Phonebook Tearing

Another classic strongman feat. Nothing quite matches watching someone take a huge phonebook and pulling it into two with their hands. This short video shows this in action.

There are several ways this feat can be done. The most common is to brace the book on the hip. You post down with one hand and pull with the other. It requires a strong pinch grip with the thumb pad to keep the book secured while you pull.

Other, more advanced feats to perform with a phonebook include several tears, that is tearing the phonebook into 3, 4, 5 or more sections. Also notching, where a section is torn out, and cornering. You can also make the feat more difficult by doing it away from the body or by wearing over mitts.

This feat has often been faked by baking the phonebook in an oven to make it brittle and easy to tear. Or there is what’s known as the ‘popping technique’. That is by applying the pressure in a certain way, you can make a book pop and the rest of the tear becomes easy. But you’ll find no cheating here. This video shows the improper way of tearing phonebooks and not even a good attempt at it. As you can see this can be done without strength.

In the olden days phonebooks were often torn through the binding. This is a matter of breaking the binding over the leg then pulling it apart.

The larger a phonebook is, the more difficult it will be to tear. Even so, depending on the quality of the material (how much the paper is recycled, inserts and other factors) can make a book easier or harder.

My personal best phonebook tear

The basic technique is to grab the book near the spine with one hand which is your post or anchor. The other hand grips it and pulls back and slightly outwards.

For tons more detail the best resource for learning how to tear phonebooks is Dennis Rogers’ A Grip that Rips. This DVD will teach you everything you need to know to master phonebook tearing.

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