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What I Did To Get Certified


Broly

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Hey everyone,

Just wanted to post a high level summary of what I did to go from the White Nail to the Red Nail cert, what worked for me, what didn't etc.

  • Purchased the Ironmind bag of nails over a year ago and was able to bend the white and green nail from the start. I couldn't budge a yellow though no matter now much I tried.
  • Purchased Jedd's nail benidng ebook and read up on a few posts and was now able to bend the Yellow, Blue and a 60D nail.

First Lesson Learned: Switched my hands to a pistol grip made a big difference to be able to bend 1/4" steel and the kink.

  • Took a good number of Yellows and Blues before I was even able to get a Grade 5.

Second Lesson Learned: After more video research I started to wrap the nails 1.5" into the wraps. This in combination with the pistol grip made for some good kinks and went from a Grade 5 to my first Grade 8 bend.

  • Took some time off to focus on other aspects of grip but eventually returned and was still able to bend a Grade 5. It was a struggle but not too bad for taking time off.
  • Worked on Grade 5's and 60D's for a while before I was able to get a G8 again just under 2 inches.
  • After I got the G8 I figured it's time to try for the Red. Having never bent anything 5/16 in thickness I was initially very intimidated. Tried for a Red but it lauged in my face. I would make several of these type of attempts before having a long convo with Nate about Double Wraps.

Third Lessons Learned: Stopped bending in between workouts. This was throwing me off my routine and causing me to get frustrated if I couldn't bend something and would ruin the workout. Started to leave bending at the end of workouts so I was warmed up.

Fourth Lesson learned: Double wraps really helped to show that the Red was just steel and nothing more.

Fifth Lesson Learned: The importance of big movements and the upper body. Initially I wasn't doing any type of upper body exercises at all because I felt I didn't need them for grip. I was struggling with my crushing power big time. Once I started back with a strong upper body routine I saw much more improvemenet.

  • I was able to kink and partially sweep a Red Nail in doubles but could never finish them. Started going from Doubles to singles to finish but was still only able to get a few here and there.
  • Ended up having to take another break from bending due to my health and being in the hopsital for my crohns.

Sixth lesson learned: Buying more IM Pads and more steel! Another talk with Nate and some of the benders here I cut up a few IM Pads to go from Doubles, 1 +2/3 and 1 +1/3 for progression. I also took a trip to Home Depot and Lowes and found 5/16 HRS steel in either a Dull or Shiny variety. These were weaker than a Red but it allowed me to train towards the Red easier than by cutting it to the same exact length.

  • From this point on I would only bend 7" steel but was still doing it after my workouts. I started bending more frequent and for a bit had really good success but then it started to all fall apart and my hands were never consistant with being able to tolerate the pain in my palms and over my middle fingers.

Seventh Lesson Learned: Rest and putting Bending first in the workout. After another talk with Nate I would stop bending whenever I felt I could and only bend 2 days a week with 3-4 days of rest in between. I would also start doing a general warm up first and get right into bending so I was fresh each and every time. This made all the difference and what helped me to progress even faster and eventually certify on the Red.

The whole Red Nail Journey was one big roller coaster of ups, downs and lessons learned. Hopefully anybody else who is going after the Red can see some of the mistakes I made and the changes to help them in their journey.

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Thank you for picking up the Nail Bending eBook. I am glad it was helpful. Congrats on your certification.

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Awesome post! Hopefully this will be easily accessible for future benders looking to bend the Red. I have a few friends on Facebook that could benefit from this info, Thanks Brian.

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Great post Brian. .. very detailed bud! I'm getting ready to cert real soon so this was real good info!

A couple of questions though.

How long to find a judge & cert after u called IM?

How long did you rest before the cert? (Last bending workout)

Thanks bud!

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my bending game plan near the end was a 3 or 4 day rest from bending and 3 day rest from working out anything to be prime each and every session. If you look at my log you'll see that my last bending workout was Sunday then on Monday I did a heavy upper body workout (mainly sticking to chest, triceps and shoulders). Threw in a few wrist movements and then my cert day was Friday.

Simple answer though is 4 days rest from bending, 3 days rest for everything.

As far as how long it took to find a judge, Every case will be very different. I was extremely lucky as I got the whole process done in a week. To make the process work a bit faster, I first emailed them then called a day later and let them know if they could find me a judge very soon it would be greatly appreciated. They wasted no time and found my judge the following day. I immediately contacted him and worked out when I could cert.

My only other suggestion would be to try and relax as much as possible the day of the cert. I did it after work and my adrenaline was pumping through my veins hardcore the closer I got to the time. I probably shouldn't have drank coffee on top of this as it made me too jittery.

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Thanks brother. I'm real close to calling IM just gotta hone my kink a little more.

I'm a fairly big guy & shoulder flexibility is my Achilles heel. Hard to get in position sometimes for the kink... but sweep & crush are no problem!

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It might take some time for IM to find your ref and get everything scheduled so if you're already smashing reds sub 30 seconds then there's no need to wait any longer. You'll probably be able to get 2-4 more sessions in with enough rest before your cert day if you were to email them now anyway. "LIFE" is unpredictable and finds a way to get in the way so if you can do it now then don't delay the inevitable.

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Thanks brother. I'm real close to calling IM just gotta hone my kink a little more.

I'm a fairly big guy & shoulder flexibility is my Achilles heel. Hard to get in position sometimes for the kink... but sweep & crush are no problem!

I have the same problem. I really struggle to get into proper position for the kink. What has worked for me is backing off from heavy upper body movements like the bench press. I lowered the weight I use and do higher reps. Its a pain in the butt because I love lifting heavier but it really helps my double overhand bending.

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Cool post Brian. This will be very beneficial for new benders!

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Great post. where at home depot is the hrs? is it in long lenghs? id like to pick some up.

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It should be in the bolt isle.

Yeah, and sometimes they have a small welding section in the bolt aisle, that is usually where it is.

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Thanks again Chez. We do have the same problem being getting in position for the kink... I powelifted for years so the pec shoulder tie -in seem to be tight! I do pushups as a warmup.. what about you!?

-Brian, speaking of warm-ups.. what did you do at the cert? Any warm-up bends/ exercises or just go for it!?

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A few sets of light squats, pushups and up right rows to get an overall body warm up then 4 light easy bends to get the form down then one semi hard nail. Ever since I've incorporated this type of warm up I've seen huge gains.

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Thanks Brian good info bud! I usually do some kind of calisthenics & maybe 1-2 easy bends. Did you use Imps or something thicker. I got a small palm tear the other day & don't wanna risk any injuries till I cert so thicker wraps maybe the way to go?

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I brought a few pairs of IM pads with me, one pair that were beat up that I used for the lighter bends (singles) and one fairely new pair which was perfectly seasoned (only a few bends) for the one hard warm up bend and cert.

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Thanks Brian! I have BGW I use for volume bending & a couple of pairs of imps for the cert.

Btw, I called the cert in today bro.. I'll keep y'all posted!!

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