Colm Fitzpatrick
Children’s Corner
Displays of incredible strength have been a form of entertainment for centuries, whereby performers attempt to lift or endure the force of extremely heavy weights. Usually known as ‘strongmen’, these performers would dazzle crowds with their incredible feats, and would compete with one another to show their uniqueness.
One strongman was Pierre Gasnier, otherwise known as ‘French Hercules’. Born in 1862, he could rip a deck of cards in half and was renowned for breaking a chain over his chest while expanding his ribcage. Gasnier was only 1.6m tall and weighed just 65kg, but was able to lift a dumbbell weighing 118kg over his head. This was a feat that many strongmen twice his size could not do.
Well, believe it or not, you will also be able to show immense displays of strength from your own kitchen, and all you need is an egg.
Surprisingly, eggs can be very tough and if you hold the top and bottom of one in your hand and try to squeeze it, it is almost impossible to crack. The design of the egg allows the pressure of your fingers to spread over a large area, meaning that it is less likely to crack. However, if you hold the egg on its sides and squeeze, it will crack with ease.
With this new-found knowledge you will be able to present to everyone your unbelievable strength.
Magical properties
In order to perform the trick, you show the egg to a parent or friend and explain that it has magical properties. You tell them that it is impossible to crack, and that no matter how hard they try they will not succeed.
You hand them the egg and ask them to hold the egg on the top and bottom with their finger and thumb. At this point they can squeeze the egg and nothing will happen.
When they give up, simply crack the egg very fast on its side when they hand it to you. They will be confused as to how you could crack the egg when they could not. This trick is a lot of fun and will make people think twice about your strength abilities.
In order to for this trick to be most effective, make sure your friend or family member isn’t wearing any rings or objects that may break the egg accidentally.
Also, make sure to perform this over the sink just in case someone does manage to crack it – if not, this might leave you with egg on your face!
Once you have this down, you can begin looking into other strength performance tricks, and who knows, perhaps you might begin an illustrious career as a strongman or woman!