The organizer and the man who developed the events for the World's Strongest Grip contest, Michael Roy, is a well-known professional strongman whose specialty is feats of lower-arm strength, such as bending spikes and tearing cards.

When IronMind® received the proposed list of events, one of the first things that jumped out was the number of card-tearing events listed for this contest, so many that, in fact, we wondered if there had been a mistake typing the list.

When I confirmed the list with Mike, I asked him why he had included so many card-tearing events in his contest, and he said that people enjoy watching this classic feat of strength and the card-tearing events he listed shouldn't be very hard for a lot of guys based on what he says he has read on the internet about what guys say they are doing.

Asked for clarification on the card-tearing events, Mike said that the single decks are standard casino-grade cards, while the double-deck tears will be done with cards that are slightly lower quality.

Explaining that the contest will evolve, Mike says that his idea was to present a major grip competition and his goals were to provide something that was fair, would be connected to feats of grip strength from the past, and that was something both the competitors and the spectators would enjoy. "This year will open the door," Mike said.