CoreForce Energy
Peak Performance Training Article

The Truth about Houdini’s Super Strength

Halloween night is a night that I also always remember the great magician Houdini who was an idol of mine growing up. It’s on Halloween night that he escaped from this earthly plane for the last time at the young age of 52.

I thought of him in my own performances on stage tonight remembering his great skill not only as a magician but also as a mega showman and also to his tremendous physical strength and fantastic escapes.

I so often hear theories about his magical abilities, his strength, and the way he died based on hearsay, myth, and legend. He was larger than life but I’d rather tell you about a real man who was extraordinary rather than perpetuating the myths and fantasies told by make-believe storytellers. The things he really did as a man are extraordinary enough without having to exaggerate or to perpetuate untruths.

One of the very reasons he became an extraordinary human – a superhuman, as we say – is simply because those are the ones who take the smallest and seemingly “ordinary” things and hone them with determination to perfection. Just that alone will most often create a “virtuoso” - one who possesses seemingly superhuman powers and abilities.

Think about it, what makes seemingly impossible things happen in magic is the attention to every single detail. No detail is too small to perfect. For if it isn’t perfect, EVERYONE in the audience will know it. In magic there are no second chances.

Moreover, in fantastic and dangerous escapes, attention to detail is paramount because falling from great heights, drowning, or burning to death by one slip up not only ruins a good illusion, but – you know the rest of that story.

So, let’s think about how Houdini really trained. Some of his greatest escapes were done under water – and upside down – and, in the dark. Yes, he really held his breath for very unbelievably long periods. There wasn’t any scuba gear back then and he wasn’t breathing through long straws as some conjecture.

To become the greatest escape artist of all time, he needed to not only hold his breath – but he trained to push human “limitations” farther and farther in every respect and detail.

As in everything extraordinary, you find when you dissect that it was done in systematic and progressive steps.

After rehearsing undauntingly holding his breath while being still longer and longer each time, he’d then practice rehearsing while under water, in the dark, and moving as quickly as possible in tight claustrophobic places to free himself from handcuffs, rope and chains, etc, etc.

For most people, just holding the breath for a minute sitting still is exhausting enough – let alone with everything else added on top of it.

Think about what you’d learn if you were in a tight place, bound, and holding your breath. You’d learn from the wisdom of your rehearsals, that efficiency and economy of movement are absolutely essential.

Especially being in the dark with only one breath to sustain you, you learn to see in your minds eye every single detail BEFORE happens and it’s paramount throughout every millisecond of your efforts.

Lack of another breath until your free makes you think differently – make you move differently, makes you move with efficiency of movement and economy of muscular effort. Those are the very things that make you stronger, faster.

These are some of the inspirations behind CoreForce Energy.

Just by rehearsing like the Great Houdini alone gave me insights in new ways of thinking, moving, and breathing. For developing superhuman strength, it’s not just a matter of developing bigger muscles. It’s a matter of learning how to move more precisely, more efficiently, and being able to see clearly even in the dark so that in your minds eye you can see ahead of your actions, you know by feel instead of eyesight exactly where you’re going and know in the slightest detail when you’re off track.

In this e-mail, I thank Harry Houdini for leading me to explore extreme athletic training methods as well as inspiring me to be a better magician.

To help in discovering Your magic, supwer strength, and success,
Garin Bader