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.

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.

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!

Ireland Post 1

I just returned from a series of performances in Ireland. Aside from the formal demonstrations and motivational talks I went there to deliver, I also did a bit of impromptu feats around the country.

After hiking up 1,500 feet and breaking for lunch, I thought this would be a good place to do a traditional feat of strength. With a 1,300 foot vertical rise in the background, I wrap up a 60 D spike (1/4" x 6") in only a thin bandanna and bend it around my index fingers.

Be sure to check back for more from this incredible voyage.

Sheared

Another way I like to tear phonebooks is with a shearing motion.

CR-V Socket Extension

This evening I went to a tool distributors store and was checking out all sorts of different items. While walking down one of the isles I spotted these extension bars for sockets. The one pictured (shown with an 8" adjustable wrench for scale) is labeled as CR-V steel and is just shy of 1/2" diameter by 17-5/8" long. That thing was nasty.

Memorable Weekend

This past weekend is one that will be in my memory for quite some time. A great friend of mine and fellow Oldetime Strongman, Aaron "Mighty Mac" McKenzie, came up from North Carolina for a visit. Friday we had made our way to the training facility named "The Dungeon" of Slim The Hammerman Farman. It's a special honour anytime you get to visit with someone you greatly admire and to be mentored to by them. Every time I visit with the "old man" (Slim turns 75 this year and still routinely performs feats of strength that no one has been able to duplicate) I come away with a deeper understanding of what it is to truly be an Oldetime Strongman. Thanks Slim.

After performing for and visiting with The Hammerman till the we hours of the morning, Mac and I made our way to Dan Cenidoza's get together in Baltimore MD on Saturday afternoon. There we got to witness some incredible feats of strength. Jedd Johnson came down from upstate PA with John Eaton from NY, John Manino came down from eastern PA, as well as Luke Whippo also from Baltimore. Every one was doing what they do and we had a great time. Thanks Dan for putting this together, looking forward to the next time we can all meet up again.

Shreaded

Earlier this week I was very fortunate to have a large quantity of new phonebooks given to me. As you can imagine I have been like a kid at Christmas with these, ha-ha. The first evening alone I went through ten of these books, just having some fun. Today, as part of my workout, I decided to do a quad vertical tear. I just kept ripping a piece off the book in between sets of my other exercises. Before I knew it, I ended up with five strips of this 1-5/8" thick Baltimore phonebook. Thanks Rena!

Another Day At The Office

While working on the computer tonight I looked over and saw my camera and some mini decks of cards. I thought to myself - Hmm, I haven't videoed a mini notch yet. So I grabbed a deck and hit record while sitting at my desk.

I've been doing a lot of deck notching lately with both the full sized and mini decks. Like I mentioned in the previous post, it keeps it interesting...

Keeping It Interesting

I like to bend all sorts of different sizes and styles of horseshoes. I also like to bend them into many different designs to keep things interesting. For the most part in performance I'll stick with flattening them out into an "S" shape or crushing them into the "Paperclip", but when I'm just having fun "doing what I do" I like to mix things up now and then. Same goes for training, diet, reading material, etc. Don't fall into a stale boring routine, mix it up every so often and renew your enthusiasm.

Pipe Wrenches

Having some fun with a pair of pipe wrenches. Those "end benders" are nasty.

Leverage Lifting

Yesterday I had a photo shoot and performed a wide array of feats for several hours. Some of which were closing heavy duty grippers, double hub lifting, all sorts of tearing feats and lots of steel bending. Along with the still shots, I also had these feats captured on video. I ended up getting some great footage of the chain break with my hair, bending a framing hammer into an "S" shape, bending a 12" adjustable wrench, and "paper-clipping" a 3/8" x 1" #5 steel draft horseshoe to name just a few.

After all these other feats were performed, I grabbed my big show hammer and headed outside. Performing the hammer lever is a great all around workout for the hands, wrists, and arms. If your not doing these in your training routine your missing out on a great exercise.

Screwdriver Scrolling

I thoroughly enjoy scrolling steel. The bends are complex, and they work the fingers and hands in different ways. Plus, once you're finished you have a one of a kind work of art.

Mini Notch

More fun with the mini decks.

Vertical Tears

While working at the computer tonight I thought I'd have some fun with cards. Shown are a full sized deck and a mini deck of plastic coated playing cards torn vertically. They were lots of fun to do.