Pat Povilaitis Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

The Human Vise Strikes Again!

Posted on Wednesday, November 8th, 2017 by John Wood

Why do they call Pat Povilaitis the Human Vise? This collection of bent steel should explain it: about a hundred pounds of bent, mangled steel: nails, spikes, horseshoes, rebar, bolts, wrenches, drill bits, screw drivers, ripped card decks… nothing is safe when “The Vise” does his thing.

Extreme Neck Strength in Action

Posted on Thursday, September 28th, 2017 by John Wood

I was going through some old tapes and while I knew I had the still photo, I found some footage that I didn’t even know I had. About ten years ago, Pat “The Human Vise” Povilaitis and some other buddies all got together at my house in Cincinnati, and well, when strong hombres get together, sometimes interesting things happen. Here’s Pat bending a spike while standing atop yours truly, John Wood, while I’m holding a nose-to-mat neck bridge. The video quality isn’t great, but hey, we had to take what we could get back in the day. (Video has sound.)

The Human Vise vs. The Impossible Phonebook

Posted on Wednesday, October 15th, 2014 by John Wood

[This is from a few years back, but certainly no less impressive, I mean WOW, just look at that thing! Special thanks to our good friend Pat “The Human Vise” Povilaitis for sending this our way. ~ JW]

“About a year ago, I began getting into tearing phonebooks in a big way. During a visit to Iron Sport Gym (In Glenolden, PA) around that time [Iron Sport Gym Owner] Steve Pulcinella showed me a phone book that he kept in the lobby of his gym which he believed was impossible for a human being to tear. It was easily the thickest phonebook I had ever seen (in terms of pages) and it was also in the small format, slightly less than 8″ wide x slightly less than 10” long, making it an incredibly difficult tear.

Tough? Yeah. Impossible, Hmmm, I filed that one in the back of my mind. It just so happens that the day before Christmas I took a trip down to The Iron Sport Gym with some good friends of mine.

After basically destroying myself for about two and a half hours bending, tearing, lifting etc, all of us were hanging out at the front counter shootin’ the breeze. I suddenly remembered about that monster phonebook and asked Steve if he still had it around. With a smile on his face, he opened the cabinet and pulled it out. As he slammed it down on the front desk he said “it just can’t be done, no human can tear this.”

Although I was definitely feeling the last few hours of training, I was confident I could do some damage. Before I took a crack at it, I told Steve that I would make the tear nice and neat in case he wanted to keep it as a souvenir and so there would be no question that this was a legitimate tear.

I told Steve to let me have a shot…

The look on everyone’s faces was priceless when I handed Steve the two pieces of the now-torn-in-half book.

Steve said it was one of the most impressive things he had ever seen and he had seen plenty of amazing feats as a gym owner and World’s Strongest Man Contestant. He really doubted it could be done by a “normal” human being — and he was right about that.

This feat was especially gratifying because I really didn’t feel like I had any strength left after training, and I did it in the lobby of Iron Sport, in front of a good crowd of people who know a thing or two about strength.”

Pat Povilaitis
The Human Vise

The Human Vise’s Engine Block

Posted on Thursday, September 25th, 2014 by John Wood

Many Oldtime Strongmen were famous for their Challenge Weights which bared their names and were representative of their greatest feats of strength. Pat “The Human Vise” Povilaitis has several unique pieces of equipment which he uses in his strength performance among them this customized engine block, which he may, for example, lift with his head while also bending a nail or horseshoe. This sweet piece o’ kit weighs in at 275 pounds.

Extreme Neck Strength

Posted on Friday, June 6th, 2014 by John Wood

When you build a little strength, sometimes you want to show off a bit… and that is exactly what’s going on here. Up top you’ll see my good friend Pat “The Human Vise” Povilaitis, bending a spike in his hands while John Wood provides the platform in the form of a nose-to-mat bridge. You won’t find many people that can hold a full bridge, even without a 180 pound man standing on top of him. If you aren’t practicing your “nose-to-mat” bridge, or at least working up to it, in our experience, you aren’t getting as much out of the exercise as you could…

The Human Vise: Bat Break Over Head

Posted on Wednesday, November 21st, 2012 by John Wood

The Human Vise!

Yes, that’s a genuine Louisville Slugger. Do NOT try this one at home! Pat “The Human Vise” Povilaitis is a trained professional, plus he is a little crazy which helps with feats like this. Needless to say, extreme levels of neck strength are also a must.

The Human Vise Pat Povilaitis

Posted on Monday, September 5th, 2011 by John Wood

Pat Povilaitis, “The Human Vise”, is a modern strongman and one of the few human beings who can stand toe-to-toe with many of the oldtime greats. As you can likely tell by his moniker, “The Human Vise” excels at Steel Bending: spikes, nails, horse shoes, frying pans – no piece of steel is safe in his hands! Pat also likes to do combo feats, usually bending something with a 300+ pound stone in his lap!