength against your opponent's and use what strength you have … that's what really fascinated me."

While there is certainly a social element to the weekly training night at the House of Pain, the competitive spirit is as strong as the smell of sweat — and the slight tinge of ammonia from the factory — in the air.

Members are laser-focused on the upcoming Australian Armwrestling Titles in Melbourne.

Competitors are divided into weight divisions, and Mr Lea describes the event as "a bit like tennis with the seedings".

"But you can lose twice, so the winner's the person at the end who hasn't lost twice," he says.

Eyes on Olympics

Supermarket worker and new mother Yvonne Ritzert-Smith will be participating in left and right-arm events on November 2.

"I feel like this is my year to aim for first place," she says.

Regardless of whether the club brings home trophies from nationals, Celine Van Os says competitions like this are an important step in raising the profile of the sport.

Ms Van Os is among many in the arm wrestling community who are hopeful it will be included in the program for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

"There are definitely a lot of other countries that have larger women's teams than Australia," she says.

"We are very new to the sport, so we are just much smaller in terms of the size of arm wrestling for our country versus other countries.

"So I think if we then have the Olympics and open that up worldwide, it'd be incredible to see all the people that come together."