pdoire Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 I'm interested in these feats of card tearing and phone book ripping. What gripper do you need to be closing to start practicing these feats? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammyg Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 I could tear a deck of cards before i could close the #1 so... IMO grippers and tearing strength aren't that closely related. Pinching on the other hand is very related to tearing. If you can close the #2 you will have sufficient hand strength to tear a deck, while phonebooks involve more upper body strength. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 I could tear phone books and decks loooooong before I could close a #3. The phone books are mostly technique unless you're getting into some Dennis Roger's size books. As far as the cards, from what I understand Big Steve's video on Atomic Athletic is the end-all, be-all on card tearing so you might consider picking it up. Bottom line, if you want to get good at these two feats I'd just practice them and not worry about your crush level because IMO they aren't really related. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honk Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 To rip a phone book you need barely any handstrength, I can close my #1 only on a good day but Ican rip phone books lenghtwise. I think it´s hard to tell wich gripper you have to close to be able to tear a deck of cards, because you need more pinch-strength for card-tearing, than crushing-strength. And being able to close a hard gripper doesn´t mean you have lots of pinch-strength. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Octogen Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 Its the same with the relationship between bending, grippers, pinch and tearing. For example I've closed my #2 exactly one time but i'm closing in on the grade 8 bolt. I can tear a deck of 40 cards and do about 300 pages worht of phone book Bottom line, train what you want to train and don't worry about trying to compare levels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wd8dky Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 I never tried card tearing until I was about 1/2" away from closing the #3, so I can't really comment on the relationship. What I did find worked well when starting out with card tearing was to start with about 10-15 cards, to get the technique down. I would tear those in half and then into quarters. Every week, I added 2 cards and kept going. I'm very conscious of trying to prevent injuries, and have, so far, not had any when working the cards. Today, I can tear some decks, but not others, so I am by no means an expert. Just relating what worked well for me. Good luck with your endeavors! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milkbone Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 This feat seems to be more related to narrow pinch grip and wrist strength. Using crushing grip on a deck of cards will generally result in some missing skin from your hand. Also, the torn cards look much more impressive if you don't crush them in the process of ripping them apart. Also, you can maximize your tearing by trying it braced against your leg. For me, this opened the door to tearing a full deck by using a braced style. Now I'm weaning myself off of bracing and getting closer to a no-braced tear. This might be faster progression than is recommended if you are very concerned about injuries. About the third week in October, I had worked up to a no-braced tear of 35 cards. The same night I tore almost an entire deck (lost a few cards in the process) by trying it braced against my thigh. My past two card tearing workouts I have managed to quarter 50 cards without bracing. It's just how aggressive you want to be with it I guess. I had originally planned to add two cards a workout, but I get pretty impatient when it comes to slow progression. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickr104 Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 (edited) CHeck out Big Steve's video. HE rates the cards on it from easy to harsest and can tell you where to get them. He also goes step by step on how to do it. Steve is the man! The cards with dimonds on them from the doller store in the 2 for a buck pack are the easiest ,but the cards with the dolphins on them you can also get at the doller store 2 for a buck are the hardest. Edited November 18, 2004 by nickr104 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsuk Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 steve really gives good instructions on deck tearing on his dvd. this is where i learned. start with the decks that say made in china and work from there. i agree that gripper strength is a bit irrelevant. steve also shows some tools used to build more specific strength for holding and tearing the cards. the dvd is one of, if not the best investment you'll make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foggymountainmuscle Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 I could tear phone books long before I could close a #1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyle Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 I was able to tear a deck and rip a phone book but then took on the #3 now I can close it "deep set". the other day I tried to impress a friend with the phone book tear, he laughed at me, couldn't do it anymore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
showlarson Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 I tore my first full deck of cards 15 minutes ago!! It took a few minutes and didn't look pretty but I am pleased regardless Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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