Donc101 Posted September 2, 2021 Share Posted September 2, 2021 I met my friend, Scott Smith, over 20 years ago when we wrestled together at Truman State University in Missouri. We wrestled for the legendary Coach David Schutter. There was a lot of sweat, blood, hard training, competition, travel, smiles, laughs and good times had on the wrestling team. We rambled all over the country and became brothers. Scott was a strong, fast and talented athlete. Fast-forward to the fall of 2020. Scott had become a successful personal trainer and gym owner. He was married to Jamie. They had one daughter and had just found out they had a second child on the way. Then, they were blindsided with news that hit them like a ton of bricks. Scott was diagnosed with ALS. ALS affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control. ALS is a devastating disease that is undefeated against its victims and leads to an early death. In typical Scott fashion, he decided he was not going to just roll over for the undefeated monster. He was going to fight it head on. Scott is a wonderful writer and has been documenting his courageous and, often times, painful journey in a gut-wrenching blog. Scott also started the Flex on ALS movement to combat this disease. Scott’s fight against ALS has put a hole in my heart and hit me emotionally to the core. I learned that the disease needs more resources to come up with treatments and a cure. I wanted to do my part to help fight this disease. I decided I would train to break the record for the most 60d nails bent, 725 nails, and use that feat of strength as a platform to raise money for ALS research. Scott put me in touch with Ales for ALS, a charity that raises funds to support ALS research. Nails and Ales for ALS was born! We set up 2 events. First, a warm-up event at Brown Iron Brewery on 9/1/2021. Second, a world record breaker event at Founders Brewery on 9/18. Here is our event page: https://fundraise.als.net/nailsforales I have been training hard to build up my endurance and hand toughness to bend more than 725 60d nails. I will update this post with my results, etc. Thanks for checking it out everyone. Don Cummings #FlexOnALS 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donc101 Posted September 2, 2021 Author Share Posted September 2, 2021 The warm-up event at Brown Iron Brewery was last night. Brown Iron was a great spot with really good microbrews and BBQ. The place is made for a steel bending event as it has an anvil in its logo and “Iron” is in its name. The restaurant was packed. This was my first public performance since COVID. It felt great being in front of a crowd again. I performed and talked for 2 hours while people ate and drank. To start, it was about 1 hour of strongman feats: weighted axe levering, spike bending, wrench bending, horseshoe bending, long bar bending, bending on the top of the head, card tearing, etc. Then, I did training for breaking the 60d nail record. I bent 300 60d nails in just about 1 hour. I walked all over the restaurant and bent steel at people’s tables and just talked to them while I was bending. We had a great turn out for the event and raised quite a bit of money for ALS. My hands held up good. Some tears. Mainly on the palm of my right hand. All in all, I feel good about my hand toughness right now. Event was awesome and I had such a great time. Performing is really a fun activity. The kids go crazy for everything. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donc101 Posted September 2, 2021 Author Share Posted September 2, 2021 Flyer for last night and pic of kids helping me out. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donc101 Posted September 4, 2021 Author Share Posted September 4, 2021 Here is a video of the head bend. Always one of my favorite feats: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stranger Posted September 4, 2021 Share Posted September 4, 2021 Good stuff Don! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donc101 Posted September 4, 2021 Author Share Posted September 4, 2021 35 minutes ago, stranger said: Good stuff Don! Thank you sir! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donc101 Posted September 11, 2021 Author Share Posted September 11, 2021 I bent these 2 scrolls today to be given to donors at the event. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donc101 Posted September 18, 2021 Author Share Posted September 18, 2021 Feat day is today! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donc101 Posted September 18, 2021 Author Share Posted September 18, 2021 Bent 831 60d nails today! Will do a proper right up tomorrow. Body is destroyed now. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donc101 Posted September 18, 2021 Author Share Posted September 18, 2021 Here is a pic of the nail pile. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donc101 Posted September 19, 2021 Author Share Posted September 19, 2021 Here are the hand damage pics! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donc101 Posted September 20, 2021 Author Share Posted September 20, 2021 Here is the full bending video: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donc101 Posted September 20, 2021 Author Share Posted September 20, 2021 Nails and Ales for ALS was a huge success. We raised over 13k for ALS research to help beat this nasty disease. I was highly motivated for this event as it was done to honor my friend and brother, Scott Smith, who is fighting ALS. I had not heard from Scott for a month. I knew he was doing bad. I finally heard from him the night before the event. He wished me luck and told me he was struggling. I sent him a long message and said to let me know if there was anything I could do for him ever. He just responded: “Just break this record for me.” I could not let him down and would have done anything in my power, including breaking myself, to beat the 725 mark. I was able to bend 831 x 60d nails in 3 hours 54 minutes and 34 seconds. I did not take any long breaks. Just stop to have a drink of water or a bite of banana. My hands were trash at the end. At about nail 600, my chest really started spasming. It was really tightening up and twitching. Painful. My lower back also started becoming very fatigued around that same time. At about nail 800, my fingers started to involuntarily twitch. Very weird sensation. I have only ever had that happen 1 other time, when I bent the 102 Red Nails. I stopped on my own. I definitely had more in me and could have pushed myself further if I needed to. I wanted to smash the previous mark. I was already over 100 more than the 725 mark and decided to stop then. I was happy with how destroyed my hands and body were. There did not seem to be much purpose to keep going and inflicting more damage. After I was done bending, my adrenaline was still flowing. I drank a beer and talked to friends for about 30 minutes and then I started to fade fast. My wife drove home and I was basically passed out in the passenger seat. I got home and laid down for a couple hour nap. The level of soreness the next day and today is crazy. My tendons in my forearms have a very deep aching soreness. Also, my chest, back, traps, arms and core are all very sore. Here are some stats from the event: 100 Nails in 17:03 150 Nails in 26:02 200 Nails in 35:00 250 Nails in 44:26 300 Nails in 54:06 320 Nails in 1 hour 350 Nails in 1:06:42 400 Nails in 1:19:36 437 Nails in 1:30:00 450 Nails in 1:34:48 500 Nails in 1:50:00 532 Nails in 2 hours 550 Nails in 2:06:10 600 Nails in 2:26:29 650 Nails in 2:46:43 688 Nails in 3 hours 700 Nails in 3:04:06 726 Nails in 3:11:52: New Record 750 Nails in 3:23:04 800 Nails in 3:42:45 831 Nails in 3:54:34: Final New Record Count 1 Nail bent every 16.9 seconds for 3:54:34 The event was held at Founders Brewery. Great location. Excellent beers and food. We had a great turnout of people to watch and support the event. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stranger Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 Simply amazing work Don! I did some math and $13,000 ÷ 831 = $15.64 raised for each nail bent! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donc101 Posted September 21, 2021 Author Share Posted September 21, 2021 2 hours ago, stranger said: Simply amazing work Don! I did some math and $13,000 ÷ 831 = $15.64 raised for each nail bent! Thanks and thanks again for supporting the event! That is really cool to have the amount per nail figure calculated. Not bad at all!! Have a good one. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacksmith513 Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 thats amazing.... I think I know where you need to grow some callus... Really great way to help a friend... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donc101 Posted October 21, 2021 Author Share Posted October 21, 2021 On 10/18/2021 at 6:59 PM, Blacksmith513 said: thats amazing.... I think I know where you need to grow some callus... Really great way to help a friend... Thank you so much. I had good calluses at the start but the skin can only take so much and just starts tearing after a couple hundred nails. Then, you just have to gut it out. Have a good one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacksmith513 Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 Just now, Donc101 said: Thank you so much. I had good calluses at the start but the skin can only take so much and just starts tearing after a couple hundred nails. Then, you just have to gut it out. Have a good one. How have they healed up? Your hands must normally be one massive callus! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donc101 Posted October 22, 2021 Author Share Posted October 22, 2021 12 hours ago, Blacksmith513 said: How have they healed up? Your hands must normally be one massive callus! They are perfect now. The more I beat my skin up the faster it heals. I bent 1 week after this feat. Probably shouldn’t have because the skin was still a bit tender but it was DHWOG Zass Day, so I had to get in on the action! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacksmith513 Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 14 minutes ago, Donc101 said: They are perfect now. The more I beat my skin up the faster it heals. I bent 1 week after this feat. Probably shouldn’t have because the skin was still a bit tender but it was DHWOG Zass Day, so I had to get in on the action! I know what you mean, I work with my hands. I don’t put up anywhere near the numbers the members put up here. But I workout every day and do construction and my skin never rips apart anymore. You’ve inspired me, my mom aunt and grandma all suffer from the same illness. Rheumatoid Arthritis. I want to do something like this someday to raise money. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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