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!

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!

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.

Double Hub Lifting

A few months back I had made a post about hub lifting. Along with that, I included a video clip of myself performing the lift. This has become a regular part of my training routine and the last few days I have been thinking about attempting the double hub lift. Since today happened to be the first "nice" day weather wise in a while, reaching the low 50's, I decided to head out to the driveway and "give it a go". First attempt flew right up with no trouble at all. I grabbed the camera and here is the second attempt.

Goes to show what dedication can achieve.

260 Card Pick Up

Tonight turned into quite a productive card tearing session. After going through several other decks of cards, I finished by tearing this deck of playing cards into 5 pieces before calling it a night.

Double Corner Tear

After I tore a full deck of cards the first time I attempted it, I have constantly looked for ways to make this feat more difficult. To add new goals, new challenges to the things I have already succeeded with. With the cards for example, I have quartered horizontally, notched, eighths, double vertically torn, and of course the double corner tear. I have wrapped them in duct tape, torn in the box, duct taped in the box, worn oven mitts, behind the back, hand cuffed, etc.,etc.,etc.

I am not mentioning these things to be boastful, what I'm getting at here is don't be satisfied and grow stagnant, every time you reach a goal add to it and go after the next one with commitment and passion. Over time you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish! Enjoy your journey.

Plate Confetti

After the blog entry made by Grandmaster Strongman Dennis Rogers, I was approached about doing another multiple tear license plate for a private collection. This is the end result. It is a Pa plate that I tore into 52 pieces. The smallest tears were completed by pinching with only the index fingers and thumbs, then by using a motion similar to the way I tear cards.