Pinching

[chrlslee1]

Has anyone found that block weights or plate piching carries over to thin pinches like a deck of cards?

[rying]

I think card tearing (at least my technique) is more of a crush. The thumb is not used "directly". Pinching is ok, but grippers help more. Thumbless reverse curls seem good for cards and phonebooks.

You could try fingertip overcrushes with an easy gripper, or make a deck-sized pinch block and hold it like you would the cards (like a reverse curl).

This all sounds good, but the more I train and rotate different exercises, the more I think nothing seems to carry over a damn bit to anything else!

With that in mind, to get good at card tearing... (drumroll please)... tear alot of cards!

[carusom1]

I've found that with cards, your wrists strength is crucial.

If you have a strong crush and pinch, thats good. But if your wrists are weak, then that will be the first thing to give out. You won't have any way to force the cards over.

Keep working on all aspects of hand strength and work your way up in # of cards.

[diesel]

i also agree that crush strength helps in card tearing, or at least in the initial tear. the whole art of fusing your fingers into the deck is much a crush technique. however, the actual twisting in an over-under grip is very much in the wrist (personally i had weak wrists when i began tearing, but i didn't find this slowed me down in progressing through the cards). i found that the best thing that worked for me was to keep practicing with cards, starting small and gradually progressing over a few weeks to the full deck and beyond.

[supermagnamon]

for me, tearing magazines into smaller pieces helps with card tearing and working on wrists helps too.