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New To Bending...please Critique My Form


Anthony C.

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Well guys I'm dabbling a little in bending to help build wrist strength and ultimately certify on the red nail. My immediate goal is still the #3, but I'd like to do some bending too. Here is a video of my 2nd bend, a green nail. My first one was yesterday and it was a white nail. The green nail was pretty easy and I think I have the strength to bend a yellow, but not without tweaking my form. Any tips/criticisms/insults/blatant name calling you can send my way would be greatly appreciated. I do realize my form is crappy and want to get better. Thank you guys!

Also, a shout out to John Manna for being a stand up guy and hooking me up with some really cool stock and pads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L-QwZhCSkA

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Good first attempt! The biggest thing I see would be working on shoulder flexibility, to get the bar/wraps closer to your body/neck-area. By doing this, you will generate a ton more power and explosiveness as well as greatly reduce the instability/shaking. This will also change the angle of your forearm and upper-arm, which will alter the initial kink position.

I have a ton of old DO videos on my channel, which will show how to set up. But, part of the fun is learning different things about technique and making adjustments, so have fun with it. I remember the thrill of "discovering" a new way or angle to hit the steel. Don't rush through the progression either until you get it dialed in at that level.

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Good first attempt! The biggest thing I see would be working on shoulder flexibility, to get the bar/wraps closer to your body/neck-area. By doing this, you will generate a ton more power and explosiveness as well as greatly reduce the instability/shaking. This will also change the angle of your forearm and upper-arm, which will alter the initial kink position.

I have a ton of old DO videos on my channel, which will show how to set up. But, part of the fun is learning different things about technique and making adjustments, so have fun with it. I remember the thrill of "discovering" a new way or angle to hit the steel. Don't rush through the progression either until you get it dialed in at that level.

Thank you for watching and commenting! When i watched the video back, I said to myself oh man, my shoulder flexibility is horrible lol. Are broomstick stretches good for that? I do them regularly but can start hitting them really hard.

I plan on sticking with the green and just working on form for a while before trying the yellow. I want to get my technique down like you said, before advancing. My goals are to stay injury free and get stronger, in that order! :)

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I would put each pad up only about 1.5 to 2 inches. This will give you more leverage on the bar. And id watch this

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Don't rush through the progression either until you get it dialed in at that level.

This is sage advice. When I decided to really make a push for the Red, I spent a month bending 20-30 x 60D nails a day just to condition my hands and get a feel for the movement, and this is after several years bending off and on.

Seans's video is the best tutorial I have ever seen. If it had been around when I started, it would have saved me a year

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Pretty strict style you used. It's totally legal to steady your hands against your torso, along with all the advice posted above, I'd say take it kinda easy as you start and work up so you get used to it.

It's addictive, I'll tell you that.

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Shoulder flexibility comments are all spot on.

Also, you need to place your hands further apart on the bar. Sean's video, that Sharkey linked above, will show this. If you only did that, you'd bend a yellow on your next bend.

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Welcome to the club brother. Get that technique dialed in and you"ll do big things. It took me three months to figure out the DO style and then out of nowhere one day it just clicked. Stick with it.

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It will come with practice, Muscle memory and stretching

also dumbell flys and bentover rows. Also when i bend it helps

me to lean way back then put that steel right under the chin

and vision colapsing the bar more than just using your wrist.

I also bent hundreds of nails light bolts and 1/4 stainless to

get it up high under the neck.

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Thank you for all the suggestions gentlemen! Much appreciated. Also, that video is gold. I was looking for a tutorial but since grip has such a small following, none of my seaches returned relevant results. I'm gonna be taking all these tips and practicing and I'll post another video here once I improve my form a little bit :)

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Welcome to the bending craze! I’m sure you will be a beast in no time Anthony. You are definitely looking a lot better than I did when I first started. All the advice you have gotten has been great so far. I’ll chime in with what I see.

  1. it’s hard to identify if you have any movement restrictions that limit the kink position because your hand placement on the steel is so far off.

Put the steel 1.75” -2” into the tri-folded pad and fix your hand position. Watch my video and get the bar placement similar to mine. Keep in mind no two people will have the bar placement but the fundamentals will remain similar. Once you get the bar placement in a more advantageous position you might find it easier to get the bar up under the chin.

  1. Next test this movement - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbyhKCjrPSQ If you have any issues or it’s not smooth as silk refer to point 3.
  1. The most often over looked aspect of getting the bar up under the chin and getting into a strong kink position is thoracic extension. Having insufficient mobility in the thoracic spine can limit your extension pattern and create faulty shoulder complex movement. Combine this with tight lats and you have a recipe for trouble. You won’t be able to get the bar placed under the chin easily. Basically you need extension happening in the mid back not from the low back. What I mean is when it seems like benders arch back at the beginning of the kink, good benders are getting the arch from thoracic extension not lumber extension.

Perform these movements as warm-ups

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qovO0ysEpuc
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71qEKutWw18
  3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysAnAYSH_jM
  4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeORipksAlU
  1. Once you can get it pinned under the chin everything will stabilize for you and you will not be shaking around leaking strength.
  1. Take the time to practice and practice. Bending in the beginning should be about practice and acquiring a new skill not a workout that leaves you sore, blistered and tired. So I highly recommend bending some volume on really easy stock and start experimenting with hand placement and practicing getting the bar under the chin. Leave the PR attempts for later. Too many people try to PR and max out straight away. It’s addictive but have some patience. Like I’ve said before if you were attempting to learn the squat for the first time would you do a 1RM max or start with your bodyweight then progress to an empty bar? Learn the movement correctly before maxing out.
  1. Watch a bunch of videos from a variety of benders and see what they do. And study basic steel progression so you can create a roadmap of what’s ahead. What can bridge the gap from a white nail to a Red nail. Learn about drill rod it’s awesome stuff and will be your best friend soon.

Good luck! I look forward to seeing bigger and bigger bends in the future!

Cheers!

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Can't seem to edit my above post for some reason. Trying to fix the numbers of my bullet points that somehow got copied weirdly to all 1. when I cut and pasted it.

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Thank you sean! Watching those videos now!

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so here is what i saw.....

1. the reason of the uneven bend is you are favoring your right side. the right is stronger. the only way to even things out with bending is to bend, plain and simple.

2. the pads are too close. pull them out to about 1.25-1.5" on either side. wrap your bare index finger over the steel.

3. like others said flexibility. what helped me were super wide push ups. but instead of doing push-ups just use the form as an iso. go half way down and stretch.

4. get a 7" bar and practice putting it under your chin. slowly you will see you can bring it further and further in until it is touching your throat.

get all that taken care of and then work on bending technique. first you need placement technique.

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This topic is very interesting guys. I have purchased several wraps varying from the DH wraps to IM wraps to leather wraps that I got from Nathaniel Brous (thnx man!). Also bought some calibrated steel from DH which is at this point, way above my strength, but it's nice for reference. In the Netherlands/ Europe steel is in complete different sizes and figures so it's hard to find good material and to identify it whether it's cold/hot rolled etc.

When I have scratched my main grippergoal of my list I will definitely start bending.

Good stuff Anthony, I see a lot of myself in the way you are starting. DO feels natural to me but apparently I am not generating good force so lots of figuring out to be done. We'll be pickering our teeth with the red nail as a toothstick bro. In time :)

Nice reading, all these tips, very valuable.

Edited by Geralt
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Just wanted to thank all you guys for your advice! It's great to know I have the worlds best steel Benders helping me out. I am training grip today and will do some bending. I've been stretching all week long and will get the pads further away from each other. I'm gonna bend a couple whites today just to see if my form improved at all, and I'll post another video today or tomorrow. Thanks guys!

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Alright gents, bent a little more after a full body workout today. I did two white and two green. Focused on what you guys said, hands further apart, try to get up to the neck high, stretch the shoulders etc. here's the video of a green. Please let me know if I look any better this time around, if it looks worse, if I should go fall off a cliff, etc. thanks guys!

http://youtu.be/ZE5nL-efjwk

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Looking much better Anthony! You got the bar up pretty good. I have a feeling you will kill some big steel when everything clicks.

One thing I noticed is the amount of wrap that is coming out of your hand on the ends of the bar (small finger side of the hands). If you watch my video you can barely see any wrap coming out of my hand at the ends of the bar. At about the 55 sec mark I wrap my hand around the wrap basically engulfing the whole thing in my hand.

Good progress!

Edited by Sean Cashman
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