Horseshoe Fish

Another one of my designs.

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.

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.!

A Piece Of History

Yesterday I visited with a friend of mine, artist and strongman Tom Hermansader. Tom's father was also an artist, in fact his father painted a famous portrait of the Mighty Atom. It is always great to hear more first hand accounts of the Atom from those who knew him. Tom shared some great old stories and showed me a few pieces bent by Atom from his personal collection. In the photo is a very stout looking horseshoe that the Atom bent with his teeth! That's right, with his TEETH!

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.

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.

Performing

Here are a few video clips from a performance I gave this morning. Some of the other feats I performed while there were tearing phone books, tearing decks of cards - tore a deck hand cuffed as well, bent a horseshoe, and broke chain with my HAIR. The video was rolling and we captured this crazy #8 break, I ended up breaking a total of 27 links on this one! Stay tuned, this one will be on my upcoming DVD release - it's almost complete and you won't want to miss it!

#4 Horseshoe Double Twisted

Here is a video post at the request of a private collector. What I have is a 1/4" x 3/4" # 4 polished steel horseshoe that I am bending into a double twisted "S".

This is just a "teaser" sample of what I have been filming for my upcoming first DVD release. Be sure to watch for it as filming is almost complete, I have some BIG feats on this project! You won't want to miss it!

Double Twist "Paperclip"

I was feeling good today and decided to have some fun with a horseshoe. I bent this solid steel horseshoe around two complete times before finishing it off with my signature "paperclip" move.

Hair Feats

Inspired by "The Mighty Atom", I have been performing feats of strength involving my hair. I have lifted various objects, broken heavy steel chain, bent forged steel adjustable wrenches, bent steel bars, bent horseshoes, etc., while the item was attached to my hair. Feats of this nature require not only strong healthy hair and scalp, but also a very strong neck to handle the extreme stresses.

While we're on the subject of a strong neck, check out my friend Mike "The Machine" Bruce's instructional DVD on how to transform a "pencil neck" into a "pillar of power". http://dennisrogers.net/productview.php?uid=39

In the picture above there are a couple of full size horseshoes I bent with my hair this week at the end of a training session. These were the "cool down" as it were after some intense lifting. More on that coming soon...

He Broke A What?

This morning I performed for a local community center. The crowd was great and we had a lot of fun. My presentation was a combination of the feats of olde such as horseshoe bending and even breaking a shoe, as well as some modern classics - which included wrench bending and pan rolling. I would like to say thank you to Deb for scheduling my appearance.

Are you looking for entertainment that your guests will never forget? If so, you can contact me at chris@strongmanchrisrider.com to schedule an appearance and witness first hand the art of the oldetime strongmen.

The Mark Of...

For some reason today, I was remembering watching the television show "Zorro" as a kid. Zorro would go around leaving his "mark" on nearly everything he came across. He would take his sword and carve a letter "Z" to show that he had been there.

This got me thinking, I wonder what a horseshoe would look like the shape of a "Z"? I decided enough thinking about this, it's time for action! I proceeded to grab a horseshoe and leave a "mark" of my own.

Twisted Twice

I've been asked if I ever attempted to twist a horseshoe twice. Yes, I have done this several times. The end result is quite unique looking. I have named this bend of mine "The Horseshoe Shoe". What do you think - resemble a shoe?

Sharing The Stage

I have been honoured to share the stage with many great strongmen over the past few months. One of these incredible strength performers in the man known as Mike "The Machine" Bruce. Mike is widely accepted as possessing the worlds strongest neck. He routinely performs a seated neck lift in which a head harness is loaded to 300#'s and then lifted for numerous repetitions.

Recently Mike and I performed together in Texas at a few venues. The first of which is where this photo was taken. In the image you will see that I am pulling open a steel horseshoe measuring 1/4" thick by 3/4" wide size #3 across Mike's THROAT.

Training With The Grand Master

I just returned from training with Grand Master Strongman Dennis Rogers in Houston Texas. It was a very productive visit to say the least. Dennis set up a small training seminar for some of his students which I was fortunate to be a part of. Many great things were covered and accomplished by all those who were in attendance. Speaking of accomplishments, notice the 1/4" x 3/4" #3 steel horseshoe on the table in the picture? I bent that particular shoe across the throat of my friend Mike "The Machine" Bruce, that's right - across his THROAT.

You will also notice the very large horseshoe I am holding while sitting beside my mentor Dennis Rogers. It is a Diamond Special #5 steel horseshoe that I bent into an "S" shape the previous evening. This is an extremely difficult feat to perform and have been told that only one other man in the world is credited with accomplishing this bend in the style I performed it.

An Oldetime Favorite - Bending Horseshoes

One of the greatest overall strength feats is the bending of a horseshoe. There are several styles that can be used in the performance of this feat, my personal favorite is the "push - pull" on the side of the leg. I feel that this is a more difficult technique and requires greater wrist and hand strength to be successful. I also like to perform a variation I came up with that does not use any bracing against other body parts, doing the bending while only making contact between my hands & wrists and the horseshoe. More on my un-braced horseshoe bends at another time.

There are several designs that can be made from the twisting of a horseshoe. One of the classic strongman designs was to bend the shoe to 180 degree's which will make an "S" shape. "The Mighty Atom" Joseph Greenstein, would make the "W" pattern in his shows. This was done by continuing past the 180 mark and bringing the "legs" of the shoe back around, thus resulting the pattern of an "W".

"The Human Vise" Pat Povilaitis created a design known as "The Horseshoe Heart". He has accomplished this by bending the horseshoe the entire way around and continuing on until the heels of the shoe are lined up in front of each other. This has become the standard design which is imitated by strongmen all over the world - myself included, as I have received instruction from this Master Strongman.

I mentioned in the previous post that I have some unique feats, this carries into the horseshoe design also. Looking to have something different in the realm of horseshoe bending, I began to do my own original design. I call this the "paper-clip". I continue to crush the shoe all the way down until the "legs" are parallel with the twist. Pictured is a 3/8" thick by 1" wide #5 steel horseshoe that I "paper-clipped". It is shown with a quarter for scale.