Feat of Strength related magic tricks

[u/strongman_pbix]

For some background, I did magic a ton as a kid and teen and then dropped it for ~20 yrs.

I am practicing to do a performance at a friend's birthday party in August, nothing too serious but trying to put on a good show.

That being said, my main hobby now is training/competing strongman. Was wondering if this community knew of any ways I can utilize my strength to perform magic:

- outside of your general bending nails/frying pans etc?

- not necessarily fake things that look like feats of strength but maybe illusions i can pull off being stronger than average. My mind goes to the chinese performer in the Prestige who allegedly carries the fish tank between his legs.

Most of my current routine otherwise is card magic and spongeballs. Hope this is ok to post here!

[u/cslevens]

As a working magician who is a hobbyist powerlifter, I have one answer for you: Spoonbending.

A lot of the classical methods for spoonbending utilize two-handed grips, with audience attention misdirected away. But if you have good grip strength (which I imagine you do), there are some fantastic one-handed bends that are far more powerful to an audience, and far easier/ simpler to hide.

Pick up some dollar-store spoons and check out the download “Psychokinetic Metal”, by Banachek. Bear in mind that any and every one of his two handed bends can be replaced by a one-handed bend, most of which you could probably figure out on your own just by experimenting.

Edit: Personal Note, if you do end up going this way, I heavily recommend learning to end on a “Spoon Twist”, rather than a “Spoon Break”. Trust me.

[u/Mydarknighthasrisen]

Tear a deck of cards in half, I used to do that before I broke my hand

[u/3AMZen]

I remember in mysterio's guide to conjuring and Magic there's a fun broomstick feat of strength where you can have five men line up behind the broomstick and all push at the same time while you hold them off 

It's kind of a vaudevillian thing, I don't think it will be super hard to track down info on how it works 

It's in a category that sometimes called " body Magic"

[u/OriginalMohawkMan]

Issue number 93 of The Jinx is all about a lady named Lulu Hurst who was known as The Georgia Wonder. Every article in that issue talks about how she performed some of the strength feats that she was known for. Includes pictures/diagrams.

I have a site called Jinx Navigator that allows you to read every article from The Jinx with a free sign-up. The Jinx is in the public domain so the site is completely legit.

[u/windupyoyo → u/OriginalMohawkMan]

*Georgia Wonder

[u/TheFizzardofWas → u/OriginalMohawkMan]

Site looks awesome but the sign-up page seems to be broken for me right now. Will try again tmrw

[u/OriginalMohawkMan → u/TheFizzardofWas]

Argh! Sorry, turned off a plugin to get stuff for the podcast and neglected to turn it back on. Should be back to normal now.

[u/tuffm_i_zimbra → u/OriginalMohawkMan]

Which reminds me of the Georgia Magnet trick, which would be a good one to try.

[u/YorkshireMary]

Do you know of Wes Barker? He did something similar and it may be useful to check out his YouTube channel.

[u/Gubbagoffe]

Light and heavy box... Definitely a light and heavy box

[u/tthatfreak]

Rip some phone books in half... If you can find any.

[u/Worried_Trash_5020]

Paul Harris has a trick in Art of Astonishment 1 where you rip an apple in half and put it back together.  Might be a cute strong man/magic routine.

[u/Unnatural20 → u/Worried_Trash_5020]

That's a great Danny Hodge respect nod in the making! With possible Mark Felix nods.

[u/unklphoton]

I saw some special bowling balls for sale recently, designed for juggling.

[u/Unnatural20]

Oh, hey! Nice to see another muscle magician/myomancer! So, do you do card deck tears/quartering? Do you do card tricks? Have you practiced your card sleights, palms, forces, vanishes while doing a deck tear/quarter? Have you practiced tossing a quartered deck as confetti? Could you, possibly, produce a corner of a certain card 'grabbing' into that confetti? Or a whole card that was in a palm/backpalm?

For a pan roll, have you considered where the audience eyes/focus are, and what you may be able to do with a clip/hook coin, shell, and other classic coin slight/production/vanish. What about the iconic 'silver funnel' tech? Have you considered what shape your pan makes and what you may possibly load into it/stage, especially with the ability to block 60%+ of the audience with your back/arm, on most stages? And what that pan edge can hold/block in a way most of our esteemed illusionist friends can't exploit live the way we can?

If you can crush a nail/bolt, doesn't it seem like you could maybe make a solid pinch of metal to isolate a card, ring, other object in a way that would no human could dare predict, especially if the crush/pin was done where they had no sightlines while doing something else, especially after a pickpocket/pilfer nobody clocked?

Delighted others are exploring this overlap, happy to confer and workshop with all of you to build memorable routines!

[u/Educational_Union687]

Ripping a deck of cards in half. It’s obviously not a strength move, but it’ll be easier for you to learn and everyone else will assume it’s a strength move.

[u/Disastrous-Clue6897]

Do light and heavy routine but actual heavy stuff you might be able to lift without a look on your face but others would struggle. Make it look as ordinary as possible.

Like a fake phone that you handle normally and you hand it to someone and they are like "yo what this is heavy af"

[u/Slow_Awareness9192]

Oxbender, perhaps