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Bent Ironmind "blue"


bender

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For the first time, I “U”ed the IronMind Blue nail, using perfect form.

Last night, I was off to bed when I thought to myself "Gee, I haven’t bent anything in a few days”. Then, I remembered my last bending session when the “Yellow” felt easy for the first time. I knew it was now bending time.

I started with a 6” Spiral nail, and it folded itself. Then, I grabbed a “Yellow” and it felt easy again! So, I grabbed a “Blue”, told my self it would be easy, and it bent.

The strange part was that it wasn’t too difficult. It took a serious effort, but I had plenty of steam left. In fact, immediately following the “Blue”, I grabbed two real 60D’s, and bent each of them. They were rated between 260 and 270.

I just can’t believe it, one day I’m struggling with the “Yellow”, and in the span of two weeks, I find a new source of creepy strength.

I think I know what happened. I’m cycling through the Super Squats program. My bench, rows, and presses all jumped, and I’ve noticed my sledge levering feats have took off too. All from heavy weight, high rep squats. And lots of milk. There's been an obvious cross over to wrist strength, much to my surprise. Want stronger hands? Squat more.

My Bending Plan:

A lot of people say to bend once a week. Then, some people say to saw little pieces off of the larger nails to work your way to the shorter ones. I could have done this, if I had patience. I took quite the opposite route.

4-6 days a week, bend as much as possible, leaving one day for setting a PR in size or reps.

I take days off, only when my wrists hurt too much. Even then, I still bend the 6” spirals through the wrist pain. I can’t get enough of it. I bend constantly. I'll start in the morning with the 6" spirals (easy easy 60D's), and work over into about a dozen 40D's and 20D's for the form. That afternoon, I'll bend another Spiral or two. Then, I won't bend until the next afternoon, but the morning after that one, I'll bend another dozen nails. I'll recover again, and then try a PR with the Yellow and a Carriage bolt.

Then there's my sledgehammers. I try to mimic the motion of bending with the levers, and I hit that hard about twice a week. I also do the "touching my nose" routine near daily with my 10 lb sledge.

Ok, that's enough. I'm still pretty excited to bend that sucker. It was my biggest goal in hand-strength training, and it fell. Now it's time to collect myself, and set my sights higher.

Edited by bender
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It's been 36 hours since the bending, and I'm still pumped up over it. It was my #1 goal. I just feel good now.

My question now, is what next? Where do you experienced benders go from here? I know the IronMind Red is out there, but I look at that like I do my #4 gripper.

As for now, I'm going to use the same technique I used to get to the Blue: High volume Yellow and 60D bending until it gets easy.

Are there other bench marks out there to shoot for? Right now, I have two HUGE bolts. I kinked one to about 10 degrees, so it should be fun once I get stronger. I know two Spiral nails taped together is doable, and cutting sections off the BLUE is an Option.

I'd just like some opinions, if you would be so kind. ;)

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I am in awe over you guys that can bend! The best I have managed is a 60-penny and I had to brace my arms against my leg to do it!! Way to go-keep at it!

Rick Walker :yikes

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You might try some 3/8" Aluminum stock. After you master bending 6"x3/8" Al, I would start progressing on 5/16" HRS and then eventually to the Red.

Great job on the Blue and the 60p nails.

Robert

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Phew !!! Well done Lieutenant ( i am also lieutenant but as an officer of the reserve...) !!

As for me, still can't bend the yellow :angry:

Can't imagine bending the blue...

Nice Job really !

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Thanks guys, I'll look into the 3/8" Aluminum stock. I think I seriously even have some in my room already. :D

I don't recall seeing 5/16" HRS, but it warrents another trip to Home Depot.

Has anyone found the exact poundage for the RED? Is it really 500-600 IP? That's terrifying. I can't understand how Brookfield can decend from the Planet of Creepy Grip Strength and do things like that. Unfathomable.

Is there a good estimate for the RED?

Edited by bender
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Bender, if you check out my web site (shameless plug :inno) at http://home.insight.rr.com/strongman/index.html and click on the "Bending Steel" button, you'll find a link to a long list of metal yield strengths. This list has the yield strength of all of various bolts, 60d nails, cut metal rods of varying length and thickness, and the "nails" sold by Ironmind - including the Red at 383 lbs.

Train smart!

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Oops. Strongman, I had your table saved on my computer allready. From stories i've heard, I though it was "off the chart" for popular testing techniques. Thanks. 383 isn't that scary anymore. Who knows if it will some day fall...

BTW, http://home.insight.rr.com/strongman/index.html was the second site I found on the InterNet when I wanted to learn about nail bending. It along with Tom Blacks page (Still blocked by the Ft. Benning server) are what got me fired up about bending. Thanks for having these sites out there.

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Hey Bender re: the high rep squat routine and milk.

I wonder if the increased milk intake is just as important for bending gains as the squat routine..you know do to the stress on the wrist and hand joints...maybe the extra calcium helps in some way??

I've yet to add any bending to my routine yet but I'll get there some day.

Jon@han

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Interesting... I drink about 20 Ounces of milk each meal, have a 66%-33% mixture of powdered milk/protein powder thrice a day, take a calcium suplement at night, and take plenty of Glucosomin/Chondritcin(?) for my hips. You never know if it has some effect to hand recovery. In my opinion, it does, as I gobble that stuff down in the hopes of speeding tendon, ligament, bone and muscle recovery.

I truly think the squat intensive work out is the best work out ever. The HGH surge from high-rep squats has a carryover to the entire body. The hands and wrists are allready primed for quick-recovery. With the Super Squat HGH surge, it's doubled. I truly believe, if you want stronger hands, train hand strength and Squat. An obvious statement, but true.

Edited by bender
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey Bender!

I've finally got around to buying some steel rods and I just bent the equivalent to the ironmind's green which leads me to the question of how long has it been from the green to the blue for you??? That thing looks like a telephone pole compared to the green :yikes

Jon@han

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I bent the white and green on 19 Sep 02.

I bent the blue and a true 60D on 1 Dec 02.

I guess that's about 10 weeks, three days.

(2 Greens on 1 Jan 03. About 15 weeks since 1 Green)

All of my improvements came through a better understanding of technique and a specalization of wrist strength over grippers or pinching.

Oldguy, breaking a 60D just may be another story. Impressive indeed. It's also inspireing to think of Brookfields bending of 500 60D's, consecutivly??? :blink Unbelievable.

It's been sad recently, as I bent the Blue and a 60D for my bending fans at work but didn't get the same excitement and rush as I did a few weeks ago. My tollerance is riseing. Now I need bigger and harder drugs, er, nails. :whistel The addiction is growing...

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"That thing looks like a telephone pole"

The mentality of bending is interesting, and worth examining. When I also first picked up a Blue, I laughed at how hard it looked, and knew it would be a long time, if not never, when I could ever bend it. The same goes for the 60D's I bought at Home Depot. They were a joke, just pieces of humor to inspire me. Holding them, they felt impossible, like unbending masses of steel. It would take years for me to ever bend that monster. In both cases, they intimidated me to no end.

Then the day comes, when your mentality shifts. After a Yellow feels easy, you look at the Blue with a new light. Perhaps that Blue isn't so bad?, you think to your self. It's at that moment when you overcome doubt, that you can bend it.

It's like how Tom Black wrote about that huge wrench he bent, how he tried a few times before, but upon picking it up again, he finaly KNEW he could bend it. Once that mind state sets in, you can bend.

Suddenly, the Blue looks weak, and you know if you attack it, it is going to bend, just like any other piece of mere steel. You hold it, and fold it, and it wasn't anything.

Today, when I pick up a Blue, I can almost feel it start bending when I hold it in one hand. No, it's not some weird Zen master steel bending trick, but just the mentality that "it is soft and it will bend".

The craziest thought to me, is the once-intimidating 60D's that I bought as a joke. At first, they scared me, but today, I don't even want to hand them out to people before I bend one, because "it feels spongy and weak". All sense of strength is gone, and is replaced by the sensation that "this will bend, easily".

Anyother benders have the similar experience with steel?

Edited by bender
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I don't even want to hand them out to people before I bend one, because "it feels spongy and weak".

Yes, exactly, all the time. I gave out nails to the some of the strongest guys in my gym and I honestly thought they would bend them at least a little because they were my "easy" 60-pennies. The red still does not seem springy too me, maybe when it does for me or someone else it will bend.

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Wowzers! 10 weeks bender!!!!!! Your Gripboard name is well chosen! ;)

I tried to go for the yellow today and I couldn't even but a dent in it. However I did U a green with some effort again today.

When I'm bending these rods, I found I sometimes curl it a bit around my first finger a bit while getting it past the 90 degree mark. It seems to make the bar go in more of a U shape then a V. Mind you this is the thinner gauge rods, the larger diameters probably all end up more V'ish I imagine.

Jon@han

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The only bolt I've seen "V"d has been a carriage bolt I bent off center, and remained a "V", because it was too odd and short to crush into a "U". Besides that, they all end up "U"s.

As for that green, just keep bending. Find the technique and its groove that works for you, and bend for reps. See how many Green you can "U" before your hands hurt too much. Wait until it heals/recovers, and bend again for reps. I would say after 2 weeks, you should have the Yellow. This is purely because of the learned techniques. With dedication, 10 weeks can do wonders.

Here's the degree of my sickness: This morning, during my run, I ran alone through the rifle range complex near my Battalion. The entire time, I envisioned bending the Red, over and over again, and how incredible it would feel to bend it. That was my short 25min run, even then I couldn't stop thinking of my next goals. Even my arm work outs are hammers/reverse curls/plate curls, all while thinking about improving my bending strength.

Its the same as specalizing on the grippers or any one lift, commit yourself to it, and improvements come fast.

Edited by bender
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I'm not fully sick yet but it sure is contaigous! Thanks for the pointers! I think you stated you bend something every day. I'm trying to work up to that kind of conditioning slowly by trying to do a bending session every other day right now. I think I'm going to cut the 6" sections I made of the 3/16 down to the 5" so I can focus more on the green! Maybe I'll do the same with the 7" sections I have as well and just unbend and rebend a U'd 7" for a warmup.

Man, I got to start jogging, using it as time to mental prep my workouts might even be the carrot on the stick I need to do some cardio.

Jon@han

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Jon@han,

With volume bending I bend heavy-light-medium-light. What I've found from the high volume, is that my hands have toughened up considerably, especialy the parts of my palms used for crushing. I used to bend a single nail, and the pain from the nail-head would be workout-ending. Now, I found that I don't even notice the crushing related pain even after multiple nails.

Another side of bending for volume is how quickly technique is forced to improve. When you bend with poor form, I found there is more akward pain, and the only way to avoid it is to use good form. Also, when the wrist is already fatigued from a huge bend two days ago, you NEED to use good form to even bend an easy nail.

The other benefit of high-volume training is the active recovery of the light bending day. After a PR day, my wrists generaly hurt, but after I bend an easy nail, the discomfort goes away. With out the active recovery, the wrist soreness can last many days.

Well, understand this style works for me, its more important to find what works for you.

Edited by bender
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Bender,

Would you consider wrist strength a great benefit for bending those nails? I never got into bending nails, but I am thinking about it after meeting Tom at the AOBS. :)

The way you talk about your attack on bending reminds me of my training to close the #3. I trained hard and never thought of it as "impossible". When I first started out, I thought the #3 would probably never happen for me, but I decided to take my time with it, and put in my training. Today, that same gripper shuts like a #1.

I'm also dabbling with the "Super Squats" program. The key ingredient is to increase your protein intake and squat like crazy. This builds both muscle and size quickly. My goal is to work up to a 500 pound squat.

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Sybersnott,

I would go so far to say as bending is mostly wrist strength, the ability to lock your wrist in place while your body bends it. A 400lb bench won't bend a nail, a #3 closing won't bend a nail, as the weakest link is going to be the wrist.

If you look at Mr. Black and Slim "the hammerman", they are otherworldly benders, and are also great at sledge levering feats. Though I'm not quite at that level, I would swear by sledge hammer play to strengthen the wrists in all ranges of motion. Hammer curls, reverse curls, plate curls, and SLEDGE HAMMERS!!! Heavy singles in these lifts build heavy single strength on nails.

And for the intensity you've developed from the grippers, I'd assume it's exactly the same as needed for bending. Animalistic intensity and overwhelming confidence. :yikes

As for Super Squats, it isn't the best for the 1RM, but for the HGH surge for a speedy recovery in hand strength, I think it may be something special worth looking into... :whistel

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bent two-GREEN nails together on New Years Eve. It bent fairly easy, well, relativly easy. No blood vessels in the eyes or nose were broken = succesfull bend.

I also bent a 5/16th" x 6" carriage bolt. I have no idea of it's strength, but it "felt hard".

The blue is now just a warm-up nail. :D

I did try the RED, but after two huge tries, I don't think I bent it. :blush Rolling it across a table about two dozen times, I have determined that there may or may not be the slightest bend in it, leaning more to the "no bend at all" side. Maybe next time. ;)

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