Viking Posted April 23, 2022 Author Share Posted April 23, 2022 April 20th Big Bastard training. Felt strong today so bend on. Three 60ds for warm-up, 6 x 1/4 G5 bolt in doubles (leathers over IMPs). Hardware store 6.5 x 5/16 HRS and then CRS (felt similar). Then hit a new Big Bastard in doubles and took it 10+ degrees. Finished with three more 6.5 x 5/16 HRS bars and a 7 x 5/16 HRS. Big Bastard is going down soon, maybe next session if I take some longer recovery. Hopefully wont get stuck at the crush! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted April 23, 2022 Author Share Posted April 23, 2022 April 23rd Saturday steel slaughter. 60d warm-ups, 6 x 1/4 G5 bolt, 6 x 5/16 G2 bolt, 6.5 x 5/16 HRS(?)... Big Bastard to 55 degrees! Kink is strong, gotta work on the sweep and crush. Five 6 x 1/4 G8 bolts and two more of the 6.5 x 5/16 HRS stock, plus two 60d nails wrapped together. Finished with hearting three St. Croix ultralite 1 horseshoes. Hearted the third shoe in less than a minute! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted May 22, 2022 Author Share Posted May 22, 2022 May 5th Shipment from Horrido arrived. A2, A4, 8.8 and Nibelungen bolts plus suede pads and stickers. So did a 25 piece bundle of Red Nails from Ironmind. After warming up, melted an A2 bolt - 7 x 5/16 stainless - and then took a Red Nail to 55 deg. Cut an A2 to 6.5" and crushed that too, under cert conditions, which was accepted for the Horrido bending cert list. Attempted a 6" A2 but stalled at the crush. Same for a 6" A4. Finished with bending and hearting three St. Croix ultralite #1 shoes each in under a minute. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted May 22, 2022 Author Share Posted May 22, 2022 May 7th Warm-up. Then moved the Red from last workout past 90 deg. Finished that 6" Horrido A4 bolt. Put a good kink into a 6.5" Red, bent two 60d nails taped together, finished a 5.5" x 1/4 FBBC triangle G8 bolt I had prior kinked, did a 4 x 1/4 CRS bar and did some damage to a 6 x 1/4 FBBC square. St. Croix ultralite #2 to finish. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted May 22, 2022 Author Share Posted May 22, 2022 May 12th Usual warm-up. G8, 6 x 5/16 G2 bolts, Horrido A4. 5.5 x 1/4" G8 triangle obliterated. Kinked a Red and a Big Bastard, then a bunch of horseshoes, #4 gripper chest crushes and kettlebell presses. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted May 22, 2022 Author Share Posted May 22, 2022 May 15th & 16th Strong but unfocused on Sunday. Took the Red from the previous session to 45 deg. A fresh Horrido 6" A2 to nearly 90 deg but stalled. Good bend on a #2 ultralite. Monday, woke at 4 am, rode the bike 10 miles to work for a 12 hour day, rode home at tempo. Smashed the Red from yesterday then finished the kinked Red from last week. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted May 22, 2022 Author Share Posted May 22, 2022 May 18th A 4 hour bending session after work. Tried to get another 6" A4 but stuck at the end of the sweep. Put down three Red nails with a lot of work. Then did two 8" spikes double overhand and a spike cut down to 7". Hearted a shoe for the hell of it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted May 22, 2022 Author Share Posted May 22, 2022 May 21st Another 4 hour bending session... Warmed up with a quick, intense bike ride. Still fatigued from Wednesday so it took an hour or two to come online and get into the groove. Those 8" spikes were keeping the vibe going when the tougher stuff caused pause. Another Red nail, but took me a very long time. Got movement on a Big Bastard, but will save that for later. Finished a 6" A4 I had stuck at the crush and managed a fresh bend of a 6 x 1/4" FBBC square. 3 hours in, double overhand cooked, embarked on what I had intended to do today: snap a horseshoe. After a 10+ minute struggle I set the shoe down and took a rest. However, looking at the shoe I saw serious cracks. Rewatched Josh Goldthorp's 2 min snap video for tips and motivation and snapped it in a couple mins. Since I had stopped the recording, I went and got one of the St. Croix ultralite #1 shoes I had previously hearted and recorded a video of the full snap now that I knew it was possible and the degree of effort required. Two snaps with 3 hours of bending already done that day. Second one took about 14 mins. Fresh, with some technique modifications, maybe 5 mins. There is a definite rhythm to it. Will have to try it again soon, but for now I think I need a week to let my body recover... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted May 28, 2022 Author Share Posted May 28, 2022 May 27 Evolution… Took five days off because two 4 hour bending sessions last week demanded it and a split callus on the index was no good. Came back today strong, but concerned because a spontaneous reverse-style 60d demo bend in a tiny cloth at work tweaked my left wrist a bit. Nonetheless, when the 6 x 5/16 G2 bolt went down very easily, I continued. Red nails were melting. Each DO hit gave great movement, only stalled at the 90 deg area. Few mins for each. Some 8” spikes… good but took a bit to get the position. Loaded up the kinked Big Bastard and gave it a lot of movement, but stalled at my usual spot, decided to save that juice for other full bends… and they abided. Cut a Horrido A4 to 6” and took it down rather quickly. A few technical stalls on the crush. Followed with more Reds and 8” spikes and then embarked on the pièce de résistance… a 10” spike. After much effort, I couldn’t get movement on the kink DO, so I braced bent it over the knee to about 40 deg. Then finished the mofo DO with many efforts but got the sucker done! Tried for a 4th Red but the gas was empty which also thwarted any horseshoe attempts. Altogether great progress! No wounds, so maybe another session on Monday. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted June 1, 2022 Author Share Posted June 1, 2022 May 29th Smaller workout over the weekend. Not recovered from the previous exhaustive effort two days ago, but made a technical switch and used double leathers for the first time. Horrido suede pads over FBBC leathers. Tremendous difference in bar control and grip on the bar versus leather/IMPs. With the smoothness of the 1/4" G5 I cut a 1/4" FBBC triangle G8 to a little under 5" and had it at 90 deg in two hits. Because of the intensity of the prior session, especially closing down that 10" spike unbraced, my crush was wrecked, so I struggled to solidly finish the bars today. Reds were getting huge movement in a couple hits but lacked the steam to finish the third. However, after the first Red I was able to put some more into the Big Bastard I had stuck on the sweep. Just needs a good crush to move it another 1/2". Today's efforts may not have transpired without seeing Derek's cert video of the 12.9 cut down to 6". What a completely savage bend! Studying his technique has helped make the kink my strongest aspect DO. After this weekend, writing now on Tuesday, I had an insight on the sweep and crush: whereas I had been bending forward and down, bringing the pecs into the equation, it now appears to me that instead one wants to engage the lats, which are going to be much stronger, remaining upright and bearing everything inward. The lats also play significantly into the infamous 'elbow drive' aspect of the kink. First glance at kink technique may suggest strong pecs. No doubt some benders bring this into their game with great effect. However, strong pecs may restrict range of motion and shoulder flexibility, inhibiting an advantageous position under the chin. It seems the peak force generation on the kink comes when the anterior/medial deltoids sync with the lats and punch the bar together. Anyway, a bit of an analytical ramble on technique as I spiral down the rabbit hole. Hoping to employ some of these ideas this weekend on some Moose bars... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted June 1, 2022 Author Share Posted June 1, 2022 May 30th Was not planning to bend today, but watching some braced long bar by Don got me eyeing the 5/8 x 36" Everbilt 'CRS' I got from Home Depot. I was looking for HRS but this was the only long 5/8 bar they had. During parts of the effort I wasn't sure what was going to go first, the bar or my body. So many odd positions. I'll have to explore more of this in the future. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted June 2, 2022 Author Share Posted June 2, 2022 Jun 1st Hadn't planned anything serious today, but as the day went along well and I felt strong in the afternoon, began with some horseshoes. St. Croix ultralite 2 and then snapped a St. Croix ultralite 1 that I had previously hearted. Definitely not at 100%, but technique and rhythm improving so felt better. Tried to take the larger piece and snap it again, but the extension over the hip was a bit too much for my strength. Someday. Finished the Big Bastard that was stuck with 2.5" at the crush. Finished a kinked Red. Finished two 6" A2 @Horridobolts stuck at the sweep. Finished two 6 x 1/4 FBBC squares stuck at the sweep. Bent a 1/4" triangle G8 from a new batch and took a kinked Big Bastard to the sweep. Felt pretty solid for an impromptu DO day. Lots of finishing wounded pieces. My kink is strong but the sweep and crush need work, so this workout hopefully put some coins into that bank. I have a bundle of Moose bars arriving from @ChuckinCanuckon Friday so aiming for my next post to include a cert video! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted June 4, 2022 Author Share Posted June 4, 2022 June 3rd Certification day... Package from Bend Sport Canada arrived with some Moose bars and some surprise pieces - an Ogopogo bar (3x8 x 8" CRS), two 1/4" G8 bolts and a Nibelungen bolt. Very cool. Warmed up with some 60d's, a G8, 5/16 G2 and one of the G8's from Josh that has a head marking I haven't seen before. Felt like a triangle G8. Then did four bends under cert conditions and on video: Moose bar, 6" Horrido A2, 6.5" Moose bar and 6" Moose bar. Felt very strong, especially on the kink. I studied hours of Thom and Derek bending to correct some technical errors I was making which I think was successful. A strong first and second hit sets the tempo for the bend and also gets the steel warm. Tightened up my wrapping technique now using FBBC leathers over Horrido suede. The suede is a bit thinner but more flexible and really cinches to the bar. I can get a better grip for the crush with the smaller pads too. After the certs I gave the Nibelungen two massive hits and put a little wobble in it. Same with the 8.8. Just a little wobble. That was pretty thrilling. The next level is now visible on the horizon. Tried the Ogopogo for fun but that's a monster bar and at 8" the leverage is very awkward. Finished with a Red that went relatively smoothly but took a fight, and a Big Bastard over maybe 15 minutes which kept fighting me on the crush but I got it done. Hands are pretty raw today and the upper body sore and tight. Though I have a feeling that tomorrow they'll be jonesing for more... 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted June 5, 2022 Author Share Posted June 5, 2022 Jun 5th Massive session to try and push the limit of training stress. Super-compensation. When I did ultra-cycling I would do 200 mile rides on Saturday to induce a huge fitness bump later in the next week after some recovery. Trying something like that with this 3.5 hour session after the cert session two days ago. Warm-up... 60d 1/4" G8 6.5 x 5/16 CRS from Home Depot Workout... Moose Red 6.5" Red... finished from a prior kink Moose Red 6 x 1/4" FBBC square CRS 3 deg kink on a Nibelungen similar kink on a Big Hexabastard 8" galvanized spike 6 x 1/4" FBBC square CRS 6" Moose Red 6 x 1/4" FBBC square CRS 4.5 x 1/4" CRS from Home Depot Pleased to be able to keep the strength up throughout. Definitely feeling it by the end. Everything is sore... 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted June 13, 2022 Author Share Posted June 13, 2022 June 9th Was feeling sort of recovered but actually was not. Some G8 warm-ups went well, then attempted a 5.5" Moose. Easy kink until 90 when it stalled hard. Musclepower for the crush not back to 100%. Same issue with the Big Bastard so called the workout there. ... Until after dinner when I decided to try to tear a Bicycle card deck in the box and was successful after a minute or so effort. Video down below. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted June 13, 2022 Author Share Posted June 13, 2022 June 10th With DO obviously fried, yet yearning for steel unsatisfied, I decided I would do some horseshoe snapping that afternoon and spent the day contemplating that endeavor. This time going for the double snap. I got to work opening a previously hearted St. Croix ultralite #1 and finished the double in about 15 minutes. Opening the 2/3 piece was the most difficult, though when I saw the severity of the crack on each open, even if it only moved half a centimeter, I knew I would see it through. Such elation and relief when that piece finally snapped. I had been fighting through a shredded blister on my drive hand for half the battle. Learned quite a bit about opening horseshoes during this endeavor, particularly a much better sense of using the drive arm. Looking forward to opening and hearting some shoes this weekend. Another double snap, maybe the following. I want to improve my time and record it. Plus it's an incredible workout. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted July 1, 2022 Author Share Posted July 1, 2022 June 15th Last day before some travels. Completed a successful cert on a 5.5" Moose bar to move to 4th on Bend Sport Canada's list. Need to get some Nanook bolts. Moved a Nibelungen bolt to 10 deg or so. Went for a 6" Red. Tore a deck of Bicycles in the pack. Videos below... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted July 1, 2022 Author Share Posted July 1, 2022 (edited) June 27th While travelling I did some nail and horseshoe bending demos for family. Showed my cousin and his fiancée: he managed to do a 60d bright common nail and she kinked a 6" timber tie. I found a 24" piece of rebar in the garage and bent that too. Back at home, getting over one illness got hit by another. Just a whirlwind of a couple weeks and still finding little respite. Haven't been ill for 2.5 years and this isn't too acute but just one thing after the other. Ultimately, too much stress, which a little bending helps to regulate. Moved the Nibelungen another 5 degs and did a full Big Bastard within the time limit. Edited July 1, 2022 by Viking 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted July 1, 2022 Author Share Posted July 1, 2022 June 28th Started with a couple DO bends. 6 x 1/4" G8 as warmup then a Big Bastard. Still feeling it in the upper body in the DO muscles. Instead went for a recorded effort of a horseshoe double snap. Took about 17 minutes but felt smooth and consistent. Found a good rhythm. Below is a highlight video of the effort and the full 17 minute effort can be found on my YouTube. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted October 30, 2022 Author Share Posted October 30, 2022 Haven't updated here in a while, but the bending has only intensified, mostly updating on Instagram. I want to bring back a more detailed catalogue of my workouts because my goals now require much more time and effort to achieve. Encountering a couple of plateaus over the months I found the solutions to be non-trivial and that having a better record of what I am doing will expedite progress, especially under circumstances of stagnation. Main near term goals by end of the year: * Horrido 8.8 cert * Duke of All Bastards under cert conditions Similar in difficulty but different in style. I've completed two Dukes, but both over long timespans... like days. The crush takes me far too long and getting out of the sweep is also brutal, so an initial training thought is to work on chest crushes with a #4 gripper and also do isometrics on a bundle of tough stock I have stuck at around 90 degrees. This will help improve specific strength for both goals without going through a full bend process, so I'd likely do these either at the end of a bend session or between sessions. Introducing a couple upper body gym sessions each week will be a more general strength improvement approach to build the power necessary to do these bends in the time cut. Anyway, on to this weekend's productivity... October 28-30th Glorious festivities of bending. On the same day, Thursday the 27th, the BESTIES box from @devinhoo arrived with an array of calibrated steel as did a package from @matek, sent in July, with a bunch of unique Japanese steel varieties. I had also picked up some veg-tan leather and cut some large leathers to use, whereas generally I would wrap suede/IMP or double suede. All bends here were done in suede/leather. Leather crush pads and/or IMPs were helpful on the crush for the toughest bends. Most done on Friday with some of the finishing crushes and a few full bends over the weekend. All bends at Bastard difficulty or above. Clockwise from top-left... Bastard, 7" x 8.3mm CRS, 6" x 8.5mm 'soft' CRS 7.5 x 3/8" 'Home Depot' CRS, 7 x 3/8" 'Home Depot' CRS (x2) Hexabastard (x2) Shiny Bastard (x3) *just the crush ~last cm Double 40d nails rated @ 470 lbs 7.5" x 9mm SS400 CRS Duke of All Bastards 8 3/8 x 11/32 FBBC CRS rated @ 390 lbs (at length) 7" x 8mm C45 CRS (felt more like a Shiny! C45 is brutal) 7" x 7mm C45 Hex CRS Center kinks... 7 x 5/16" JH 8.8 bolt 7" x 10mm Brass Duke of All Bastards Recovery was good going into it. Proper leather wraps and technical insights from watching a lot of top benders helped with progress. I put some highlight videos on YouTube, which I'll post below. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Knowlton Posted October 31, 2022 Share Posted October 31, 2022 (edited) I don’t know how you guys do this stuff. fun to watch. Someday I will give it a try Edited October 31, 2022 by John Knowlton 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacksmith513 Posted October 31, 2022 Share Posted October 31, 2022 6 hours ago, John Knowlton said: I don’t know how you guys do this stuff. fun to watch. Someday I will give it a try you should... Buy the beginners kit from EatChalkGetBig. It builds the mind, just a much as it builds the body. nice bending @Viking 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted November 6, 2022 Author Share Posted November 6, 2022 November 4-6th Decent recovery throughout the week though sub-optimal due to lifestyle factors. Still had an excellent weekend of bending. Muscular development is apparent. This high volume, high intensity style - almost like Bulgarian weightlifting - has been very effective. Bends below with videos of 3 bends as well. Top row in the photo is from Friday, the 6 on the bottom left from Saturday, and the three on the bottom right from Sunday. Friday (~3 hours): 8.5mm x 7" 'soft' CRS 8.3mm x 7" SS400 CRS from Japan 9mm x 7" SS400 CRS from Japan *PR* - video below 11/32 x 7" CRS FBBC Duke of All Bastards - video below (2x) 3/8 x 7" 'Everbilt' 'soft' CRS Saturday (~3 hours): 9/32 x 7" C45 hex CRS from Japan 8.5mm x 7" 'soft' CRS from Japan Triple 40d nails (5.6mm x 5") - video below 5/16 x 7" hex CRS FBBC Hexabastard ~8.6mm x 8" Konoe concrete nail from Japan 3/8 x 7" 'Everbilt' 'soft' CRS Sunday (~0.5 hrs): (3) 5/16 x 7" stainless CRS FBBC shiny bastards *just the crush from ~8-10cm* The 9mm x 7" on Friday was my primary goal. It was the last piece of that material I had so I gave it everything. Duke definitely felt tough after that and it took 25 mins to complete, 24 of those minutes spent trying to get it past 90 degrees! Usual sticking point at that part of the sweep. With the big bends done, on Saturday had a more experimental approach trying triple 40d nails which was quite exciting that it was actually manageable. Had one official Hexabastard left so did a cert video on that, completing the bend in less than 60 seconds. The giant concrete nail was badass and not very tough. Finished with a slog through a couple of the big CRS bars from the Home Depot. Sunday just crushes on some nearly finished Shiny Bastards. Getting more effective at this. Ton of iso work on Friday and Saturday as well. Meaning... attacking bars and getting little to no movement. A 5/16 x 9" square CRS from Devin, which got a couple degrees of wobble somehow. Put another degree into the KOASB over 5 hits. Took a wobbled Big Hex to about 20 deg. Strained against a 10mm Brass stuck at the sweep. Gave an Ogopogo (3/8 x 8" CRS) a hit. Put 10 degrees into an 8.4mm x 7" stainless from @matek near the end of a session. Lots of good work and my upper body is feeling it. Avoided the big graded bolts. Still have a mental block on those despite how close they should be to falling given recent bending PRs. I have a bunch of them taunting me, particularly the @Horrido 8.8. Some videos below... 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacksmith513 Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Awesome work! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Knowlton Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Way cool bending 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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