Notching

Having fun tearing phone books in all sorts of ways. Here is a 1-3/4" thick book with two notches in the top and one in the bottom.

Horseshoe Fish

Another one of my designs.

Tearin' 'Em Up

I have been enjoying tearing all sorts of phone books from around the world, and thought I'd share a few of them here. This video opens up with me doing a "Grip-n-Rip" style tear ,Ala Dennis Rogers, LEFT handed. As one of my favorite movie quotes mentions, "no, I'm not left handed". LOL! After that is a series of right handed "G-n-R" tears with books from around the States and the world. Notice the clean, straight tear line in the book - a sign of legitimacy in tearing phone books.

Quartering A License Plate

Quartering a license plate the hard way.

From A Filming Session

Here are a few of the feats I performed for a recent filming session in North Carolina with "Pound for pound the worlds strongest man" Dennis Rogers and Aaron "Mighty Mac" McKenzie.

The bolt on the left is 3/8" thick by 7-1/2" long and I bent this in a manner known as unbraced. Basically what this means is that the piece is bent only by the hands - no bracing on the legs or other objects.

The bolt on the right is 3/8" thick by 11" long and this time I performed what is known as braced bending where I pushed the bolt down over my thigh and then supported my wrists with my legs to do the final crush on the now "S" bolt with my hands.

In the center is a pair, yes a PAIR of #2 horseshoes. I duct taped them together and bent them with my hands while the shoes were braced against my leg. Once the two shoes were taped together they measured 5/8" wide by 5/8" thick. That was a fun bend for sure.

When the video footage of these bends is made available I'll post an update for where they can be seen.

Chris Rider, Dennis Rogers, and The Mighty Mac

Being a performing strongman I get to travel all over demonstrating my feats. This past weekend I went to North Carolina for a show with my mentor Dennis Rogers. While there we met up fellow strongman Aaron "Mighty Mac" McKenzie. After the show was over we went back to Mac's house to do some strength feat filming, I'll post a few of the things I did there in the next update.

I did want to mention for those who aren't familiar with Mac one of the many things he did. I had found some really nasty decks of Bicycle brand playing cards - actually they were the hardest "Bike's" I've ever come across. Well, I handed a deck to Mighty Mac and told him what they were and in no time at all he handed them back not only torn in half but torn into quarters. Dennis had named him the world's best card tearer last year and I fully agree! Great job my friend!

A Signature Feat Of Strength

Here I am performing one of my signature feats of strength at the 2009 A.O.B.S. strongman reunion. Barehanded bending a solid steel framing hammer into a “S” shape after the formal festivities were over. Commentary by “Stanless Steel”. Thanks for the video Dan Cenidoza.

"S"ocket Extension

Not too long ago I performed for my brothers 40th birthday party. Among the many items that I used in my demonstration was a socket extension bar. After the show we were talking about the different feats I had performed and my brother said how he thought one of those extensions would look really crazy in an "S" shape. Of course I agreed, and here's the result. What do you think Craig?

Something New

While out shopping yesterday I came across these 4" adjustable wrenches. Immediately I thought "that would look cool bent", so of course I had to get one. Notice how the wrench bent right on the end, that makes a lot more difficult when they do that.

Nasty Handful

These books are 2-1/4" thick while measuring only 5-7/8" across. They are a nasty handful to tear in half. Really fun books, thanks again Joy!

CHI USA Grand Opening

Thursday I was in Houston Texas performing with my mentor Dennis Rogers for the grand opening event at CHI USA. In this photo Dennis and I are standing with Farouk Shami, Founder and Executive Chairman of Farouk Systems, Inc.

It was great performing for the thousands in attendance at this special event. Thank you Dennis, John, and Farouk!

F-911 Bolt

The following information is directly from the manufacturer of these bolts.

"In the past, 8640 alloy was used in the manufacturing of only the most critical Aerospace and other special High Strength requirements. Now everyone can have this Superior Quality and Strength, with the "Off The Shelf" F-911 Hex Cap Screws and at prices comparable to other so called "Grade 9" bolts. What does 8640 Alloy offer? For starters, up to 50% more Chromium content and the substantial addition of Nickel, the ingredient that makes this Alloy tough. With higher Rockwell Hardness that the F-911 specification requires to achieve an over 190,000 P.S.I. Tensile Strength average, only 8640 Alloy can reach these lofty goals with superiority."

They are most definitely, in my opinion, an extremely high quality and high strength piece of hardware - fun bend!

3/8" x 7.5" Bolt "Short Bend"

I've been posting pictures of some of the bolts I've been bending lately and thought I'd put up a video to go with them. Here I am bending a 3/8" x 7.5" bolt with an overhand grip.

A Few More Bolts

I stopped back in to visit my new friends at the hardware store and decided to wrap up a few more pieces and "have at it".

This assortment consists of 3/8" x 12" / 3/8 x 7.5" / 5/16" x 6" / 5/16" x 5.5" - all were bent unbraced at chest level with the exception of the 3/8" x 12" bolt.

Some Assorted Hardware

Earlier today I stopped in at a hardware store to follow up on some bolts they were locating for me. Among the things that I found there were these very strong F-911 Bolts, one is shown on the right side of the picture. I'll post more on that particular piece later. Also pictured are a 60 d that I crossed the ends on, a 1/4" hex bolt I bent into an "S", a 3/8" hex bolt as well as a big 1/2" thick bolt. Fun stuff for sure!

On Stage The Main Stage

On June 13, 2009 I was given a great honor of preforming on the main stage of the Association Of Oldetime Barbell And Strongmen's 26 Th reunion in Newark, New Jersey. This photo, taken by John Corlett, was captured just after I bent a 12" heavy duty adjustable wrench into a "U" shape as my opening feat.

A.O.B.S. 2009

This past weekend the Association of Oldetime Barbell and Strongmen held it's 26Th reunion in Newark, New Jersey. This weekend had marked my third reunion, however this one was more special to me. After successfully attempting my first oldetime strength feat at the request of a friend in October of 2006, then seriously pursuing the training of the oldetime strongmen beginning in March of 2007, I'm still a bit of the "new guy" in this strength circle. Even with my relative newness into this arena, I was given a great honor - Performing on the main stage of the A.O.B.S. reunion! In the picture you can see the 12" heavy duty adjustable wrench I bent during my dinner performance for the 250 + in attendance, many being legends of the Iron game.

As is customary for the performing strongmen at this event, we get together in the lobby of the hotel after the formal festivities are over and we really let loose out there. In the picture is also a #3 polished steel horseshoe that I bent across the throat of Mike "The Machine" Bruce, and a 24 oz. framing hammer I bent into an "S" shape by hand.

I am very fortunate to have shared the same stage as some of the greatest strongmen of all time! For all the performers at this years event, you all did an outstanding job of showing the attendees what being a performing strongman is all about!

This just further shows that if you believe in yourself and apply all you have to your talents, anything is possible! As my friend Aaron "Mighty Mac" McKenzie likes to quote - "keep moving forward".

Special thanks to Artie Drechsler, The Legend - Slim "The Hammerman" Farman, and my mentor Dennis Rogers "pound for pound the world's strongest man" for giving me the opportunity to share in this tradition and to be a part of the legacy that is the A.O.B.S.!

Sometimes They Break

Things don't always go quite as planned. Take this pipe wrench for example, normally they will bend nicely and cooperate. Sometimes, however, the steel likes to fight back and make things more difficult. This particular wrench had been tempered a little more than normal and it barely bent before it broke in two.

Just like in anything, when you find yourself in a situation that isn't going how you anticipated or is harder than expected, set your head and dig down a little deeper. You might not end up where you thought you would, but isn't the journey as important as the destination?

Notch in the Crown's

Thought I'd tear a thumb sized notch out of the side of a deck of tough and nasty Gold Crown cards. Now that's fun!

Earlier today I came across a person who was at my performance on Saturday. She was very complimentary of my show and had a question for me. "How can you do the things you do?".

I told her the same thing I tell everyone, I believe I can. One of my favorite quotes is this, "whether you think you can or you think you can't - you're right". I'm not sure who said that but they nailed it!

Well Said, Sir.