No I’m not talking about spending 4 hours in the gym that wear you down instead of building you up. That kind of stuff will be talked about some other time.
What I am talking about is a certain kind of strength training. The kind that leaves behind a pile of destroyed, mangled, ripped and shredded stuff.
In my last post I talked about the satisfaction that I and many others get from bending steel. One of the main causes of this is that you have something tangible and material afterwards. If you break a PR in the press or squat it is great, but unless you snapped some pictures or video then it is just in your mind and your sense of accomplishment.
Bend a new piece of iron or tear a deck of cards in half and you have the results left over. Not knocking any other lifts but these few give you something to look at, after the feat is done
I don’t hang on to everything but as a habit I keep my firsts and my records. I also have a few souvenirs from other people.
One of my favorites is a phonebook torn by John Wood at a seminar I attended. If you haven’t seen his sites then be sure to check them out. A good starting place is https://www.oldtimestrongman.com/blog/
The phonebook itself isn’t so impressive, but the manner in which he did it was. While in a wrestler’s bridge with someone standing on top of him he tore three phonebooks in succession. In this position he had to tear the books above his head, meaning without bracing. Truly a extraordinary stunt.
The first time I ever ‘performed’ I gave the remains of my feats to some young girls near the front of the stage. Twas a great feeling seeing them carry around the objects all night long.
My collection has just begun but you gotta start somewhere. If you haven’t, then what are you waiting for?
In case you’re wondering I do recycle the phonebook remains. Whether they actually can use them or not I do not know for sure.
In strength,
Logan Christopher