EinZweiDrei Posted December 11, 2005 Share Posted December 11, 2005 'Keys to Progress' author John McCallum says that a cheap and legitimate way to work up to tearing a deck of cards is by folding two sheets of newspaper 5 times over, and tearing that. When you can halve and quarter that, he recommends working on 3 sheets, and when you can halve and quarter 4, you're supposedly ready for a deck of cards. Does anyone have any experience with this? Is it legitimate? There are some authors who I trust pretty implicitly on this sort of thing, but I'm still a little wary about taking advice from a bodybuilder, even one who believes in effective strength training and hard work. Thanks, all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sybersnott Posted December 11, 2005 Share Posted December 11, 2005 'Keys to Progress' author John McCallum says that a cheap and legitimate way to work up to tearing a deck of cards is by folding two sheets of newspaper 5 times over, and tearing that. When you can halve and quarter that, he recommends working on 3 sheets, and when you can halve and quarter 4, you're supposedly ready for a deck of cards. ← When John wrote that article, newspaper was real cheap and a deck of cards cost some money! Nowadays, newspaper is still cheap, BUT... if you look around, you can get a deck of cards that justifies the cost of tearing them up! It is a method of progression; although I've never tried it, I'm thinking that a deck of cards is going to be a lot harder than folded up newspaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Lipinski Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 If he means the same thing about 4 sheets, with one "sheet" being the front and back of one page, McCallum is spot on. 4 sheets is harder than a cheap deck of cards. Don Larkin, an oldtime grip guy, recommends paper tearing. Cards seem easier because they are stiffer, and you can get a good tear going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelby Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 i use five sheets of news paper, and i can tear it pretty easy now. but still have a hard time with tearing a deck of cards. i can, but it takes awhile. minute or two. so, i thinkg if you can do six sheets, then you will have an easy time with a deck of cards. mind you when i couldn't do five sheets. i could not tear a deck of cards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TennisDude Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 If he means the same thing about 4 sheets, with one "sheet" being the front and back of one page, McCallum is spot on. 4 sheets is harder than a cheap deck of cards. Don Larkin, an oldtime grip guy, recommends paper tearing.Cards seem easier because they are stiffer, and you can get a good tear going. ← That doesn't account for the plastic feel to the cards, which makes it MUCH tougher to get a good pinch on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Lipinski Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 The tear feels completely different, don't get me wrong. I might take a picture of what I am talking about, cause I still don't think we are all on the same page. If you do it the way I do, you end up with something about 4x4 inches, maybe a half inch thick. 5 sheets would be a very, very tough tear that way. I've seen some guys who can demolish a deck who cannot do it. I could me wrong though, don't have a ton of experience with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philthy Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 (edited) The way Clay suggests on a website seemed good to me, or also i've heard people say start with a number of cards that you can do and just basically add cards over time. I dont know... I cant tear a deck of cards lol, but hopefully in a few weeks i'll be able to(i did 38 cards tonight), i'm trying the progressively add cards idea but I'll definitely have to try the newspaper pages sometime. Edited December 12, 2005 by philthy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TennisDude Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 philthy: my best advice is to stop tearing cards...for now. Train other things, focusing on narrow pinch and wrist. Come back to card tearing in a few months and you will be able to tear a deck. That is what I did. Card tearing takes so much out of your hands, it is hard to keep up. It starts to interfere with other grip work. People have torn 80 cards, and only torn 3 times in their life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EinZweiDrei Posted December 12, 2005 Author Share Posted December 12, 2005 The tear feels completely different, don't get me wrong. I might take a picture of what I am talking about, cause I still don't think we are all on the same page. If you do it the way I do, you end up with something about 4x4 inches, maybe a half inch thick. 5 sheets would be a very, very tough tear that way. I've seen some guys who can demolish a deck who cannot do it. I could me wrong though, don't have a ton of experience with it. ← Yeah, to be safe, this is the way I tried tearing it, with full spreads as opposed to individual 'pages'. It definitely seemed the safer way to interpret McCallum, after trying both. Also, he says that the end result of the 5 folds should be fairly close to the size of a deck of cards, and it only ends up that way after folding full spreads. I got three pages this way, but can't get much of a dent in a pack of cards, so I'm feeling the estimate of 5 a lot more than 4. The cards may have been a bit weaker in McCallum's day, I'm thinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelby Posted December 20, 2005 Share Posted December 20, 2005 The tear feels completely different, don't get me wrong. I might take a picture of what I am talking about, cause I still don't think we are all on the same page. If you do it the way I do, you end up with something about 4x4 inches, maybe a half inch thick. 5 sheets would be a very, very tough tear that way. I've seen some guys who can demolish a deck who cannot do it. I could me wrong though, don't have a ton of experience with it. ← i have teared five sheets of news paper with ease. i thought i would have an easy time with a deck of cards. ( the expensive hard cards) and i did manage to tear them but with lots of difficulty. now i am tearing six sheets folded in half five times. it is hard. but i figure if i can do that with ease i will tear a deck of cards with ease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelby Posted December 22, 2005 Share Posted December 22, 2005 what if you can tear seven sheets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickr104 Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 The way Clay suggests on a website seemed good to me, or also i've heard people say start with a number of cards that you can do and just basically add cards over time.I dont know... I cant tear a deck of cards lol, but hopefully in a few weeks i'll be able to(i did 38 cards tonight), i'm trying the progressively add cards idea but I'll definitely have to try the newspaper pages sometime. ← What kind of cards are you using? If you have not tried them yet get a deck of the gold crown brand cards. 2 for a buck at walmart. The are very easy! Good deck for someone just starting out. then once you master those on to bigger and better things! I bet you could rip a deck of these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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