card&&tearing&&ebook310.pdf

1 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

Jedd Johnson, CSCS © Copyright 2009-2010, The Diesel Crew, LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, with the expressed written permission from Jedd Johnson.


Copyright © 2009-2010, The Diesel Crew, LLC All Rights Reserved. Published in the United States by: The Diesel Crew, LLC P.O. Box 806, Wyalusing, PA 18853 Tel: 607.857.8997 Email: [email protected] Websites: http://www.DieselCrew.com http://www.TheGripAuthority.com http://NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com http://www.CardTearing.com Author: Jedd Johnson, CSCS Manufactured in the United States First Edition: March 2009 3 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com


DISCLAIMER Strength training for all sports involves a potential risk for serious injury. The techniques discussed and utilized in this manual are being demonstrated by highly trained professionals. No one should attempt any of these techniques without proper personal instruction from trained instructors. Anyone who attempts any of these techniques, under supervision or not, assumes all risks. The Diesel Crew, LLC, DieselCrew.com, nor any partners of The Diesel Crew, LLC shall not be liable to anyone for use of any of these exercises, drills or instructions. The Card Tearing eBook is informational only. The data and information contained herein are based upon information from various published as well as unpublished sources and merely represents training, strength and power development literature and practice as summarized by the authors and editors. The publisher of this manual makes no warranties, expressed or implied, regarding the currency, completeness or scientific accuracy of this information, nor does it warrant the fitness of the information for any particular purpose. This summary of information from unpublished sources, books, research journals and articles is not intended to replace the advice or attention of health care professionals. It is not intended to direct their behavior or replace their independent professional judgment. If you have a problem with your health, or before you embark on any health, fitness or sports training programs, seek clearance from a qualified health care professional.

COPYRIGHT © Copyright © 2009-2010 The Diesel Crew, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No part of this information may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, distributing, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author. The authors and publisher disclaim any responsibility for any adverse effects or consequences from the misapplication or injudicious use of the information presented in this text. Inquiries should be addressed to The Diesel Crew, LLC, Webmaster, PO Box 806, Wyalusing, PA 18853, USA. For complete information on all of the Diesel Crew’s products and more valuable information available to help you get incredible results in your training, visit www.DieselCrew.com and www.TheGripAuthority.com.


TERMS & CONDITIONS 1. I am aware that The Diesel Crew, LLC, and its members Jim Smith and Jedd Johnson, are not medical doctors and are not qualified to determine a participant's physical capability to engage in strenuous exercise. 2. Medical clearance from my physician may be required prior to participation in any exercise program and/or engaging in any of the exercises contained within this eBook.

WAIVER AND RELEASE OF LIABILITY: (READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PERFORMING ANY EXERCISES IN THIS MANUAL) I UNDERSTAND AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THERE ARE RISKS INVOLVED IN PARTICIPATING IN ANY EXERCISE PROGRAM AND / OR ANY EXERCISES CONTAINED WITHIN THIS EBOOK IN CONSIDERATION FOR BEING ALLOWED TO UTILIZE THE INFORMATION IN THIS EBOOK, I AGREE THAT I WILL ASSUME THE RISK AND FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR DETERMINING THE NEED FOR MEDICAL CLEARANCE FROM MY PHYSICIAN AND OBTAINING SUCH CLEARANCE, THE SAFETY AND/OR EFFICACY OF ANY EXERCISE PROGRAM RECOMMENDED TO ME, AND ANY AND ALL INJURIES, LOSSES, OR DAMAGES, WHICH MIGHT OCCUR TO ME AND / OR TO MY FAMILY WHILE UTILIZING THE INFORMATION IN THIS EBOOK AND TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT ALLOWED BY LAW I AGREE TO WAIVE AND RELEASE ANY AND ALL CLAIMS, SUITS, OR RELATED CAUSES OF ACTION AGAINST THE DIESEL CREW, LLC, JIM SMITH AND JEDD JOHNSON, THEIR EMPLOYEES, OR AFFILIATES (COLLECTIVELY THE DIESEL CREW, LLC), FOR INJURY, LOSS, DEATH, COSTS OR OTHER DAMAGES TO ME, MY HEIRS OR ASSIGNS, WHILE UTILIZING ALL THE INFORMATION OR PARTAKING IN THE EXERCISES CONTAINED WITHIN THIS EBOOK. I FURTHER AGREE TO RELEASE, INDEMNIFY AND HOLD THE DIESEL CREW, LLC FROM ANY LIABILITY WHATSOEVER FOR FUTURE CLAIMS PRESENTED BY MY CHILDREN FOR ANY INJURIES, LOSSES OR DAMAGES.


DEDICATION

This manual is dedicated to the members of the Armed Forces that are serving our country to protect our peace and way of life. I hope that their fighting duties are soon brought to an end so that they can return to their homes and be with their families once again.


THANKS There are many people that I would like to thank because they have given me so much support over the years. My parents – You provided me the upbringing I needed in order to become the person I am today. The determination with which I train is a direct result of the hard work and perseverance you taught me as a child. My fiancée – It is your support that keeps me going in this profession, in my training, and in my life. Each day with you and the kids is a joy for me. I am blessed to have the three of you in my life. Adam Glass – This up and coming strongman performer has just broken onto the scene. He has become a very good friend in the time I have known him and has been a huge part of the success of this product, helping to make it truly complete. Scott Bird – Scott has done so much for Diesel Crew and me over the years. I can not say enough how much I appreciate his support. Smitty – You are the brother I never had growing up. Your guidance has gotten me through many hard times in my life and helped bring about PR’s in my training. You are my best friend. Here’s to a BIG YEAR in 2009!


TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION - MY CARD TEARING BEGINNINGS

pg 14

RICK WALKER

pg 14

LOOKING LIKE A FOOL

pg 15

IMPULSE PURCHASES

pg 15

BRACED VS. UNBRACED

pg 18

THE CARD TEARING CHECKLIST

pg 20

HAND POSITIONING

pg 21

CARD POSITIONING

pg 23

FINGER PRESSURE

pg 24

LOWER ARM MOVEMENT

pg 25

UPPER BODY ENGAGEMENT

pg 26

THE S-CURVE

pg 27

HAND CONDITIONS

pg 29

CARD TEARING TECHNIQUES

pg 33

OVER / UNDER TECHNIQUE

pg 33

HALF CHOKE TECHNIQUE

pg 42

CHOKE & PEEL TECHNIQUE

pg 45

JOHN EATON’S TECHNIQUE

pg 48

YOUR BEGINNINGS

pg 51

PROGRESSION METHODS

pg 52

PARTIAL DECK METHOD

pg 52

MIXING METHOD

pg 53

REVERSE MIXING METHOD

pg 54

FORCING PROGRESS-MAKING DECKS EASIER

pg 55

FINDING WORN CARDS

pg 56

WEAKENING CARDS IN THE OVEN

pg 56 9

© 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

WEAKENING CARDS WITH A BLADE

pg 57

TAPING CARDS TOGETHER

pg 58

TAPE ON TOP OR BOTTOM

pg 59

TAPING STACKS

pg 60

CHANGES IN DURATION OF TAPING

pg 62

FORCING PROGRESS – FORTIFYING THE DECK

pg 63

ADDING CARDS

pg 63

ADDING CHALK TO THE CARDS

pg 64

EXERCISE INDEX

pg 67

TRAINING THE CRIMP GRIP

pg 67

HAMMER CRIMP GRIP LEVERING

pg 68

WOOD DECK LIFTS

pg 69

FBBC SLATE DEVICE

pg 70

SLATE REVERSE CURLS

pg 71

SLATE PRESS

pg 73

SLATE HIGH PULLS

pg 74

TRAINING WRIST ROTATION

pg 75

CARD DECK TWIST

pg 76

BOARD TWIST

pg 76

WRIST ROLLER

pg 78

THE DOWEL BALANCER

pg 81

DOWEL BALANCER STATIC HOLDS

pg 82

DOWEL BALANCER LONG ECCENTRICS

pg 83

DOWEL BALANCER REPETITIONS

pg 84

DOWEL BALANCER FLEXION & EXTENSION

pg 85

DOWEL BALANCER FRONT RAISE

pg 87

AROUND THE WORLDS

pg 88

HORNE PLANK + CHAINS

pg 89 10


PINCH GRIP HIGH PULLS – NARROW

pg 89

PINCH GRIP HIGH PULLS – WIDE

pg 90

HORNE PLANKS – BANDS

pg 91

DOUBLE DECK PULL

pg 92

I-BEAM WORK

pg 93

I-BEAM PULL-UPS

pg 95

I-BEAM NEUTRAL (HAMMER) GRIP

pg 96

I-BEAM PRONATED GRIP

pg 96

I-BEAM SUPINATED GRIP

pg 96

I-BEAM PULL-UPS + WEIGHT

pg 97

I-BEAM WALKS

pg 98

ROPE ROWS

pg 99

ROPE DROP-INS

pg 100

CHAOS KETTLEBELL PULL-UPS

pg 101

WRIST ROLLING ROLL OUTS

pg 102

SANDBAG SHOULDER GET-UPS

pg 103

ROLLING THUNDER SIDE-PULLS

pg 104

GRIP PUSH-UPS WITH DOWEL RODS

pg 105

GRIP PUSH-UPS WITH PLATES

pg 105

NO CARDS? NO PROBLEM

pg 106

DON LARKIN’S TEARING TRAINING TECHNIQUE

pg 106

RIPPING SECTIONS OF PHONE BOOKS

pg 108

ADDITIONAL TECHNIQUES

pg 109

LENGTHWISE TEARING

pg 109

COVERING CARDS IN DUCT TAPE

pg 110

TEARING WITH GLOVES

pg 111

TEARING BEHIND YOUR BACK

pg 111

TEARING CARDS UPSIDE DOWN

pg 114 11


CORNERING A DECK

pg 115

QUARTERING A DECK

pg 118

CARD DECK HIERARCHY

pg 122

HOW TO MEASURE THE HANDS

pg 123

INJURY PREVENTION AND RESTORATION

pg 125

E-Z BAR REVERSE CURLS

pg 127

F-WORDS

pg 128

SLEDGE ROTATIONS

pg 129

SHOT ROTATIONS

pg 130

SHOT ROTATIONS WITH CONTRAST BATHS

pg 131

RICE BUCKET / SAND BUCKET EXTENSIONS

pg 132

RUBBER BAND EXTENSIONS

pg 133

RUBBER BAND EXTENSIONS WITH ROTATIONS

pg 134

ELASTIC BAND WRIST RETRACTIONS

pg 135

LEADERS IN THE FIELD OF CARD TEARING

pg 136

DENNIS ROGERS

pg 137

PAT POVILAITIS

pg 137

TOMMY HESLEP

pg 138

STEVE MCGRANAHAN

pg 139

ADAM “THE UNBREAKABLE” GLASS

pg 139

BECOME AN AFFILIATE

pg 141

REFERENCES

pg 142

ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS FROM JEDD JOHNSON

pg 143

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

pg 145


PREFACE You can do whatever style of training you want. You can do powerlifting. You can do strongman. You can lift kettlebells You can do hand balancing. You can do CrossFit. You can do Parkour. You can do any kind of training you enjoy and I am not going to stop you from doing it. I do feats of strength. I think it’s fun to take a deck of cards I played poker with a week ago, tear it into 4 equal pieces, and then pitch them all into the trash only to buy another deck the next day. I tear cards and if you want to learn how to tear cards too, then you’ve come to the right place. This is the most comprehensive card tearing reference ever created. I thank you for your purchase of this Diesel Crew product. If you ever have any questions about any of the techniques explained in this ebook, please feel free to email me ([email protected]) or call me (607) 857-6997. Now let’s learn how to tear cards.


INTRODUCTION – MY CARD TEARING BEGINNINGS RICK WALKER In 2002, I found out about grip training and with it, card tearing. Before 2002, I was interested primarily in Olympic lifts and Strongman. During the week, I would get two workouts: One where I focused on the clean and jerk and the breakdown lifts that help to strengthen the movement, and the other would focus on the snatch and its transitional lifts. During the weekends, I would get together with Smitty on Saturday and Sunday and we would fit in our squats and strongman workouts with kegs, stones and other odd-shaped implements. This got to be a routine that I became very comfortable with. In November of ’02, while spending time on strength training message boards on the internet, I came across Rick Walker, who is now a good friend of mine. Rick was talking about the intense workouts he was having squeezing grippers, lifting bars one-handed, bending nails and tearing cards. At first, I really wasn’t interested in picking up grip training.

After all, I was

happy with my routine. Why change it up? Why make the workouts any longer than necessary? I had to get my weightlifting and strongman training in to stay on top of my game. I imagined that including Grip training in my workouts would take away from my other lifts, but I was wrong. What I eventually found out, of 14 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

course, is that the stronger my grip got, the stronger my other lifts became. It took me a few months of stupidity to make this realization. Regardless, I still did not put much effort into Grip training right away.

LOOKING LIKE A FOOL Although I didn’t get interested in Grip training right away, I did become highly interested in tearing cards. At that time, I was still 24 years old and it was cool to me and my friends to go out on the weekends. Partying was something I looked forward to after my weekend workouts were finished. I thought it would be really cool if I was at a bar to be able to pull a deck of cards out of my pocket and tear it for the whole crowd. I imagined they would gasp, “How’d you do that?” and then ask me for my autograph. The first time I tore a deck of cards in a bar, I pulled a deck out of my pocket, said, “Hey look what I can do!” I then proceeded to make myself look like a moron. They thought I was a fool and just about laughed me out of the building. That really backfired on me. These days, I only tear cards when someone is asking about form or I’m performing a show. You look a lot less egotistical that way.

IMPULSE PURCHASES When I first ran across Rick Walker and found out that there were people out there that tore cards, besides the people in circuses and people I had seen on T.V., I really thought it would be cool to tear a deck myself. I picked up my first deck of cards at a grocery store, right by the cash register. You know where I 15 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

am talking about. If you look at the rack in the check-out area the next time you are at a grocery store, you’ll also see a myriad of fairly cheap, but also fairly useless items for sale right near the counter. These items are placed there in order to trigger impulse buys. An impulse buy is where you notice a product sitting there and you say to yourself, “Ooh, there’s a new flavor of Orbit Gum.” You pick it up, place it on the counter without thinking twice, and BOOM you have just added 99 cents to that day’s purchase. Well one day, when I was at the market, loading all of my groceries onto the counter, I saw a deck of Bicycle Pinochle cards. In an instant, I was reminded of the picture of John Brookfield I had seen on the internet the day before, and I reached out and grabbed that pack of Pinochle cards. That particular deck was $2.99. It was another example of effective impulse marketing on the part of P&C Foods.

Bicycle brand cards are some of the toughest to tear. In this picture, you can see the texture of the cards. These are high quality cards that can take a beating from many a poker game. They are a true test of tearing ability. 16 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

Now, at that point in time, I had no idea that there was variation between different types of cards, so I figured all cards were the same, but now I know that Bicycles are pretty high up on the card tearing scale. There is a reason why they cost $2.99 a pack at the grocery store, and Champions cost only a buck at Dollar General. They are made out of a different quality card stock. Now that I had my deck of cards, I immediately went home and tried to tear them. I took the entire stack of cards out, jokers and all, and tried tearing them. I DIDN’T EVEN MAKE A SLIT IN THEM! I mean I tried with all my might and I didn’t even damage the cards. They could have easily been used in a World Series of Poker competition. They remained completely unscathed. So I knew my work was cut out for me. I took these completely undamaged cards and placed them right back in the box, and kept the box in my lifting bag for another 6 weeks. Every few days, when I got the impulse to try them out, I would pull them from the box and give it a go, but I just couldn’t get it done. It wasn’t until I realized that there are 5 major points to establish in card tearing, that I was able to finish the deck off in my house one night. Even then, it took me about five minutes to make it the whole way through the deck. Once I did make it through, I kept that deck of torn cards for quite some time on my computer desk. I’d look at it from time to time and think about what a battle it had been to struggle through that deck.


BRACED VS. UNBRACED There are several different ways to tear cards. I want to go through and highlight several of them for you so that you can test each one of them out as you learn. You will soon be able to pick out which one works best for you. Before we go into that, I want to point out one thing. All of these techniques can be performed braced or unbraced. Braced tearing is when the hands or the cards are being supported against some other part of your body or object.

Braced Tearing – The Hand/Card Unit are braced against the thigh


Unbraced tearing is when the only contact that is taking place is between your hands and the cards.

Unbraced Tearing – The Hand/Card Unit is kept away from the body. It is much easier to tear a deck of cards if you brace your hands against your legs or stomach when tearing. One reason is that the Hand/Card Unit is stabilized. When the Hand/Card Unit is stabilized, you can focus more energy into gripping and tearing the cards and worry less about using up energy to stabilize the unit. This leads us into a very important 5 Point Card Tearing Checklist.


THE CARD TEARING CHECKLIST

If all you’re doing when you try to tear cards is just grabbing and tearing, then you are selling yourself short. I am a firm believer in the connection between the mind and the body. When I played baseball in high school and college, I would always run down my mental checklist before each pitch that I threw or each at-bat that I took. For instance, before I threw a fastball, I would envision the pitch blowing past the batter, right into the glove. If it was a curve ball, I could see the pitch tumbling away from the batter for a swing and a miss.

After getting my mental picture of success, I

would transition into my physical checklist - I would make sure my bodyweight was balanced and my grip was correct on the ball. I would take a deep breath and then move into my wind up. From there I would focus all of my energy from the ground, through my legs, into my core and torso, and then finally out through my finger tips and the ball. I believe that it is very important to be prepared mentally every time you try to pitch, bat, lift weights, or tear cards. I also believe in developing some sort of routine or checklist that you can easily run through, to be sure that you are prepared to perform the feat of strength that you want to do. What I want to share with you at this time is the 5 points of card tearing, my checklist that I mentally scan when I want to rip a deck of cards in half.


THE CARD TEARING CHECKLIST PART 1 – HAND POSITIONING The first bullet point on the card tearing checklist is your hand positioning on the deck of cards. You might call this the grip or grasp. It is really just the manner of holding the cards in your hands. The most common way of grasping the cards, that I have seen, is the Over/Under, or Reverse Position.

Over / Under or Reverse Position


Another way to grasp the cards is by using what I call the Choke and Peel. I call it this because one hand is positioned in a choke position, and the other peels the top of the cards back. You can see here in this image that my left hand his positioned at the bottom of the deck and my fingers and thumb are wrapped around, clenching it as tight as I can to keep the deck as stable as I can keep it – thus the choke position.

Choke and Peel Position Of course, there are more than just two ways to position the hands. I am merely showing a couple of techniques that I most often use. I will go over how to perform these techniques, as well as others, in more detail.


THE CARD TEARING CHECKLIST PART 2 – CARD POSITIONING The second bullet point on the card tearing checklist is the position of the cards. The cards can be positioned vertically or horizontally. The two techniques shown above are being done with the cards positioned upright, and tearing through the width of the deck.

To me, since my hands are so large, I find that having the cards in a vertical position is the easiest way for me to tear cards. Tearing the cards when they are positioned on their side, tearing lengthwise (as shown in the next figure) makes it much harder for me to start the tear.


THE CARD TEARING CHECKLIST PART 3 – FINGER PRESSURE The third bullet point of the card tearing checklist is finger pressure. It is extremely important to apply aggressive finger pressure into the cards when tearing. When you create this fingertip pressure, you should imagine squeezing so hard that the coating of each card compresses into the coating of the card next to it, fusing the entire stack of single cards into one thick dense card. Creating this immense finger pressure will ensure that the cards all stay together. If you do not try as hard as possible to keep the cards together as one unit, then you will risk tearing only the outside few cards at the beginning of the tear and this makes completing the tear even more difficult. When you start a tear in a deck of cards, if you are applying the correct fingertip pressure, your fingertips will turn white. This is what you need to do in order to secure the cards. Applying this pressure also helps you to make a clean seam through the deck. With a clean, direct seam, you will be able to perform the tear more efficiently. If you create poor split in the side of the cards, or a double split because you failed to apply proper pressure, it will be more difficult to tear the cards all the way through. Finally, with correct fingertip pressure, you are able to eliminate the possibility of only the outside cards splitting. If the outside cards are the only ones that split, the deck will become even more difficult to tear. Sometimes when a novice tears a deck of cards, you will see halves and quarters of cards trickling down to the floor. This is because the outside cards have split and are shifting around in the athlete’s grasp. This is a big thing to avoid in order to tear decks more quickly. 24 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

You can see above that my fingers are all in contact with the cards, working to establish that “melting coating” concept, so that the outer cards do not slip. I like to imagine that my fingertips are eagle talons, wrapped around a beam, clenching so tight splinters are falling from the beam.

THE CARD TEARING CHECKLIST PART 4 – LOWER ARM MOVEMENT The fourth bullet point is lower arm movement. You’ll see right away when you begin your first card tearing attempts that you do not tear a deck of cards with just your hand strength alone. Actually, successfully tearing a deck of cards relies on the coordinated systematic actions of the fingers, hands, wrists, forearms, elbows, and torso. Any point of weakness that exists anywhere along the length of this chain will cause difficulty for you in completing the tear. You must learn to coordinate this movement, as well as keeping each link as strong and as injury free as possible. 25 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

THE CARD TEARING CHECKLIST PART 5 – UPPER BODY ENGAGEMENT The last bullet point is upper body engagement. You can’t easily tear a deck of cards without utilizing the strength of the wrists and forearms. It is also important to engage your entire upper body. In essence, your upper back, lower back, chest and abdominals are your foundation. All movement of the upper arms, lower arms, and hands are rooted in the core and upper torso. If you do not execute a strict hydraulic contraction of the torso, you sacrifice speed, power and control of the upper and lower arms and hands. These fives steps are something that you should think about every time you are about to tear a deck of cards. These five points should be committed to a quick mental checklist that you run down each time you grab a deck of cards in order to tear it in half. If you remember to execute all five of these steps, I guarantee you that in time you will have no problem getting through even some of the hardest cards on the market today. Run down through this mental checklist any time you want to rip some cards. 1. Hand Positioning 2. Card Positioning 3. Finger Pressure 4. Lower Arm Movement 5. Upper Body Engagement


THE S-CURVE One thing that is very important to understand with card tearing is the S-curve. This is something that Rick Walker taught me all years ago. You can make the card tear easier by forming an S-shaped curve in the cards when you are trying to tear them.

You can see in the two pictures above that I have bent the cards into an S-curve. In the left image, I am using the Choke-and-Peel technique and in the right, the Over/Under technique. As you continue to bend the cards in this S-shape, the tear will lengthen. Of course, the cards are rigid so you will only be able to put a slight curve into them, but nevertheless there should be a wave in the cards when you are tearing.


Applying this S-shaped curve into the cards will help to focus the force into the center of the cards. The cards will split much easier this way and you will finish the tear more quickly.


HAND CONDITIONS Naturally, you want your hands to be dry when you are tearing the deck in half. If your hands are wet or sweaty it will be much more difficult to maintain a grip on the cards and you may not be able to get the rip started.

Here, my hands are untreated. The moisture on my hands will make it difficult to control the cards. I normally like to wipe my hands off on a towel or a spare shirt before starting to tear a deck of cards. Sometimes, I will even put a thin layer of chalk on my hands.


Above, I have applied a thin layer of chalk. The light coating of chalk has absorbed the moisture on my hands so slipping should not be a problem. Also, the thin layer adds additional texture to the skin, increasing friction and control of the cards.

A ton of chalk is not needed! With slick grip devices like the Rolling Thunder or when tearing cards, if my hands have too much chalk on them, the chalk acts like microscopic ball bearings, working against me when I try to obtain a strong grasp. In the above picture, I have too much chalk. It might now begin to work 30 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

against me because the chalk will be sliding over the coating of the cards, increasing slippage. I suggest chalking the hands with a light coating only. You should be able to easily see the skin through the chalk.

I make sure that the light application of chalk crosses onto the backs of my hands also. This way, I can be sure that no sweat will run down the back of my hand, into my palm and interfere with my grip.


Finally, I make sure that the area between my fingers has a bit of chalk. Again, this is to make sure that all the moisture is gone and will not secrete from get onto the cards or my palms.


CARD TEARING TECHNIQUES Now that we have covered what you have to do just before attempting a card tear, let’s move towards the different ways that we can tear cards in half. As you will see there are several techniques available. If you are like me, you will find one or two techniques that you will be very good at, and that you will be confident in using. You also might find a technique or two that you have a great deal of difficulty with. As you practice more techniques you will notice that certain techniques require more mobile wrists. Some require stronger fingers. Some are maximized with additional activation of the thumb. Keep these variables in mind as you learn. Modifying the amount of wrist, finger pressure, and thumb activation can help you better perform these techniques.

OVER / UNDER TECHNIQUE The first technique I learned is what I call the Over/Under, or Reverse technique. When I got into card tearing, this was the only way that I had ever seen anyone do the feat, so I immediately tried it. It is the basic technique for tearing cards. You should begin by placing one hand on the top of the cards with the thumb pointing toward your chest and the other on the bottom of the cards with the thumb pointing away.


You will notice right away that your hands take on a sort of yin yang position. What I mean is that if you take the cards out of your hands, your fingers will seem to nearly intertwine into a position that looks somewhat like the yin and yang symbol.

This position is very strong and it enables you to really get a secure grip on the cards. Can you see how easy it will be to apply the S-curve with this technique? 34 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

This over/under grasp on the cards is not unlike the over/under grip used in powerlifting on the deadlift. Having one hand pronated in an overhand grip and the other supinated in an underhand grip allows you to counteract the rotation of the bar during the deadlift due to the way the fingers wrap around. This “rotation counteraction” is why it is so much easier to pull a big lift using this alternated grip than it is to pull double pronated, or double overhand.

Vince Anello, the first man under 200 lbs to deadlift over 800 lbs, using the reverse or over/under grip.

Deciding which hand will be on top and which will be on the bottom depends entirely on your personal preference. I am right handed, and I like to have my right hand on top and my left on the bottom. I have also noticed that the majority of the movement when I rip a deck of cards comes from my right hand. Regardless of what your personal preference ends up being one hand will be what I call an anchor hand and one will be an action hand.


The anchor hand is the hand that will remain most still during the duration of the effort. I always keep my left hand on the bottom, so for me, it is the anchor hand. You can see in the pictures below that my right hand moves dynamically while my left remains rather static.

My top hand is the action hand. When I tear, my right hand covers the most ground. Once you have obtained this alternated grip on the cards, you must be sure that you apply immense finger pressure to the ends of the cards. As I noted earlier, if you are not squeezing the cards together as hard as possible, the outer cards will completely sever down the middle and then you will no longer be grasping solid cards on the outside of the deck. This will make it much harder to hold onto, and you could potentially lose control of the deck and have your grip slip off.


It is also very important to position the cards correctly. Believe me, card tearing requires you to be diligent of where exactly the hands are placed on the cards. What I mean by this is that the thumb pad of the action hand and the thumb pad of the anchor hand have extremely important roles in tearing cards using the over/under technique. If your fingers are gripping tightly and your thumbs are positioned correctly, the thumb pads should work together to generate the tear in the cards. Also, when the thumb pads are in the correct position, the chance of your grip slipping is much slimmer. A slipped grip is something that often happens when they first try to tear a deck of cards. This can come about from not applying the right pressure with the fingertips and it can also come from not applying enough hydraulic pressure from the core and upper torso. You should visualize the large muscles in your core, upper back, and chest sending a neural charge through the joints of the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and each individual finger joint. This neural charge will be like a message of power sent along telegraph wires. If there is a poor connection between the torso and the cards, then the cards will either remain intact, or your grip will slip and they will be strewn all over the floor. The grasp on your cards should be one functional unit. Even though the force is transmitted over several individual muscles and joints, the power generated by these links in the chain should fire in a sequential and orderly fashion to remain as coordinated and efficient as possible. Now, while I am labeling one hand an anchor and one hand an action, I do not want to over-generalize the parts each hand truly plays, because eventually both hands will go into action. If you are able to overpower the cards, you may actually move the anchor hand through quite a range of motion, especially with a weaker deck of cards. Weaker decks will split quicker and will resist your effort 37 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

less so you may start with the cards very near to your body and end up moving your hands quite a distance away. On the other hand, a tougher deck of cards will provide a greater amount of resistance, and your hands may only move so far. On a tough deck of cards, you may only move the hands a few inches on each effort to lengthen the crack of the cards. Although it is impressive to see a guy like Tommy Heslep explode through a deck of cards in just a few seconds, when you are starting out, and when you are dealing with a substantial deck of cards, tearing in a flash is not always realistic. More often than not, a torn deck materializes after a series of short bursts where the fibers of the cards are overtaken systematically. With my hand size, I like to cut a clean slit all the way across the edge of the cards after one effort, and then I make a series of micro-adjustments during the process of completing the tear.


In the picture above, I have made the seam all the way across and through the edge of these cards. To finish the tear, all you have to do is repeatedly twist the two halves of the deck in opposite directions. One thing you can do to make this technique work better for you is to ever-soslightly shift the cards in your hands every time you exert force into the deck it tears a bit more. Shifting the deck ensures that the very end of the tear is always positioned near the optimal point of leverage in your hand. This point of sheering is where the thumb pads come close together as they move. When the thumb pads twist together, the cards split and the fissure in the deck grows. After a few shifts, your deck of cards will be split into two pieces.


This technique is great for starting the seam in the cards. In the picture above, you can see that the thumb pads sandwich the end of the cards together like a clamp, and then as the action hand moves, the sheering takes place and the cards will begin to split. The coordinated effort between the finger pressure and thumb pad clamping is what makes the seam open up so cleanly. Over the years, I have figured out that I can normally finish a deck much easier if I switch to the Half Choke technique once I have the deck cracked the whole way through.


Transitioning to the Half Choke technique is very easy and involves wrapping the thumb of the anchor hand around the bottom of the cards to brace it and then continuing to push on and twist the top half with your action hand. With my anchor hand in this choke position, it becomes practically motionless. There is very little change in joint angle at the wrist. It is an anchor in the truest form. By the picture above you can see why I call this technique the Half Choke – with my thumb wrapped around the base of the cards.


HALF CHOKE TECHNIQUE The Half Choke technique can also be used as your starting technique as well. To do so, simply start out with this grip on the deck and start the tear this way.

Sometimes, the split in the cards does not happen right away, but when it does take place, often I end up tearing nearly half way through the deck of cards with that one popping motion. Once my initial crack in the deck is halted, I continue to make micro-adjustments until the tear is completed, just like with the Over/Under technique. The Over/Under Technique has never felt completely comfortable to me, although it is a good, strong position for many other tearers. This may be due to my hand size. It seems that others with smaller hands tend to favor the Over/Under technique.


Above is a view from another angle of the Half Choke grip. With your thumb wrapped around like this, there is very little slipping. It is an extremely strong position for card tearing.

You can also see in the picture above that the sheering point is created as a result of the close proximity of the thumb pad of the top (action) hand and the first knuckle of the thumb of the anchor (bottom) hand.


It is important to plant your thumb in the same direction the cards are turning, when applying the choke on the cards. This way the angles stay the same and the seam in the cards will continue in the same direction. It is easiest to finish off the tear when you keep tearing in the same direction.


CHOKE & PEEL TECHNIQUE

I also like to rip cards with what I call the Choke-and-Peel technique. This is my favorite technique. Just like how the Over/Under technique can transition so that the anchor hand takes on a choke position, you can also begin with your anchor hand in the choke position. Again, with the Choke-and-Peel style, I like to use my left hand as the anchor hand, and my right hand as the action hand. When I take my grip on the cards, I place my left hand on the bottom of the cards as shown above. You can see that the thumb pad of the action (top) hand will not play as important of a role in the Choke-and-Peel, because it barely contacts any part of the cards.

Instead, the points on the hand that will secure the deck of cards are

the index and middle fingers. These two fingers will remain rigid and attempt to keep the deck as still as possible during the course of the tear.


The fingers of the action hand will also be arranged in a different manner with the Choke-and-Peel technique. The action hand is where the “peel” portion of the name comes in. The action hand moves backward, pulling on the upper corner of the cards, almost as if you are peeling the top half of the cards off of the lower half.

Again, it is not reasonable to think that you are going to peel the entire top half of the cards off in one motion, so it is perfectly natural to re-grip after each effort to lengthen the tear in the cards. It usually takes me 4 or 5 adjustments to get through the deck of cards in this manner. 46 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

As we isolate this frame from the tearing succession, we can see that the sheering with this technique is cause by the index finger, middle finger and thumb of the action hand pulling the top of the deck backwards and grinding it against the meaty portion at the base of the index finger of the anchor (bottom) hand. I swear sometimes it feels like the deck is melting in my hand. This is by far my favorite technique for tearing cards. I have seen the great Pat “Terminator” Povilaitis use this technique in many of his card tearing demonstrations. If you have never seen him in action, he often tears a deck of cards while in the crouch position with a giant atlas stone sitting in his lap. When you have to balance a 300-lb granite sphere in your lap, you want the deck of cards to be as secure in your grasp as possible.


JOHN EATON’S TECHNIQUE John Eaton tells me that he taught himself how to tear cards when he was just a teenager. He heard of someone tearing decks of cards so he said, “Well, if it’s possible, then I can do it too.” He essentially taught himself to tear cards in half with the absolute toughest technique I have ever seen. I can not even get a rip started with his technique and he sent me a video of himself killing a deck of Bicycles, some of the toughest cards. The dude is a freak!

As you can see, John places the thumb, index and middle finger on one end of the cards. Then he places his fingers at about a 45-degree angle with the thumb on the back.


Here is the set-up position from the opposite angle. This grip set-up is very similar to how I grab cards in my Choke-and-Peel technique. It results in a very secure grip on the cards. However, as I mentioned previously in this book, my choke hand is the anchor hand in that technique and my peel hand is my action hand. John does it completely opposite, his choke hand (right hand pictured above) is what he uses for the action hand and his would-be peel hand acts as anchor.


This is where I start having trouble. John is seemingly able to put tremendous pinch power into the cards and keep them together this way with his anchor hand. When I try to this, the cards pop right out of my hand and I don’t even get a seam started. This just goes to show how truly strong John’s narrow pinch is.

The finished product!


YOUR BEGINNINGS Most people will not be able to blow through an entire deck when first trying to tear cards. Remember, it took me 6 weeks of frustration to finish off my first deck of cards. For that reason, we need to lay out some plans for you to follow so that you can work toward your goal of card tearing without getting overly frustrated. Frustration should be used as a motivational tool to bust through the walls of difficulty. It should not be something that solidifies the wall, making it thicker, and harder to break down. Use your frustration for motivation. I know that most people who put in enough work, pay attention to form and technique, and, most importantly, never give up, can tear cards. Something to remember is that lifters who possess monster bench presses, squats, and deadlifts didn’t just walk up to the platform one day, lay down on the bench, and rep out on 500 pounds. They worked up to it, over a very long time. The best powerlifters in the sport today have put in years of trial and error, and you can bet that when they first started, they only had a 25 or a 45 on the bar, and slowly over time, added 5’s and tens until they got to where they are today. Let’s take this same method of progression with the bench press and apply it to card tearing.


PROGRESSION METHODS Just like the classic example of progressive resistance in the story of Milo, who lifted a calf as a boy and continued to lift it day in and day out until he was a man and was capable of lifting a grown cow, there are several ways to implement progressive resistance with card tearing.

PARTIAL DECK METHOD The first method of progressing to the feat of tearing a deck of cards is to start with a partial deck of cards. Remember, we need to start somewhere, so let’s begin with 10 cards. Once you can tear a stack of 10 cards, it’s time to add another 10 cards. If you can get that, then add ten more, and so on until you are capable of tearing the whole stack of cards. This technique is going to get you to the point where you can tear your first deck of cards, there is no doubt about it. This method can also be used any time you want to work up to a harder type of cards. Later on in this manual, you will find a card tearing progression list. You will see that the innumerable types of cards that are available can all be arranged in a progression from very easy to very difficult. Some card decks are so easy that even weak card tearers will be able to tear them, but that same person may have difficulty with only a slightly harder deck. This next progression method will enable you to make the jump up the card-tearing ladder, and consistently be able to tear tougher and tougher decks.


MIXING METHOD This next method will require multiple types of cards to be bought. It just won’t work for you unless you have multiple types of decks to pull from, because this technique involves mixing the deck you are tearing. Certainly, not all decks are the same. Some cards are going to be much more challenging than others. Check out the card progression table later in this book. To use the mixing method, all you need to do is take a few cards from a harder deck and mix them in with the stack of easier cards. This method will work for you in two ways. It will help you get better at tearing light decks, and it will help you tear increasingly harder decks. For example, take a deck of lighter cards, something like a deck of Trumps. If you can tear 40 of the Trumps using the partial deck method, take 5 of the Trumps out of the deck and replace them with a few cards from a harder deck. Bicycles are a good option. This combination should be a tougher tear for you to complete because of the more challenging cards that are mixed in now. That is only one way the mixing technique can help you to climb the card tearing ladder. You can also add cards that are more slippery to the outside of the deck. This will train you to apply the incredible finger pressure that is needed to graduate to the tougher decks that lie further down the list. The mixing method is not just for beginners. After a few weeks or months when you have advanced in your tearing prowess, you may end up hitting a wall in card tearing. Even for me, when I get up around the difficulty level of a deck of Bicycles, I sometimes have trouble finishing the tear without a lot of difficulty. If 53 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

you see that you are having trouble progressing, you can use the mixing method again, but this time you will employ it in reverse.

REVERSE MIXING METHOD What you could also do is start with a stack or deck of difficult cards, like Bicycles. Remember in the first example, how we took a stack of easy cards and replaced a few with tougher cards to make the tear tougher? This time, we are going to start with a stack or deck of tougher cards and replace a few with easier ones. Depending on how much trouble you have with the tough deck, the number of lighter cards you put in the deck will vary. When you try this version of the mixing technique, start out by replacing about 15 cards with easier ones. If you get that deck finished off, then you are making steady progress! Next time replace only 5 or 10! Remember, one of the main reasons Bicycles are so tough is because they are so slippery. Slipperiness is felt most on the outside cards, so again, you can replace the outside cards with some lighter cards with a friendlier coating to drop the difficulty of that deck of Bicycles down a notch. That way, hopefully, the cards won’t go spraying out of your hand.


FORCING PROGRESS – MAKING DECKS EASIER Naturally, a brand new deck of cards is going to be much more difficult to tear than a worn out deck of cards. It is a perfectly acceptable training method to hunt for worn out cards and tear them in order to progress. I highlight training method because I would never want anyone reading this manual to try to cheat the feat or themselves by doctoring cards and claiming a legitimate feat of strength. While I am not a student of strength history and the lore of the oldtime performing strongmen, I do not think it is acceptable to insult the history of the performing strongmen by tearing creased cards, heating and drying cards in an oven. These are just a handful of illegitimate means of making a deck of cards weaker so you can tear them. I am writing this section of the manual solely with the purpose of helping the reader to understand how they can build up to tearing their target deck of cards, not so the wool can be pulled over an audience’s eyes. Hopefully, my intentions are clear, now, and so we will begin to discuss ways to weaken cards for training purposes ONLY.


FINDING WORN CARDS Yard sales and flea markets are excellent places to pick up old, worn out decks of cards for you to try out your techniques. I don’t frequent these places, but if I happen to stop at one, I will look for decks on the tables. Any time I tear a new deck of cards, I throw the leftover hunks into an old container. Over the years, it has gotten to be a colorful conversation piece near my computer desk. When you go to yard sales, you will find types of cards you never knew existed. Grab them up and tear them, or use them for a mixing method in order to build up to your target style of cards.

WEAKENING CARDS IN THE OVEN I have heard of people weakening cards by drying them out in the oven. I have never done this, so I have no idea how long you should do it, and I certainly do not want anyone reading this manual to cause a house fire due to trying to cook a deck of cards in the oven. I would discourage this practice and never recommend it. I only offer this information as it has been relayed to me. I am passing this information on to you for the comprehensiveness of this manual.


WEAKENING CARDS WITH A BLADE Another way to cause wear to a deck of cards in order to make them easier to tear for training purposes is scraping the plastic coating off the cards with a blade. Take the cards and lay them on a flat surface and scrape a few with a knife or sand paper. It is not going to do much for your efforts to progress in card tearing if you scrape every card in the deck. Scraping too many cards in the deck will downgrade a deck of Bicycles to a deck of Trumps. The key is to scrape a quarter to half the deck of cards. This way you will still retain some of the strength of the deck and some of the slipperiness of the cards. If you don’t feel like using a knife, then you can also use a small piece of sand paper.

In the example above, I scraped the card with a piece of sand paper and it shredded the slippery plastic coating off very quickly. It does not take much time 57 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

to compromise the strength of the cards, so don’t go overboard with this weakening technique.

TAPING CARDS TOGETHER If you struggle with the slipperiness of cards, then you are not alone. This is probably the most challenging factor in card tearing for most of the people I meet at speaking engagements and performances. They are unable to generate enough force to get the cards to split because they can’t keep the cards from sliding. This could be a technique issue or a crimping grip strength issue. One way to control the slipperiness of the cards, without actually damaging them with some kind of doctoring technique, is by using tape on the cards. Taping the cards will limit how much the cards can slip and will allow you to get a better start on the initial split of the cards. Athletic tape and duct tape are the main types of tape that I have seen used for these techniques. Generally speaking, the kind of tape that you use to rig the cards down depends on how much help you want to give yourself. Athletic tape is not only going to secure the cards in your hands and fingers, but it will also give you a better grip on the card. Remember that the cards are very slick and the athletic tape is nicely textured, so your fingers will slip a lot less. Duct tape, while it will secure the cards and prevent slipping, will still maintain some of the slipperiness of the cards.


The tape can be placed on the cards in different patterns in order to modify the level of assistance you receive.

The most fundamental way to tape the deck of cards is by placing a strip or two near the top and near the bottom of the deck. Once you apply the tape, take your grip and tear away.

TAPE ON TOP OR BOTTOM Once you get proficient at tearing cards with tape on both the top and bottom of the deck taped, the next step in the progression is to tape only one end of the cards. This way, one end of the cards will be secured, but the other end will be more natural, and more likely to shift and challenge you. You may find that taping one end of the cards is too easy, and that going without any tape is still too hard. If this is the case, try taping the other end of the deck.


In other words, if you tape just the bottom and it is easy, but you can’t finish a deck without tape, try working at tearing the deck by taping around the top. If you think that the athletic tape is giving you too much help, remember that duct tape is still an option. Duct tape will hold the cards in place for you, but it will not give you the same grip assistance. So the duct tape may turn out to be a good progression between taping the top and bottom with athletic tape to moving on to an un-taped deck.

TAPING STACKS Up to this point, we have discussed methods of taping around the outside areas of the cards, either around the top, bottom, or perimeter of the cards. Another taping strategy that you can use is taping just a small stack of cards on the outside layer of the deck to keep them from slipping.


In the example above, the center of the deck is completely free, but the small stacks on the top and bottom of the deck are taped, preventing slippage. This is an especially important technique if you have problems finishing the cut all the way through the deck with very slippery cards. What I have found is that with the slippery decks, I can crack the first quarter of an inch with no problem with the Over / Under technique, but the rest is much more difficult. This taping technique reduces the need to squeeze the deck in place, because the outside stacks will not slip. Instead you can concentrate more on the wrist postures and pushing all the way through the deck. You can also tape a stack of cards near the center of the deck. One idea is to split the deck in half, and then split one half into half again. Take the full half and tape them up so they will not slide around on you. Now, place the other two quarter decks and place them on the outside. Now the core is rigid and secure, but the outside is natural.

Instead of two stacks taped on the top and bottom of the deck, a small stack can be taped and kept in the center of the deck.

Now the overall difficulty of the

deck will be reduced, but you will still have to employ major crimping strength to the cards because the loose, untapped outside stacks will tend to slip around. 61 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

CHANGES IN DURATION OF TAPING Regardless of what taping technique you use, there is nothing that says you have to leave the tape on throughout the entire duration of the tear. You can use any of the taping techniques we have discussed up to this point simply to get the split started. Once you have initiated a solid fissure in the cards, you can then remove the tape and finish the tear without any assistance. This is a great way to finally bridge the gap between a secured tear and an unassisted raw tear. Remember, often the hardest part of the tear is getting the crack started and once that is done, you are off to the races, so you can try cracking the deck with assistance and then finishing it off clean.


FORCING PROGRESS – MAKING DECKS HARDER Before now, we have looked at have been ways to progress up the card tearing ladder by making the deck easier to tear, either by reducing the number of cards you are tearing, or by securing the deck and limiting how much the deck will slip in your hand. Now we are going to move in the opposite direction. Now we will examine ways to progress by making your lower-level deck of cards more difficult, and work up from there.

ADDING CARDS One way to make a deck harder to tear is try to tear a thicker deck of cards. Assuming you can tear a deck of Trumps, yet you can not tear a deck of Bicycles, you can make that deck of Trumps more challenging by adding a few extra cards to the stack you are tearing. In other words, if the deck of Trumps is naturally 56 cards thick (52 playing cards, 2 jokers, a poker hand card, and a sales card) try grabbing a few cards from another deck of Trumps and add them to the original deck. Grab a dozen and now you are trying to tear 68 cards. Grab 20 and you are tearing 76 cards. You will notice right away that the thickness of the deck is increasing, and with it the difficulty level of the tear. This may be the technique that gets you to your target deck of cards. There are almost endless ways to slowly make progress in your card tearing. Just as we mentioned earlier with the Reverse Mixing Technique, you can also 63 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

replace some weaker cards with hard ones. You can shuffle a few Bicycles in with your deck of Trumps. This will make the initial tear tougher, and it will make holding the cards tight more challenging because the slick Bicycles will move around more.

Above, some of the ultra-slick and stiff Bicycle cards have been added to the weaker brand. You will be able to sense the increased slipperiness of the cards right away.

Over time, as you add more cards, you will begin to get closer and closer to actually tearing a tougher deck. Gradually change the proportion of cards that are easy and the ones that are tough. At first you can start with 48 easy cards with 8 tough ones, then once you master that, you can mix in twice as many hard ones. Now you’ll be dealing with 40 lighter cards and 16 tougher ones. Keep changing the concentrations, and eventually the majority of the deck is going to be made up of the harder types of cards. Continue this and you will progress toward a complete deck of Bicycles!

ADDING CHALK TO THE CARDS Mixing different cards into the deck is not the only way to increase the difficulty level. You can also toss some chalk in with the cards to make them slip more and to make them more difficult to tear. For instance, you can take a deck of 64 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

Trumps, a fairly easy tear, and spice it up a bit by sprinkling some chalk in between the cards. The chalk dust will act just like ball bearings between the plastic coated cards, and they will really try to shift as you try to tear them. This method will require you to clamp down hard with the fingers, or else they are going to just spray all over the floor. There’s no doubt, there are tons of ways for you to change up your card tearing to spawn progress in your training. Since the feat of card tearing depends so much on technique and practice, card tearing is definitely the best way to train to improve card tearing. But it isn’t the only way. There is, of course, a limit to how often you can tear cards. If you tear too much, your muscles can get worn down, and over time you can end up with an overuse injury. Overuse injuries are a problem that you get from doing the same repetitive, forceful and awkward movements over and over. Sometimes called cumulative trauma syndrome, overuse injuries can be very tough to heal. No doubt about it, prevention is much easier than recuperating from an overuse injury. I urge you to ensure good warm-up, proper rest, and comprehensive recovery techniques. I have had two very serious overuse injuries in my life. Call it tendonitis, tendonosis, or epicondylitis – whatever you call it, it hurts. On two separate occasions in the time that I have trained Grip seriously, I have had very serious problems arise from trying to do too much, too frequently. The most recent time was in 2006. I developed cumulative trauma so bad in my left arm that I could not even close an IronMind #2 Captains of Crush hand gripper. In May of ’06, I did a lot of card and phone book tearing at tapings and public appearances and I was not taking care of my lower arms well enough. By June, I 65 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

was unable to close the #2 at our Global Grip Challenge contest, and I was still nagged by it until October. I don’t ever want to have that happen again, and I don’t want it to happen to you either, so please take care of your lower arms! Aside from injuries to the musculature and connective tissues, you could also end up damaging your skin if you tear too much. For me, because I often use one of the choking techniques when I tear, I usually find myself with grooves cut into the skin near the webbing of the thumb and the thumb pad. This is because the edge of the outside cards digs into my skin at the webbing, and I use this digging as leverage to help twist and snap the cards. If I limit the tearing I do, there is no problem. Usually when I start tearing a lot, I end up tearing a few decks per session with a few sessions per week. Before I know it, I am sliced and diced in multiple parts of my hands, my hand skin gets sore, and I end up missing my other grip workouts. When you consider the risk of overuse injuries and skin damage from too much tearing, it is certainly a good idea to use other resistance training methods to bring up our weaknesses and accentuate our strengths.


EXERCISE INDEX There are plenty of ways we can use both conventional strength training equipment, and specialized grip strength equipment to bring up our tearing strength.

TRAINING THE CRIMP GRIP With many of the card tearing techniques that exist, you end up using what I call the crimp grip. The crimp grip is where you hook your fingers over the edge of the cards. When your fingers are hooked over an edge like this, they are the main source of control on the deck of cards. Unlike the support grip, like that used in the deadlift, the crimp grip is mostly finger strength, with barely any thumb strength reinforcement.


Hammer Crimp Grip Levering Begin by holding the hammer in a crimp grip position. You can see in the pictures below, there is quite a difference between the crimp grip and the conventional supporting grip on the hammer handle.

With the crimp grip intact, begin rotating the handle from side to side. The hammer will try to rip out of your clasped fingers as the head rotates back and forth. Once you do this exercise for a while, you’ll never have a problem with those Bicycles slipping out of your grip. 68 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

WOOD DECK LIFTS The following lifts involve using the Wooden Deck. The Wooden Deck is a simple grip implement you can make from a thin piece of wood that mimics gripping a deck of cards.

The Wooden Deck measures about .75 inches thick, 3.5 inches wide, and 5 inches long. I got my first Wooden Deck from Rick Walker. When you make your own, the measurements you use are up to you. You can use the Wooden Deck with many different attachments and use it in many different angles. At the bottom of it is an eye bolt that is screwed in. To the eye bolt, you can attach loading pins, JumpStretch® bands, chains and other manners of resistance. The Wooden Block trains the crimp grip very well. Soon your fingers will be like talons the next time you try to tear a deck of cards. You can use the Wooden Deck to train individual fingers or pairs of fingers by moving it around in your hand. 69 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

In his training DVD, Steve McGranahan indicates that the strength of the last two fingers is the key to locking in your grip on the deck of cards. The Wooden Deck is one way you can train the last two fingers to further solidify the crimp grip you impose on the deck of cards.

FBBC SLATE DEVICE Another great training device from FBBC I call the Slate. This implement replicates the crimp grip used in card tearing very well.

Slightly larger in area, and a bit thinner, it is excellent for training the crimp grip needed for card tearing and is also great for variety. This really puts me to the test. Because of its thinner size, it really tries to rip out of my hands. While you can attach the hook to a chain with weights, or a loading pin, I prefer to use JumpStretch bands.


I choke one end of the band to the hook and then step on the other end of the band. Hooking it up this way allows you to easily change the resistance without having to untie the band from the hook or to add other bands on. To modify the resistance of your pulls, just move your foot closer to the hook to make the lift tougher, and move your foot closer to the end of the band to make it easier. There are hundreds of variations you can employ using this set-up.

Below are

just a handful where the concentric part of the movement is done by pulling straight upwards.


Slate Reverse Curls

Above is a simple reverse curl using the Slate. As you can see, the exercises you choose to perform to bring up the individual facets of card tearing do not have to be complex. All I am doing is pulling against the resistance of the band. This exercise also has additional benefits because not only are you strengthening the crimp grip, but you are also conditioning the back side of your forearm, the extensors. As I have mentioned before, this area is one of the spots in my forearm that most often has become inflamed and it is an area that I must constantly work on to keep healthy. A lot of the workouts that I perform that are grip-specific will include hybrid movements like this to target one specific aspect (crimp grip, crushing, ulnar/radial deviation) and hit a secondary area of the lower arm. In this case, the secondary areas are the extensors and the elbow flexors.


Slate Press

The variation above is Extension of the Movement in action. There’s no reason to stop at the top of the Reverse Curl movement. Above, I continue the movement bringing the slate up into a pressing movement. Better have your crimp grip dialed in tight here, because if you don’t it can come slipping out of your grasp and put a crease in your foot. Start off with light band resistance here, and if you are not confident in your ability to maintain you grasp on the implement with accommodating band tension, then you can start out with straight weight in the form of a weight chain or loading pin.


Slate High Pulls

The Slate can also be used for strengthening other facets of card tearing. Above, I am performing high pulls with a thumb emphasis. Remember, with many of the card tearing techniques, although the thumb is not the prime finger that is causing the card tear, it is still very important for stabilizing the deck so that the prime movers can do their job.


TRAINING WRIST ROTATION One of the coolest Grip training implements is the IronMind Twist-Yo-Wrist. This implement is used to strengthen wrist postures, especially pronation and supination, and deviation. The Twist-Yo-Wrist also simulates the twisting of the Over/Under tearing technique. It would be difficult to duplicate the Twist-Yo-Wrist but it can be simulated with many other implements to gain a similar, yet slightly different training stimulus. You can use round objects, flat objects, short objects, or long objects. The short objects will allow you to lift more weight because you will be able to get more of your fingers and hands on the implement, and thus, more control. Wider, bigger objects will target the finger tips and the muscles that engage wrist deviation. Longer objects will train the muscles that stabilize the forearm in rotation more. I suggest using a variety of implements in the TwistYo-Wrist format to gain well rounded strength training gains. Remember while you are performing your twisting movements that it is very important to twist concentrically in both directions. You should twist the rope up the implement in both directions. Chances are you will be more efficient twisting in one direction and you will do most of your tearing in that direction. That is a lot of time spent under tension without balance in both directions. Because of this, I suggest winding up the resistance for even repetitions both ways to ensure balance and limit the chance for an overuse injury down the road.


Card Deck Twist This innovation simulates the twisting of the Over / Under tearing technique. Wrap a rope or string around a deck of cards still in the pack, and then layer duct tape around it to secure the rope and keep it from slipping off the deck of cards.

At the end of the rope, tie a plate, kettlebell, or any other object that will be used as the resistance for the lift. Rotate the deck of cards in your hands until you wind up the rope completely. Return the object slowly to the ground, then repeat, twisting the object back up the other way. 76 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

Board Twist I made the Board Twist in about 5 minutes with a 2 by 4, a dog leash and chain, and duct tape. As you can see, functional grip equipment does not have to cost you a million dollars to buy or to build.

You can play around with this lift by using boards of varying lengths. The longer the board, the more intense the exercise will be. As one hand is taken off, the other hand will have to exert more force in order to keep the board from dropping out of your grasp. It will tax your hands, wrists, forearms and thumbs.


Wrist Roller The Wrist Roller is a very basic grip and forearm exerciser. I remember doing wrist roll exercises way back when I was just 11 or 12 years old in training for baseball. It was introduced to me as a way to increase bat speed, hitting power, and bat control. Even at college, 10 years later, when I was a pitcher on the baseball team, the wrist roller was still a popular forearm exercise. At first, you might think that strength and conditioning had not advanced a single stride, if the same exercises were still being done, but I wouldn’t go that far. The wrist roller IS an excellent exercise for forearm and grip strength. The short-coming is when the wrist roller is the only exercise that is done. Variety is very important. Back then, the only wrist rolling I ever saw being done was free standing wrist rolling. This is where the resistance is tied to the wrist roller, and then the athlete has to lift the wrist roller and keep it aloft while the rolling action is performed. While this exercise is okay for strengthening the hands and forearms, holding the roller up can wear out the shoulders, causing irritation to connective tissues in the shoulder cavity. For instance, when the arm is lifted straight up and in front of the body, the connective tissues that attach on the acromion can become pinched. Also, the weight of the implement held in your hands is supported by the delts and other musculature of the shoulder. The longer your arms are, the longer the resistance arm working against the isometric movement of the shoulder musculature will be. As a result, the free standing wrist roller not only works your lower arms, but also the shoulder muscles.

This is not an

ergonomically sound position, and can lead to over-use injuries if done too long or too often. 78 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

There is also risk of injury to the musculature, connective tissues, and joint of the elbows when doing free-standing wrist roller. Often, the athletes will lock out their elbows when doing this movement. This will result in irritation, very quickly. Like I have mentioned, card tearing involves an incredible amount of exertion, especially when you are trying to tackle a hard deck, like Bicycles. There is no need to compound this stress by adding movements where you must hold a wrist roller out in front of you, or do so by locking the elbows in a straight position. For these reasons, I suggest performing, in my opinion, the safer form of wrist rolling, supported wrist rolling.

Supported wrist rolling is done by placing the wrist roller over a round object in order to roll the weight up off the floor. Pictured above is the set-up that I have in my gym. It includes a 3.5-inch by 18inch wrist rolling device from Fat Bastard Barbell Company. 79 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

There is a hole in each end of this hollow wrist roller and I run one of my squat rack pins through it to rig it up. In the tie hole, I run a piece of rope that is knotted on the inside of the tube so it does not slip out on me. The other end of the rope is attached to my loading pin, which I load with weights and then roll until it feels like my hands and forearms are going to pop from so much blood being pumped into them. The size of the wrist roller is a benefit in and of itself. Because it is so large, you not only work the wrists and forearms, but you also work the thumbs. Thumb work is also very important for tearing cards because it builds the thumb pad up. A large, strong thumb pad means you will have a large and strong foundation for squeezing and maintaining a solid grip on the cards as you try to tear them. The bigger this thumb pad is, the less you will have to focus on flexing the thumb when you hold a deck of cards. Instead, you will just have to curl your thumb up and that huge pad will move closer to your palm and create a pocket for the deck of cards to sit in.


The Dowel Balancer The Dowel Balancer is something I came up with mentally. I first thought of it watching a juggling demonstration a few years ago on the Discovery Channel, I believe. It was a show about the natives on some island, and they used one stick in each hand to juggle objects. When I saw the ripped musculature of the men manipulating these objects with their sticks, it came to me right away.

I knew

that if I could balance something on a pair of sticks like this, it would be a tremendous wrist and forearm workout.

Pictured above, the Dowel Balancer is made of two 44-inch dowels that are 1.5inches in diameter.


I don’t know what the PVC fittings are or the clamps / braces are that keep everything attached to the 2X4 where the resistance is added, but hopefully the picture above will help you to build one if you would like to. I realize that my vocabulary for the tools used to make this implement is limited, but, as they say, the pictures are worth a thousand words. My good old dad put this together and it works like a charm. The Dowel Balancer trains your hands to be very stable even for long durations of time. This stability will carry over to your card tearing, especially for anchor hand stability in the various techniques you will use to tear cards.


Dowel Balancer – Static Holds

I train with this implement in several ways. One way I use it is for static holds for time. I place the board all the way out near the ends of the dowels, so the leverage and torque is formidable. Next, I place a weight out on the board. It does not have to be very heavy; a 5-lb to 10-lb weight will be plenty. From there, I lift the implement off the ground and hold it aloft for time. Again, the leverage is going to be very evil in this lift, and soon the ends of the dowels will start drooping. I usually hold until the drooping causes the weight to fall off the board and then I rest.

Dowel Balancer – Long Eccentrics From time to time I like to be able to maintain a long eccentric with the dowel balancer. However, if the plate is slipping off all the time, then the eccentric doesn’t last long enough for me. So, I sometimes drive a nail into the 2X4 board


so that the weight does not fall off when the sticks begin to droop down. This is great for a torturously long eccentric motion.

Dowel Balancer – Repetitions Using the nail set-up, you can place a bit heavier weight on the 2X4 and perform repetitions. I like to start with the implement touching the ground and then proceed to lever it up to parallel. I then return it lightly to the ground and bring it back up. It does not take many repetitions for you to feel this one.

The dowels can be pointed in front, or to the rear. Pointing them to the front will work radial deviation concentrically when lifted and eccentrically when lowered. Pointing the sticks backward will work ulnar deviation concentrically when lifting and eccentrically when lowering. In the pictures above, I am wearing baseball batting gloves because of a cut I had and not for any type of training effect per se.


Dowel Balancer – Flexion and Extension You may be thinking that the Dowel Balancer is similar to the weaver stick lift. Yes it is, but it is much better. Let me describe why. The weaver stick is performed by lifting a stick with weight loaded onto it off a flat surface, while trying to keep the stick parallel to the ground. This is an excellent exercise for building deviation strength. In fact, I highlighted this lift and some variations in one of my other products, the Diesel Bending eBook. However, the conventional weaver stick lift does not work flexion or extension. The Dowel Balancer does. In order to incorporate wrist flexion and extension while using the Dowel Balancer, all you have to do is attempt to twist your wrist while performing a static hold.


To make this variation interesting, I have occasionally placed a tube-shaped object on the 2X4 when I perform my twists. As the handles twist, the board will begin to tilt and the tube on the board will shift. Once that happens, you will have to quickly twist in the opposite direction in order to keep the object from falling off.


Dowel Balancer Front Raise Like any other lift, you can vary your movements in many ways up the Dowel Balancer is no different.

Above, I perform a front raise with the Dowel Balancer. The higher the implement is lifted, the tougher it is on your wrists. Adjust the resistance you add to the implement and adjust the height to which you pull it. Modify the location at which you grab the handles and keep applying Extension of the Movement in your training to get the most benefit.


Around the Worlds This exercise provides dynamic pinch grip strength. The goal is to get all the way around the 2x25’s, 2x35’s or 2x45’s, and back to where you started. The plates are oriented with the smooth side out. Once that is achieved, go for multiple rotations!


Horne Planks + Chains Grip Legend, David Horne, has published the use of a wooden plank in his training. He has credited this lift with helping to build his trememndous pinching strength. Since thumb strength is so important in controlling the deck of cards, the thumbs should be trained vigorously. Below, a chain is used to add progressive weight to the movement. More chains (and bands) can be added to change the exercise to static holds for time.

Pinch Grip High Pulls - Narrow

As you can see, any piece of wood you can comfortable put your hands on will work. There is no need to fasten weight plates to the board or plank, either, because the chains will act as your additional resistance.


Pinch Grip High Pulls - Wide

To vary your thumb training, emphasis and angle can be changed by moving your hands outward on the plank. This change can be made on the fly, even mid-set, but setting the plank down, shifting the chains around, and moving the hands to the desired position.


Horne Planks - Bands The athlete can also perform bent over rows or static holds for time against band tension.


Double Deck Pull This exercise puts your crimp grip and thumb strength to the test. All I did for this one was drill a hole in each of two decks of cards. Through each deck of cards, I passed the shank of a medium sized industrial lock. From there, I attached a monster mini JumpStretch band that I doubled up twice.

This is like the perfect cable pull for training for card tearing, because you will apply force into actual playing cards. This cable pull is TOUGH!


Once you apply your crimp grip to both of the decks cards, begin to slowly pull the two decks apart, lengthening the JumpStretch band. This movement is isometric in nature, and the purpose is to generate pulverizing crimp grip strength and endurance in the thumbs and fingers. In the picture above, I am squeezing and pulling on the cards as hard as I can, although the still shot may not quite show this. This simple movement will rock your crimp grip!

I-BEAM WORK I-beam work is another excellent way to work the fingers. In the unfinished section of my basement, there is an I-beam that runs directly through the center of the room. Occasionally, instead of performing conventional pull-ups on the bar in my squat cage, I will put on a pair of work gloves and do my pull-up work on the I-beam. Talk about your grip being the limiting factor in a pulling exercise! Your fingers are going to be like weapons after doing this one. You can grip the I-beam in a pronated, supinated, or neutral position. 93 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

When you perform pull-ups on the I-Beam, right away you will feel that they are different from any other pull-up you have ever done because the fingers are unable to wrap around a bar or handle that you are hanging from. Having the fingers positioned on a flat surface will force them to extend at the last interphalangeal joint, conditioning them for the strain of the peeling technique.


I-Beam Pull-ups

This movement is a simple exercise with an increased challenge. For variety, you can also switch up the way you apply your grip on the I-Beam.


I-Beam Neutral (Hammer) Grip

I-Beam Pronated Grip

I-Beam Supinated Grip


I-Beam Pull-ups + Weight Once the standard pull-ups are too easy for you, you might try adding weight, via a weight vest or a dip belt. Below, I use a dip belt.

Since the vest will be more uniformly applied resistance, it will be much easier to perform. Remember, the weight hanging from the weight belt will be dynamic and cause you to exert more force in order to control your swinging during the movement. When I-Beam pull-ups get too boring for you, it is time to make the movement more dynamic.


I-Beam Walks

I-Beam Walks are a ballistic and chaotic movement for your grip. This ballistic nature will carry over very well to card tearing. As you can see, the exercises in this exercise index are beginning to move away from the strict focus on training the hands and lower arms. It is important to remember that a lot of the power that you will be generating for card tearing is going to originate from the torso, especially the upper back and shoulders. With that, it is important to include exercises that will properly stimulate this musculature.


Rope Rows The athlete will start the movement with a powerful scapular retraction and finish with shoulder extension engaging the lats.


Rope Drop-ins Same movement as Rope Rows above, but done in a ballistic fashion. The athlete will get set by creating an appreciable level of muscle tension to receive impact. They drop into the movement, catching themselves and immediately performing a row.

This movement can be done in rapid succession for 3’s or 5’s.

If the athlete and movement are explosive, they will be able to return to a standing position.


Chaos Kettlebell Pull-Ups Excerpted from Advanced Kettlebell Training I eBook For this movement, hang a sizeable kettlebell from a cage or pull-up bar with a heavy rope, chain or combination. Now, you are ready to perform pull-ups by clasping the bell of the kettlebell. This exercise hits the fingertips and the wrists very hard!


Wrist Rolling Roll Outs Grip strength and torso stabilization, this is an advanced exercise.


Sandbag Shoulder Get-ups Fighting the sandbag will work everything from your elbow down!


Rolling Thunder Side-Pulls Side pulls utilizing our dumbbell setup from the side rows exercise on page 506. This time we are targeting support grip strength by attaching a Rolling Thunder to the bands.


Grip Pushups with Dowel Rods Integration of tremendous grip strength with upper body movements can also be accomplished in pushing exercises. This exercise requires strong and stable wrists, elbows and shoulders and promotes support grip strength. The goal is to keep the knuckles off the floor. The dowel can be locked at either end as shown in the sequences below.

Grip Pushups with Plates This exercise promotes serious pinch grip strength along with the benefits listed above.


NO CARDS? NO PROBLEM DON LARKIN’S TEARING TRAINING TECHNIQUE In July of 2007, I competed in the Michigan Grip Championships. This Grip contest was held in Three Rivers at the gym that Don Larkin owns. You are probably wondering who Don Larkin is. So was I as I traveled to the event. Since I had never heard of him in all the times I had spoken to Kim Wood about strength legends, I figured he was no one special. I had never heard of the man, aside from a couple of mentions here and there on the Gripboard from the promoter of the Grip contest, Bob Lipinski, and from what Bob was saying, Don just owned the gym. Anybody can own and run a gym, I thought, so I didn’t figure Don Larkin was very special. But I stand corrected, my friends. Don Larkin was one of the most down-to-earth strength athletes I ever met. He makes some extraordinary grip and strength feat implements himself from spare scrap and other things that most of us see as trash. He was doing Grip feats long before any of us were even born. I’ll never forget the days we spent at Don Larkin’s and I’ll consider him a friend for the rest of my life. One of the things I learned from Don that weekend, was that you can effectively train for card tearing by tearing folded newspaper! It seems like it would be very easy to tear newspaper, but once it is doubled up on itself many times, it becomes very resilient. When I saw Don Larkin demonstrate this technique, not only did I learn about something that was extremely challenging to tear, but I also saw one of the most intense men in the world. I regret very much not capturing Don Larkin tear the newspaper to shreds on film 106 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

Pictured above is the classified section of my area’s daily published newspaper. This is two sheets of newspaper. In the picture, you are only seeing half of one sheet. There are another four halves.

Fold the two sheets of paper 5 times and you will end up with a clump of paper slightly shorter, yet just about as wide as a normal deck of cards. This clump is nowhere near as thick as a deck of cards, but the round edge of the crease and the doubling of the paper makes this a very tough tear. If you get sick of buying cards to tear all the time, you can get your work in on just a couple of sheets of newspaper. 107 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

RIPPING SECTIONS OF PHONE BOOKS Another way to get your card tearing fix on is by tearing old sections of torn phone books. I have these laying around in boxes in my basement gym from previous tears.

Believe it or not, even a small phone book is a good test to maintain your skills when the junk drawer has no more decks of cards in it. If the phone books you have are thicker, all you need to do is split the section up so that what you’re tearing is roughly the size of a deck of cards. For an additional challenge, you can also try to tear a section of torn phone book that is even thicker than a deck of cards. Because you have perfect command of the thickness of what you are tearing with this technique, you can use it as a great way to progress. Thinner sections can be used for speed tearing and really thick blocks of phone book can be used for isometrics.


ADDITIONAL TECHNIQUES As time goes on, you may get more adventurous in your card tearing exploits. What I want to do now is tell you a few ways you can make your card tearing more difficult. Some of these methods have been used by professional performing strongmen that I have read about, and ones that I have seen in person or on video.

LENGTHWISE TEARING You can also tear cards over the length of the deck. For me, this is a very difficult way to tear. I simply can not get any kind of advantageous hold on the cards. Grasping tightly on the cards to keep them unified during the tearing effort is very important with lengthwise tearing. The cards are not going to flex very far for you, and sheering will be limited, so it is very important to apply pressure from the fingers and thumb pad.


Pressure is important for lengthwise tearing. The amount of contact area is reduced with this technique and you must squeeze hard to maintain control of the cards.

COVERING CARDS IN DUCT TAPE Probably the most common method of making a card tear more difficult is by wrapping duct tape around the deck of cards. As if it weren’t hard enough! Strongman performers have been doing this for decades! A classic strongman feat is tearing cards wrapped fully in duct tape. You can wrap the duct tape around the center of the cards or around the length of the cards. I have seen old tv shows that featured John Brookfield tearing cards wrapped in duct tape. If you really want to make the current deck of cards you can tear tougher, wrap some duct tape around them. I think I remember reading that John Brookfield has completed tears with as many as 3 (it may actually be more) layers of duct tape wrapped around them. Sick! To be able to tear decks 110 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

wrapped in multiple layers of duct tape just seems incredible to me. It’s something I strive to be able to do one day.

TEARING WITH GLOVES Another feat I have witnessed on many occasions is the tearing of a deck of cards with gloves on. It’s one thing to tear cards with batting gloves or work gloves on, but that’s not hard enough for the real deal performing strongmen. Some of these guys, like Tommy Heslep, are able to do it with oven mitts on. Now imagine the difference. Batting gloves and work gloves are made to help your grip, they usually have a texture and mold to the shape of your hand in a complimentary way. On the other hand, oven mitts are used with the purpose of keeping your hands from getting burnt while pulling something hot out of the oven. All the fingers are stuffed into one channel, and generally the material bunches up into a wad when you close your fingers toward your palm. In short, getting a grip on anything that requires as much control as a deck of cards seems impossible, but many performing strongmen are able to do it. Maybe one day you will do it on stage in front of a crowd and think to yourself how big of a wuss Jedd Johnson is for not being able to do it.

TEARING BEHIND YOUR BACK Yet another challenge you can set for yourself is to learn to be able to tear a deck of cards behind your back. My shoulders have long been too tight in order to generate any kind of strength behind my back. I think I bent a nail behind my back one time, but it was a very easy nail and I still ended up bracing it 111 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

somewhat against my lower back and glute in order to get the bend started. My lack of flexibility holds me back when I try to tear behind my back. Someone whose flexibility does not hold them back from doing this is Adam “The Unbreakable” Glass. Here he demonstrates his method of tearing cards behind his back. In the first image below, you can see the grip he takes with his left hand, which he uses as the anchor hand. Next you can see his starting position with both hands on the deck. As you will see in the following series of frames, his right hand is the anchor hand. Also note, this is an Over / Under grip, just like has been mentioned previously.

If you look closely, you’ll also notice that Adam has made this tear even more difficult by taping the deck with duct tape. This guy doesn’t mess around. In the first image below, you can see Adam’s action hand starting the initial slit in the cards, and to the right, you can see him continuing his initial push.


Next, you can see that Adam continues his primary pushing with his action hand, but you also can see that he is making adjustments by rotating his anchor hand, making it easier for him to tear the deck with his action hand. Finally, the force he is using is demonstrated as he


TEARING CARDS UPSIDE DOWN Something I never saw anyone do before I did it was tearing a deck of cards upside down, hanging from gravity boots. In 2003 when I was first taking notice of what some of the greats were doing in the big strength sports, I started trying to copy what they were doing. I had either read or heard during one of his seminars that Louie Simmons would occasionally alleviate some of the stress in his lower back by hanging upside down from gravity boots. It wasn’t long before I had myself a pair and I would perform hangs for 20 or 30 seconds toward the end of my squat and deadlift workouts. It can be boring hanging upside down from a pull-up bar, letting all the blood rush to your head. Once I got into card tearing, I eventually thought it would be cool to try and tear a deck while upside down. Believe it or not, it is rather challenging to perform feats of strength when hanging upside down. Not only does this go for card tearing, but also nail bending and other feats like blob lifting. Since you can’t brace your feet against the ground, it feels like you are isolating the feat to only the upper body. Even feats like card tearing that do not seem to depend highly on generating force through the legs feel much tougher when hanging like a bat from the squat cage.


CORNERING A DECK A fancy way to tear cards and to impress the audience is to corner a deck of cards. When cornering a deck of cards, instead of tearing a deck clean in half, you will be ripping off only one corner of it.

For a professional demonstration of this technique, I turn once again to Adam Glass. In order to corner a deck of cards, you need to make one tear either vertically or horizontally into the center of the deck, and then switch and finish the tear by using the opposite technique. In other words, you can start with a vertical tear or a horizontal tear, but if you start with a vertical tear, you need to switch over to a horizontal tear. Likewise, if you begin horizontally, then you must change to vertical.


Below, Adam begins the cornering of the deck my starting a vertical tear. You can see that once again this card-tearing gargantuan decides to add some flavor of difficulty by wrapping the deck in duct tape. After one effort, he has formed a split that reaches about half way to the center of the deck.

Once you have the tear about half way through the cards, you will rotate the deck 90 degrees and start your second tear. The corner can be finished by tearing from inside the started tear and pulling outwards, or by starting another tear from the outside edge of the deck and working inwards.


After Adam reaches the half-way point, he flips the deck 90 degrees and finishes with a horizontal tear.

You can see that the method he chooses here is to insert

his fingers between the two split halves of the deck and to pull outwards. This results in an arced tear through the deck.

As mentioned above, you can also begin a completely separate tear from the outside edge and direct it towards the end of the first tear. If the second tear does not line up with the first one, you can go back to the original slit and tear


further to make them meet, or just pinch down on the corner and pull and twist on it until it completely severs and comes off. As you can tell, there are several variations of the cornering technique. Try out all the techniques and see which one feels more comfortable for you.

QUARTERING A DECK Many athletes and performing strongman do not stop at just ripping a deck in half. To them, the job is only half done at best when the deck is torn in two halves. For them, they are only happy when they have quartered the deck. Quartering a deck is when you take each half of a freshly torn deck and rip them in half again so that you end up with the original deck split into 4 separate pieces. For athletes with big fingers, this can be somewhat of a challenge, similar to tearing a deck lengthwise. But that is a poor excuse for not being able to tear a deck in quarters. If Big Steve McGranahan can rip a deck in quarters when his fingers are each like a bratwurst sausage, then just about anybody should be able to get the right bite on the halves and tear them apart one more time. Generally when a deck is torn in half, you end up with one piece that has a void or dip in it.


This is the easiest part of the deck to go after when quartering. Using the technique you prefer, make sure that the initial split is being directed into the area of the void. The second half of the cards will have a bump on it, making it a bit harder to quarter, but with enough practice you will be able to quarter a deck of Trumps any time you like. Below, at the left you will see the deck of cards I tore in half and then tore in half again, quartering the deck. In this case, the tear was very straight and did not produce much of a void or bump, so the quartering was pretty easy.


Here, the quarters are matched together and held up against the other half.

Above, two quarters and a half, all lined up. Quartering a deck is the best performance I have been able to muster. Beyond that, I have not been tough enough to get my fingers on there and get it done and eighth it. It feels awkward for me, as though my fingers are too clumsy to do it. Maybe with some clever finger agility exercises I could build the dexterity to put the right pressure on the cards and get them started…


This is not to say you will not be able to eighth the deck.

If you stay focused

you can do anything. I just have not focused my attention on this feat enough to get it done.


CARD DECK HIERARCHY The GripBoard is an outstanding resource of information. At this link: http://www.gripboard.com/index.php?showtopic=17601&hl=dolphin there is a discussion on the difficulties of the various types of cards that are out there. Within this discussion, GatorGrip lays out what he thinks is the way the card tearing progression plays out, which I have included below. You will notice in bold the type of card deck, followed by some of GatorGrip’s comments including his rating for them and where to purchase them. “Paper Cheapos (no plastic coating)- Hard to find anymore so don't bother Trumps - easy, good trainers - buy at Walmart Gold Crown -2 for a dollar best place to start for a beginner.... Made in china 2 pack from Dollar Tree Older Mavericks - very good deck, difficult, but not too hard - buy at Dollar store VIP - good deck, solid tear ALL the way through, good grip - buy at Wal-Mart Champions - good deck, a little slippery, solid tear - buy at Dollar store Aviators - tough deck, not too slippery, hard throughout Hoyle Playing cards (what they say on box) Bicycle rider back cards – Difficulty considered high medium New Mavericks - freaking tough, hard to start - very slippery - Dollar Store or Wal-Mart Bicycles - buy pretty much anywhere - tough deck - expensive Gemaco casino cards - used Bees- no.92 - buy pretty much anywhere - tough deck - expensive Malaysian Dolphins – Cards have three-ply construction with plastic in between the paper - very tough tear – Dollar Tree”


HOW TO MEASURE THE HANDS When discussing card tearing and other feats of strength, you may hear statements made about hand size. For many grip strength feats, large hands are beneficial. For others, small hands are beneficial. However, it’s important to understand how to measure the hands correctly. The generally accepted manner of measuring the hands is by finding hand length. This is done by measuring from the point the wrist meets the palm to the tip of the longest finger. Many use the “first crease” in the wrist as the reference point. There isn’t much difference. Here’s a demonstration of this measuring technique.

This is the way hand length is measured as far as the sport of Grip is concerned. Above you can see that my hands are a little over 8 inches long. In Grip Contests, 7.75 inches is the cut off between small hands and large hands, meaning if your hands are 7.75 inches in length or shorter, then you are 123 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

considered to have small hands; if you have 7.76 inch hands or larger, then you are considered to have large hands. In most Grip events, large hands will be a definite advantage because you can get more surface area on the implement and increase friction. This is not always the case when card tearing is concerned, though. For instance, with hands my size, it sometimes feels like my fingers are getting in the way. When I try to quarter cards, I have a hard time getting more than one entire finger onto the pieces, whereas a smaller-handed individual might be able to get two whole finger tips on them, or even part of a third. There are, of course, other hand measurements that can be taken to compare hand size with other athletes, but this one is the most common measuring technique.


INUJURY PREVENTION & RESTORATION One thing is certain – if your hands and lower arms are sore, you can not perform to the best of your potential. It is extremely important to make sure you take care of your body and prevent injuries. If you develop an overuse injury of some sort, your performance will no doubt suffer. If you continue to tear cards when you are injured, then your condition will worsen and your performance will suffer. Therefore, there are a few things you must remember in order to keep yourself in good condition for tearing. Before ever tearing a single card, you should first warm up. First, you should perform a general warm-up where you get blood flowing throughout your entire body. This increased circulation will get your heart pumping, increase your breathing rate and awaken your nervous system for the work to be done in your workout. For your general warm-up, squats, lunges, deadlifts, pushups, legs lifts, good mornings, plate or dumbbell raises to all angles, light presses, back extensions, rows and other exercises that involve large groups of muscles are perfect. These exercises will have your blood going in no time. After the general warm-up, it is important to move into a specific warm-up. The specific warm-up is where you will make sure that the muscles that will be used are ready to go all out. Since you will be using the upper back, shoulders, chest, and upper and lower arms when you tear cards, these will be the muscles you 125 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

will target when you perform your specific warm-up. Some moderate shrugs, pull-ups, face pulls, rows and a variety of flyes to all angles will get your upper back, shoulders and chest ready to go. For the lower arms and hands, some wrist curls and extensions will do very nicely. Throw in some reverse curls and some gripper squeezes, and you’re all set. Warm-up is important. If you give it an honest effort and properly warm-up, I am confident you will see results and progress faster than others who do not perform a warm-up. Years ago, Louie Simmons, the great powerlifting guru, suggested at a seminar I attended that prior to performing any work sets, an athlete should always warm up to the point that the core gets to 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Since this is a difficult thing to measure, the guideline I use is to make sure I have a good head sweat going before doing my work sets, grip training or card tearing. Once I get to that point, I know I am on my way to an effective warm-up. Many of the card tearing and grip-specific lifts focus mainly on the forearm flexors. Because of this, it is important to try to maintain as much balance in the forearms as possible between the flexors and extensors of the lower arm. In an effort to do this, I make sure that at least once a week I do two of the following three exercises.


E-Z Bar Reverse Curls This exercise has kept me healthy and also brought me back to a healthy state a lot over the last few years. Actually, I include this as one of the most important exercises to have in the routine for a new bender in my bending ebook. It is very simple, but I like it so much! First off, I like it because it hits the muscles on the back of the forearms. Secondly, I like it because of the E-Z bar angle. This angled bar makes the movement very comfortable. I do not like doing reverse curls with a straight bar because it hurts my wrists and strains my elbows.


F-Words The F-Word is a device that Chris Rice built for me that is a replica of another training implement called the Formulator. This device is used, again, as a way to build strength in the muscles in the back of the forearm, only this time, the primary movement is taking place at the wrist. I do plenty of exercises that work the wrist in flexion, but with this implement, I can focus on wrist extension. The way I see it, if you don’t have good balance, then you won’t have strength. This lift brings about balance between the flexors and extensors. I also feel that your hands will not be as strong as possible if the wrist is not as strong as possible – so build your wrists as strong as you can!


Sledge Rotations In 2004, I flew to Minnesota and competed in Brian Carlton’s Feats with Hands grip contest and had forearm pain so bad in the back of my forearm that I could barely close the lightest IronMind #3 gripper they had on the table. It was vicious pain that I was feeling in my forearm that day. I came home afterward and described it to Smitty and he prescribed the exercise that rid me of the pain I was feeling for months in only 3 times doing it. Sledge rotations. Now I use this exercise as a way to prevent this type of pain from coming back.

As I look back, I think I had some sort of subluxation in the alignment of the bones in my forearm that caused the pain and the strain of the full ROM sledge rotations put everything back in line, bringing me back to top form. To maximize the effects of this exercise, make sure the elbow remains fixed at 90 degress as shown in the images above. Keeping these movements in my routine, plus my use of speed bag work before every workout has kept me injury free in my forearm/elbow area for nearly two years.


As I mentioned before, I try to do two out of those three exercises each week. They have become staples of my routine and since I have remained so consistent, I haven’t had any injuries in a few years. There are also many other exercises you can do to keep your lower arms healthy.

Shot Rotations Shot rotations are great for flushing the lower arm, hands, fingers, and thumbs with blood and speeding up recovery. Below, Smitty rotates two large shots. The heavier the shots, the more difficult the rotations will be. I prefer using large, heavy shots. My hands are pretty large, so small ones do not make me work as hard as larger ones. I also feel that my thumb gets stimulated more with the heavy shot, so I get more out of it.


Shot Rotations with Contrast Baths Contrast bathing utilizes a tub of warm water and a tub of cold water. When the hand is placed in the warm water, the capillaries dilate, allowing new healthy blood to pass through. When in the cold, the capillaries constrict and blood, along with impurities, is removed. This constant flush of new blood and removal of waste is outstanding for recovery. Combine contrast bathing with shot rotations in the different water temperatures and you will see better maintenance and recovery between your workouts.


Rice Bucket / Sand Bucket Extensions

Photo courtesy of defrancostraining.com

One of the most important things to remember about all movements, not just grip strength exercises, is that the volume of movements should always be maintained in the opposite direction.

Specifically for grip exercises, this will

provide us with improved recovery, balance of strength, optimal functioning and alignment of carpal bones. An easy and cheap method to train the fingers in the reverse movement is Rice Bucket or Sand Bucket Extensions. Simply pour rice (or sand) into a bucket, dig the fingers down into it and open the hand. This will be a very interesting pump, but you will get a lot out of it in the way of injury prevention.


Rubber Band Extensions Finger extensions against an elastic resistance are a great way to improve the balance of hand strength. But there is also a secondary training effect because of the physiological structure of the lower arm. By opening the fingers against a resistance the lower arm musculature that crosses the elbow is isometrically contracted. This means that we are improving the stability and functioning of these muscles as well.


Rubber Band Extensions with Rotations Isometrically contracting the muscles that cross the elbow, we will now engage the biceps by supinating and pronating the lower arm. Routinely stimulating the entire range of musculature in the lower arm helps to ensure we will not develop any weak points that could turn into injuries down the line from doing the high tension movements of card tearing.


Elastic Band Wrist Retractions Card tearing can cause impact and torque forces. The soft tissues, muscles and bones in the lower arm and shoulders are the structures that absorb these forces when tearing. Subsequently, the joints can become misaligned and therefore affect the blood flow and nerve impulses to these areas. Traction will allow the joints to realign, improve circulation and speed recovery.


LEADERS IN THE FIELD OF CARD TEARING Strongmen have included the feat of card tearing in their performances for hundreds of years. The history of this feat goes way back. I do not have the knowledge of the famous card tearers of the past, so I will not even try to go into much detail for fear of not doing these legendary performers justice. If you are interested in studying the Strongmen of the past and the history of card tearing, I suggest you give Joe Roark’s IronHistory.com a look. Joe’s site is revered as the best on the web when it comes to the lore of the old time Strongmen. Joe’s research on the greats such as Thomas Inch and others puts his site in a category all to itself. On the other hand, I have seen several of today’s best card tearers in action and would like to recognize them before closing this book out. It is my honor to include this section in this ebook. I will give some of the accounts I have witnessed as well as some information on the websites of these gentleman and some of the products they offer.


DENNIS ROGERS From what I have seen, Dennis Rogers gets the nod as the best card tearer I have ever seen. I have watched him half, quarter and eighth decks on his DVD, 336 Pounds of Fury. He even tears a deck of mini-cards, the decks about half the size of a standard deck of cards sold at stores like the Dollar Tree, with ease. Dennis sells a variety of Strongman skill DVD’s and all of them are excellent: A Grip that Rips - http://dennisrogers.net/productview.php?uid=6 Odd Object Bending and Breaking http://dennisrogers.net/productview.php?uid=1 How to Drive a Nail Without a Hammer http://dennisrogers.net/productview.php?uid=15 Basic Scrolling - http://dennisrogers.net/productview.php?uid=21

PAT POVILAITIS In the above section I mentioned the DVD, 336 Pounds of Fury. The other Strongman that is prominently featured in that DVD is Pat Povilaitis, the Human Vise. Pat has faced adversity and excelled at strength, something doctors never could have dreamed possible. Pat has probably the worst case of scoliosis I know of, and has rods in his back to keep it from getting worse, yet Pat can still deadlift heavy and is able to chest load 330 pound atlas stones. Nothing is getting in the way of this man when it comes to physical culture and strength. Whatever he wants to do, he is going to do. 137 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

Beyond being one of my most trusted friends in the Grip community, Pat is also one of the performers I look up to most because like me he believes that strength should be gained with honor, taking no short cuts, and definitely using no performance enhancing substances. He believes that feats of strength should be legitimate and never miss-represented. I think Pat gets a bad rap for being conceited, but I truly do not believe this is a case. He has been a very good friend to me and Smitty over the years and he has a beautiful family. He performs routinely, tearing cards while hanging objects from his head, clenched between his teeth, and while crouching with large atlas stones in his lap. His ability to perform card tearing feats with the additional stresses being put on his body is what sets him apart from other strongmen. I hope one day that he is able to move into full time strongman performing and can leave the rat race behind. Pat’s website is http://www.humanvise.com/

TOMMY HESLEP Somewhat of an enigma in the strongman circuit, Tommy is someone you may not have heard of yet. I can assure you that although you may not know much about Tommy, that does not mean he is not extremely powerful. Tommy does not have a lot of experience with the internet and because of that has not built much of a network on the web. Nor does he have an extraordinary marketing machine behind him to build him up and market him. However, Heslep has made appearances on National TV, squeezing a potato with his bare hand in front of Jay Leno. 138 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

Tommy is also known for his card tearing, especially his speed. In the old Gripboard movie gallery, Tommy shreds a pack of old Mavericks in the box with just two movements in less than two seconds. This display of speed was very inspiring to me and I strived to be able to do it that fast back in the day. I was able to tear a deck or two pretty quickly back in 2004, but never as fast as Heslep. That guy is a phenom! Tommy’s site is http://tommyheslep.com/default.aspx.

STEVE MCGRANAHAN I want to highlight Steve McGranahan because he has some of the biggest hands of all the performing strongmen I have met and while this should be something that makes it difficult for him to tear cards, he does so with ease. He might be the strongest of all the performing strongmen today as far as absolute strength. You can learn more about Steve at his site, http://www.stevemcgranahan.com/

ADAM “THE UNBREAKABLE” GLASS If you haven’t heard of Adam Glass yet, you will. He is one of the underground strongmen out there. He is negotiating deals now to set up several strongman shows and I think he will soon be well on his way. Some of the stuff that he does with cards is just ridiculous. As you saw with his demonstrations above, and the bonuses included with this book, he doesn’t mess around.


Adam is not cocky and he will tell you that he learned just about all of the information he has gotten from established strongmen like the ones listed above, but I think he may just have what it takes to move past them some day if he can stay healthy. You’ve got to see some of his stuff. Adam’s Youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/AdamTGlass2007 Adam’s Blog: http://adamtglass.blogspot.com/


BECOME AN AFFILIATE!!

Did you know? You can market The Diesel Guide to Card Tearing and make money! All you need to do is get an ID on ClickBank.com! From there, you just use what ClickBank calls a “hop link,” which is a link my user ID and your user ID blended together. Any time someone purchases The Diesel Guide to Card Tearing from you, you will get a commission from the sale! If you are interested, I welcome you aboard. If you have any questions, please get a hold of me at [email protected].


REFERENCES ARTICLES I Want a Pony by Jim Smith, CSCS: http://www.dieselcrew.com/articles-pdf/Iwantapony.pdf

WEBSITES Defranco’s Training: http://www.defranco’straining.com Vince Anello Interview: http://www.geocities.com/Pipeline/Rapids/4365/vinceanellointerview.htm

PRODUCTS Advanced Kettlebell Techniques I & II: http://www.dieselcrew.com/advancedkettlebell-training-ebooks/


ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS FROM JEDD JOHNSON & DIESEL CREW The Nail Bending eBook – This is the most complete reference on nail, bolt, and steel bending that exists. All of the major techniques are explained, including Double Overhand, Double Underhand and Reverse, as well as other lesser known techniques. This eBook is over 180 pages of instruction, including a 60+ page exercise index that will turn your hands, wrists and lower arms into steel bending weapons. Only $39.97! http://www.TheGripAuthority.com/bending.htm The Ultimate Sled Dragging Manual – Sled dragging is a very beneficial type of training for athletes because of its potential to develop strength, power, speed, and to support restoration. Within this manual, we define dozens of sled dragging exercises which will bring a variety to your sled dragging that you never thought was possible. Only $37! http://www.dieselcrew.com/ultimate-sled-dragging-ebook/ Stone Lifting Fundamentals DVD – This DVD covers everything you need to know to safely add stone lifting to your training repertoire. Designed to benefit strongman competitors, strength coaches, and strength enthusiasts, we cover the basics of stone lifting as well as advanced stone training techniques. Only $29.95! http://www.dieselcrew.com/stone-training/


Combat Core Strength Manual – If you think you have seen all the abdominal and core strengthening exercises that exist, you are mistaken. Combat Core includes hundreds of exercises that will throttle your core and I guarantee dozens of them you have never seen, heard about, or ever considered trying in your training. This is a must for anyone looking to mold their body into a sculpture of strength and precision. Only $47! http://www.combatcorestrength.com The Sh*t You’ve Never Seen DVD – This DVD shows you real live workout footage from the Diesel Crew complete with intensity, innovation and the pursuit of strength. This DVD includes footage that has never been released to the public eye, including kettlebell feats that have never been repeated, extremely rare grip strength feats, and other ground-breaking exercises that only the Diesel Crew has performed. Only $19.95! http://dieselcrew.com/the-sh-t-youve-never-seen-dvd/


ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jedd Johnson played Basketball and Baseball at Towanda High School in Pennsylvania. Later, he played Division 2 baseball for two years at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, before taking on strength training as his main interest. In 1999, Jedd and Jim Smith, ‘Smitty,’ formed the Diesel Crew and began formulating the Diesel Method, a strength and conditioning system involving the incorporation of various training disciplines. Now, the Diesel Crew is recognized as the LeaderS in Grip Strength. Jedd has Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist credentials through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and is a regular speaker/presenter at the Pennsylvania State Strength and Conditioning Clinic. Jedd has been featured at Zach Even-Esh’s Underground Strength Clinic. Contest Experience: 2003 - TPS Massachusetts State Strongman Championships - Battle for Grip Supremacy 2004 - TPS Massachusetts State Strongman Championships - Maryland’s Strongest Man - Global Grip Challenge 2004 2005 - TPS Grip Assault - Wise Wellness Strongman Contest - Saxonburg Strongman Contest 145 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

- TPS Massachusetts State Strongman Championships - Maryland’s Strongest Man - Global Grip Challenge 2005 2006 - Stronger Than All II - Wise Wellness 2006 - Global Grip Challenge 2006 - Backyard Bastard Bash II 2007 - TPS Grip Assault 2007 - Michigan Grip Championship 2007 - Global Grip Challenge 2007 - Backyard Bastard Bash III - Gripmas Carol 2007 2008 - TPS Grip Assault 2008 - Michigan Grip Championship 2008 - Global Grip Challenge 2008 - Gripmas Carol 2008 Jedd regularly competes in Grip contests throughout the United States and is active behind the scenes of the annual Hand Strength Season, assisting in setting up the qualification system, qualifying contests, and the National Hand Strength Championship, the Global Grip Challenge. Jedd’s training focuses includes a variety of disciplines, including strongman, grip strength, speed bag striking, kettlebells, powerlifting, and more. 146 © 2009 - 2010 The Diesel Card Tearing eBook – All Rights Reserved. www.DieselCrew.com – www.NapalmJedd.Blogspot.com – www.CardTearing.com

card&&tearing&&ebook310.pdf

Recommend Documents