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Newbie To Bending


CelticWarrior

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Have been doing some grip training, mostly plate pinch, farmers walk, hangs, etc.

Thought I had a decent, but not overly strong grip, and decided to try bending. Got Ironmind nails for Christmas and decided to get green and yellow, instead of 'starting' with white. I guess I am an optimist.

As you can imagine, I am having trouble bending the greens. Any ideas you have on working up to the bending (other than the obvious "buy some whites") would be appreciated.

thanks,

CW

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The most used starting material for bending is 60D Timber Ties they are twisted 6" nails. TTs are cheap and good for begginers to get some volume on. The ones I buy are from home depot or Ace and I believe the brand is Grip Rite. TTs made in china are easier than the ones made in USA, and they come in the exact same box ecept for the made in part of the label. I would purchase a whole bunch of timber ties before I would buy more stock from IM.

Home Depot Ace and others also sell metal rods in various diameters you can cut to length to get you going too.

Try doing some levering as this will also help you increase your wrist strength.

Read as much as you can here in the bending section and if you get completely stuck with nowhere else to turn, PM me and I will gladly help you along. Good luck with what will become a terrible addiction :D

Greg

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Hey Greg:

Thanks for the reply. I have looked for the Timber Ties at the local Home Depot, but could not find any. I'll keep looking. Having the brand name helps alot, thanks.

I am definitely bitten by the grip bug. I got various other grip tools for Christmas, including the Claw Curl, Hub grip, and loading pin.

Thanks for the OK to PM. Happy New Year if I don't get the ties between now and then.

CW

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just a thought, but to help strenghten the wrists for bending has anyone ever made or used a lever where the handle was say 1/2" or less, wouldn't this mimic the bend more?

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I think levering does not mimick bending at all (what I mean here is it is only a portion of the bend). Levering is a much more precise movement of your wrist, bending is very dynamic and involves many more muscles. What levering does do is build up your wrist strength that can carry over to bending much like partial or assistance exercises carry over in weightlifting. The reason a lot of people who bend say you need to lever is because many of us have dealt with injuries. I think the foundation you build with levering will quickly pay off in improvement to your bending, and reduce (if not eliminate) the number of injuries you end up having.

Double overhanders would benefit most from front levers.

Double underhanders would benefit most from Rear levers

Old Terminator syle is a combo of the two.

These are my opinions I am interested in what others think, specially from some guys that actually can lever... :D

Edited by gamidon
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Lyle-

gamidon has some good thoughts here.

To answer your question, I have made and use a leverage bar with a "thin" haldle. I made it outta a piece of 12" long 1/2" diameter pipe that was threaded on the ends. I then screwed a flange on the end of it. I looks like a mini loading pin.

I then slapped 2 2.5lb plates on and I secured them with duct tape. This is a cool tool to strengthen the wrists. It'll also hammer the foreams and grip if you go into very high repititons which is easy to do since it's basically a short 5lb hammer.

With the handle being about the diameter of a wrapped nail it is a little more specific for bending.

-HH

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The power twister can also be used to condition the wrists, arms

and shoulders for nail bending. The power twister is a spring with

handles at the ends.

The power twister can be used both double overhand or double

underhand. As you progress with the powertwister your hands

can be moved closer to the center of it.

When you work up to placing both hands on the center spring

only and bend it a decent amount of torque is developed.

The powertwister can also be used for holds and negatives.

Holds can be done by continuing to press the handles or

spring together once it is fully closed.

A word of caution-- if you are closing the powertwister with

your hands totally on the center spring keep the ends/handles

away from your face, groin and other close objects. From this

position if you let go fast it springs back with a lot of force.

Powertwisters can be obtained from fitness/sporting good stores.

They are sometimes available in different strengths-regular

or heavy duty.

Good Luck with your bending and remember what seems almost

impossible today can feel easy with a little more practice and

conditioning.

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Timber ties are harder than the green nail. You can probably improve your technuiqe to the point where the green is easy. For me personally, I had to use one IM pad on each side of the nail, with no cloth in the middle, before I could bend it. The other key is to squeeze the nail as hard is you can.

Really, there's a big gap between the greens and yellows. Here's what you do - go to home depot and get a set of 24" bolt cutters for $20. Then get a couple 3/16" steel rods for a little over a dollar per 4' rod. Maybe throw in some 3' 3/16" square steel bars (around $3 each) and a few 6" grade 2 bolts (~ 50 cents each) so you can have some harder steel around.

Then cut to length and bend it. If you have issues with the sharp edges left on the steel by the bolt cutters, buy a bastard mill file for around $8. That can be used to smooth the ends of the nail out in no time.

Also, after typing this, all this information is in assorted posts around the board. Take some time and read the old posts in the bending forum. Everything you need to know is there.

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Lyle-

gamidon has some good thoughts here.

To answer your question, I have made and use a leverage bar with a "thin" haldle.  I made it outta a piece of 12" long 1/2" diameter pipe that was threaded on the ends.  I then screwed a flange on the end of it.  I looks like a mini loading pin. 

I then slapped 2 2.5lb plates on and I secured them with duct tape.  This is a cool tool to strengthen the wrists.  It'll also hammer the foreams and grip if you go into very high repititons which is easy to do since it's basically a short 5lb hammer.

With the handle being about the diameter of a wrapped nail it is a little more specific for bending.

-HH

thanks HH

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