feats of strength

More Non-Urgent but Awesome: A Recent Phone Book Tear

When people ask me why I like to work at the libray, the answers are always the same: The groupies The performance enhancing drugs and the phone books I get to tear when we discard them It had been a few months since I had tried, but yesterday I saw the “Greater Iowa” phone book [...]

March 2, 2012 READ MORE →

File Under Unimportant but Awesome: Notching a Deck of Cards

Of all the milestones in life, are any so exquisite and important as the moment when you’re finally strong enough to tear something in half, or bend something, or break something that you never thought you’d be able to break? The answer is yes: most other things are more important and exquisite than breaking things [...]

March 1, 2012 READ MORE →

Giant Dumbbell Press – Johnny Kong

Just in case you’ve never had the chance to play around with a 180 lb circus dumbbell, here’s what one looks like. This is strongman Johnny Kong making this dumbbell press look way too easy. As always, I’m just as impressed by the fact that he can make it look so easy as by the [...]

January 2, 2012 READ MORE →

Adam T. Glass Bearhug Deadlift – 362 lbs

The Bearhug deadlift is an interesting movement. If you’re a strong puller, this will still give you a great challenge. Over most of 2011 I wasn’t able to attempt this as I was waiting on some thoracic mobility issues to sort themselves out, but now that I can move well in this range, it’s becoming [...]

December 23, 2011 READ MORE →

80 Kg Kettlebell Clean and Press

I never get tired of watching Rob Russell lift. Rob’s a gigantic strongman based in the UK and he’s the first thing that comes to mind when I think of impressive kettlebell lifts. He’s a brute strength type of guy. Take a look at this kettlebell clean and press with an 80 kg kettlebell: It’s [...]

June 12, 2011 READ MORE →

One Arm Barbell Snatch, plus a Turkish Get up, A Windmill, and more

Spoiler alert: If you ever watch Max Shank do anything, you probably aren’t going to feel very strong when you’re done. That said, I still think you should watch this: This is a one armed barbell snatch followed by all sorts of other strong nonsense. I never get tired of watching this guy lift. Josh

April 21, 2011 READ MORE →

A Most Unusual Barbell Exercise – Juggling

I’ve been friends with strongman Logan Christopher for about three years now. He was my introduction to kettlebell juggling and the World’s Strongest Hair, and I’m not sure why it surprised me to see that he’s also learning to juggle with a barbell. The term juggling might give you the wrong idea. He’s not throwing [...]

February 3, 2011 READ MORE →

The Sunday Backtrack: Interview With “Unbreakable” Adam T. Glass

Since I interviewed Adam Glass a couple of months ago, I’ve gotten to know him a lot better.  My respect and admiration for him have only increased.  At the time, I was a starstruck fan.  Now, I’m no less in awe of him, but he has also become my friend.

September 13, 2009 READ MORE →

How And Why To Tear Cards

Why would somebody want to do that? What’s the matter with you? Those were two early responses I received when I started telling people I wanted to get strong enough to tear a deck of cards in half. First it was the kettlebells, then it was the grippers, then it was the pinch block, and [...]

May 5, 2009 READ MORE →