Where do I begin?
How about a brief synopsis. I was in Houston to learn from one of the strongest men in the world, Dennis Rogers. Even among the students there we had some very strong guys. Like ‘The Human Vise’ Pat Povilaitis, Mike ‘The Machine’ Bruce, and Chris ‘As of yet no real nickname’ Rider.
And everyone else was strong too but these men stand out. When you get around this caliber of individuals you’re pretty much expected to tear phonebooks and decks of cards in half. To mangle various sizes of steel with your bare hands.
Today I share a few pictures of the materials in the strongman trade. Here’s a few prize pieces signed and kept by Dennis.
It’s hard to tell the size of some of the objects but the common objects (like the coffee cup) should give you a frame of reference. Here’s a close up of the ‘S’ wrenches.
Here’s a hammer done by Chris Rider in the same manner. Very cool looking.
And now for a before and after shot of tearing through many phonebooks. And no, we weren’t quite done yet. I believe everyone was destroyed. One great thing about the seminar was we all had the opportunity to not only do a feat but get one-on-one attention and all our questions answered.
That’ll give you an idea of some of the feats the best can perform. Next time I’ll show you a few feats as they’re being performed.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
P.S. This kind of training isn’t for everyone. But if you want to do be able to do any of these feats or similar there is one man to turn to, Dennis Rogers.
Filed under Feats of Strength, Hand Strength, Oldtime Strongmen by on Aug 12th, 2008. Comment. 
Was on the phone with John Brookfield yesterday. We had an extremely interesting and enlightening conversation.
If you don’t know who John Brookfield is let me fill you in. He’s strong. Really strong. And not just in his grip (though he’s written not THE but THE TWO books on hand strength) as he’s well known for.
He’s extremely well conditioned and strong all around. In fact he’s set a number of world record’s that are crazy in strength and endurance.
The best part is I recorded it and am going to make it available to you soon.
A few of the things he said, opened my eyes to some new possibilities. Just one thing we talked about concerning kettlebell juggling that I applied today, kicked my butt.
At it was all across the board in what we covered.
Even though I was interviewing him, I can hardly wait to re-listen to it and take down more notes.
So consider this a head’s up and look for my email about it next week.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
Filed under Feats of Strength, Hand Strength, Oldtime Strongmen by on Jul 25th, 2008. Comment.
Thought I’d go into another question today. This one is from Olof in Sweden
Hi Logan
I really like your blog and all you put in to your different sites. By occasion the former 5 time world champion master in Arm wrestling com by my small shop ( its so new so we just put it in order for the moment ) looked at our Kettlebells, told us he never heard about KBs before.
But, he was thrilled, and want me to start training the local Arm wrestling club with Kettlebells.
What sort of work out would you suggest for these athletes?
Best regard Olof
Thank you, Olof. This is a good question. And here’s why. It delves into the topic of when you should be using what tool.
If the guy is the 5 time world champion, I think the best advice would be to stick with what he’s knows. It must work!
However much I love kettlebells, in this case, they are not best suited to the job.
This ties into the discussion of functional strength. His function is to put other people’s arms down. To build that function you need stronger arms, wrists and hands.
From what I’ve seen of high level arm wrestlers, in their training they do lots of curls in various positions and lots of hand work.
The kettlebell does not lend itself to being curled. Yes, you can throw a towel around the handle and curl, but that’s not what it‘s best at.
There are ways you could use it to help out, but once again it’s not the best tool.
If you want to use the kettlebell for general fitness and strength just stick with the basics for these athletes. The swings, snatches, presses, etc.
On top of that they could do their specialization work (which should of course include lots of arm wrestling).
Though it may not be what you have wanted to hear, I hope it helps.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
P.S. Remember you can ask your questions here
Filed under Hand Strength, Kettlebells, Strength Training Concepts by on Jul 9th, 2008. 3 Comments.
Been re-reading the strength training classic Dinosaur Training.
If you don’t have the book, get your hands on it. Plus Brooks Kubik, has a new website.
One of the things I’ve added into my training is the lifting of a heavy odd object. I’ve got a unique tool named Big Red. I’ll get a video of lifting it sometime soon.
It’s a great way to finish the workout. An all out set against the iron to leave you winded and muscles aching.
Odd objects build strength that something like a barbell can replicate. Barrels, kegs, sandbags, and the like will take all your effort to stabilize the shifting and moving weight.
There are other objects that don’t move on you, but still aren’t easily managed. A large rock or log for instance. Something without an easy to grip surface or handles.
You could classify kettlebells or clubbells the same way. Certainly for a person who has never lifted them they are awkward. But once you put in thousands of reps they cease to be.
In addition odd objects tend to work the grip in a big way. You have to hang on and tighten up just to prevent the object from falling out of your hands.
However you train, you’d be wise to add some sort of odd object training in. They’re a bunch of tools that will build strength that can’t be gotten elsewhere. Good for training and great for feats of strength too.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
Filed under Feats of Strength, Hand Strength, Odd Objects, Strength Training Concepts by on Jun 16th, 2008. Comment.
I was on the phone with Brad Johnson yesterday talking about training.
If you don’t know who Brad Johnson is you’re missing out. This guy is pretty much the king of bodyweight exercises. And I’m not talking about hundreds and thousands of reps.
I’m talking strong, like one finger, one hand chinnups. Dragon flags with added weight. And so much more.
If you don’t have his book, Bodyweight Exercises for Extraordinary Strength, you need to pick it up at Ironmind. Only $13.95.
Anyway, one of the main things he’s been into recently is rafter work, as in using a pinch grip to support himself. Pullups, chinnups, walking, swinging and turning around. Truly incredible stuff.
He’s gotten so good because he loves to train like this. More than once he got blisters on his hands because he spent over an hour training on the rafters.
Having fun with your training is what I just wrote about. Then I get on the phone with someone performing at this high level taking about the exact same thing. Think you ought to pay attention?
When you get excited and can’t wait to train you’re going to get good.
If you’re thinking you’d have fun too if you could swing from rafters but you’re not good enough to even come close, your mind’s in the wrong place.
No one starts out that good. Have fun with what you can do and build from there.
I can’t hang from rafters…yet…but training progressively and having fun along the way I’ll get there. You can too.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
P.S. Brad was quite impressed with my kettlebell juggling. I just added a new video to the kettlebell juggling blog with a few tricks you’ve likely never seen before. Make sure you sign up to get the updates.
Filed under Bodyweight Exercise, Feats of Strength, Hand Strength, Strength Training Concepts by on Jun 13th, 2008. 2 Comments.
There’s a whole new website up. This one’s all about kettlebell juggling.
As you may know I think kettlebell juggling is one of the most fun ways to get stronger and better conditioned. And I’ve gotten pretty good at it over the years.
The site is at www.kettlebelljuggling.com. Nice name, eh?
But all the action is going to be happening at the kettlebell juggling blog.
You’ll notice that there’s another place to sign up for email updates. This one is separate from the emails I’ll be sending from www.legendarystrength.com.
You can sign up to get notified of every new post which will probably be once or twice a week, not as often as on this list. If your interested in kettlebell juggling or just want to see more awesome videos be sure to sign up. There’ll be more showy videos as well as videos that teach the techniques.
And let me know if you like the video. Post your comments on the kettlebell juggling blog.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
Filed under Hand Strength, Kettlebells by on Jun 9th, 2008. Comment.
Yet another article is up on the site. This one delves into the feat of strength known as nail bending.
Even if you’re not interested in bending nails for the sake of bending nails, you might want to try it out for the strength you’ll build in your hands, wrists, and whole body.
There’s also a video in the article showing me bending a 60D nail.
I had to take a couple months off of bending because of some elbow troubles but I got back into it in the past two weeks. Unfortunately right now the 60D nails are still tough for me. The video shows my forth and last bend in the workout. The funny thing is this was my best bend.
So go check out the article to learn how to bend steel with your hands.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
Filed under Feats of Strength, Hand Strength, Videos by on Jun 4th, 2008. Comment.
No I’m not talking about spending 4 hours in the gym that wear you down instead of building you up. That kind of stuff will be talked about some other time.
What I am talking about is a certain kind of strength training. The kind that leaves behind a pile of destroyed, mangled, ripped and shredded stuff.
In my last post I talked about the satisfaction that I and many others get from bending steel. One of the main causes of this is that you have something tangible and material afterwards. If you break a PR in the press or squat it is great, but unless you snapped some pictures or video then it is just in your mind and your sense of accomplishment.
Bend a new piece of iron or tear a deck of cards in half and you have the results left over. Not knocking any other lifts but these few give you something to look at, after the feat is done
I don’t hang on to everything but as a habit I keep my firsts and my records. I also have a few souvenirs from other people.
One of my favorites is a phonebook torn by John Wood at a seminar I attended. If you haven’t seen his sites then be sure to check them out. A good starting place is http://www.oldtimestrongman.com/blog/
The phonebook itself isn’t so impressive, but the manner in which he did it was. While in a wrestler’s bridge with someone standing on top of him he tore three phonebooks in succession. In this position he had to tear the books above his head, meaning without bracing. Truly a extraordinary stunt.
The first time I ever ‘performed’ I gave the remains of my feats to some young girls near the front of the stage. Twas a great feeling seeing them carry around the objects all night long.
My collection has just begun but you gotta start somewhere. If you haven’t, then what are you waiting for?
In case you’re wondering I do recycle the phonebook remains. Whether they actually can use them or not I do not know for sure.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
Filed under Feats of Strength, Hand Strength, Oldtime Strongmen by on Sep 27th, 2007. Comment.
A little while ago I bent my first ever legitimate 60-penny nail. I did this in the reverse grip meaning my hands were facing opposite directions. Since then I have bent one in the double overhand position which I am working more on.
Bending steel has been something that has interested me for a while. What originally got me into it was reading Spiritual Journey of Joseph L. Greenstein: The Mighty Atom
Once you get into bending you will probably be visiting your local hardware store to buy different lengths and qualities of steel to prepare your own. The Bag of Nails also comes with a hand pad (necessary so that you don’t damage your hands) but I prefer strips of leather instead.
Just saw a red nail get bent for the first time ever. While assisting at the RKC in Minnesota a couple weeks ago, one night we had some fun up in the hospitality suite. We bent steel, tore cards and phonebooks in half. Brett Jones took care of the red nail. It was very impressive. He also gave us some tips on bending and other feats. Very helpful and a great guy.
Why should you consider bending nails? Bending steel requires whole body tension. It will teach you how to use your entire body in one concentrated effort. People may think that it as a grip feat but that is only a piece of the puzzle.
It will also build your mind powers. This feat is really all about mind over matter. You will never bend a piece of steel you don’t believe you can. Wrapping your mind around the feat is as important as building the strength to be able to do it.
For example, the first time I ever bent a yellow nail (which is a hefty step up from the green) is right after my friend told me he had bent one. Now that it was ‘possible’ I finished off my first one. It took me about 15 minutes with a long break in the middle but I did it. This kind of thing happens very often which is a good reason to train with other people at least some of the time.
Another reason bending steel is great is because it is satisfying and fun. Perhaps I am weird like that, but knowing that you can demolish a piece of iron is very gratifying. Besides it is quite amazing to your average person and thus a great party trick.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
Filed under Feats of Strength, Hand Strength by on Sep 20th, 2007. 1 Comment.
