Form Help

[George Champlin]

I would love if someboady could give me some pointers on my form please

http://www.gripboard.com/index.php?act=mod...album&album=358

[dave]

sittin down is ok, but you need to keep it under chin, and go at an angle out from your body, your goin straight down with it

[dave]

forgot to say, brign your stuff to ggc, ill help ya with form there

[Grh122]

Standing would be preferable so that you can involve your entire upper body more. I focus on pulling my arms up from my neck/traps/shoulders, and lean back before I start. At times, I even tighten my stomach/abs and have found that this helps with positioning my arms. All of this is easier when standing. Standing also helps with breathing - take a deep breath before the bend.

You are using a form that relies more on wrist strength than on chest strength (more of a "bend" than a "fold"). If your goal is to fold (using Gavin Holle's style), then your palms need to be facing each other more.

You have too much reliance on the index fingers in my opinion. I am still working on my form as well, but have discovered that solidly supporting the bar with both index and middle fingers is necessary. At the same time, cup the hands so that the middle of the hand pushes inward on the nail - this will force the ring fingers and pinkies into a position where they face each other. The contact point of the ends of the nail against your hands will be somewhere in the middle of the hand, closer to the thumb pad than to the hand pad.

Your arms are high enough, but try spreading them "wider" and push to the center using your arms/chest.

Glenn

[George Champlin]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone

[Scott Styles]

Looking to dial in your techniuqe is smart. That nail is getting bent through raw application of your brute force right now. I bet you get a yellow in short order, with a little refinement. Here's what I see:

1. The wraps need to be tight and slightly apart. Saturate the IM wraps in chalk to "season" them. Then roll each nail up right before you bend it, pulling the cloth tight as you roll. Make sure to leave 1/4-1/2" between the wraps so you aren't fighting them to get the bend. This gap should be centered, draw a line around the center of the nail if you need to.

2. The force from your wrists is getting lost to the nail on your index finger. When maxing with double overhand in the folding style, a lot of the force comes through the thumb pad. The ends of the nails should be pushing into it. That's why sturdy, tight wraps are so important. Also try to make the lever position on your index fingers as close to the palm as possible. This will be achieved by flexing the wrists some. To further strengthen the lever, crush the nail as hard as you possibly can while trying to bend it.

3. The lats pull the arms down. The pecs pull the arms out across the chest. To get force from both of them, you should be pushing down and out against the nail. Picture a spot an arms length from the bottom of your chest, then apply force towards it.

Another thing to keep in mind is while it gets big bends, double overhand is not shoulder friendly. If I was working with a client as a fitness professional, I would never encourage them to use double overhand. The risk of injury is high enough that I would fear opening myself up to liability.

I would also expect someone with your build to do well with double underhand. What can you bend that way?

[George Champlin]

I would also expect someone with your build to do well with double underhand.  What can you bend that way?

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I have only tried it that way once and it did not feel right.

[Mr.Moose]

I would also expect someone with your build to do well with double underhand.  What can you bend that way?

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I have only tried it that way once and it did not feel right.

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I started bending using DO but it never felt "right". I checked out some videos to compare my technique when it "hit" me. Some BIG benders were using what I think is called "Terminator" style. I tried and WOW, that was the technique that suited me. Previous hard bends felt like warm up bends, HUGE difference.

Experiment with different styles to see what suits you.

Claes

[Scott Styles]

I have only tried it that way once and it did not feel right.

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I hated double underhand at first. I felt like couldn't apply any of the strength from my upper body with it. As I practice the movement, though, I'm finding that there are subtle tweaks I've been missing. Dialing these in is slowly improving my ability to do DU. I find the feel it has on my wrists is similar to a rear or overhead lever with a sledge. I am growing to really like it and appreciate the even stress it applies to both wrists.

Because of the shoulder issues raised by DO (the ROM doesn't hurt me day of, but day after - *ouch*), I was previously using a reverse or terminator grip. The asymettry of the movement always bothered me. I'd switch which hand anchors each time I bend in an effort to obtain balance, but having my left hand anchor was always more powerful.

[George Champlin]

I would also expect someone with your build to do well with double underhand.  What can you bend that way?

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I have only tried it that way once and it did not feel right.

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I checked out some videos to compare my technique when it "hit" me. Some BIG benders were using what I think is called "Terminator" style. ,

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I dont know what this style is. I checked out Benders page and he bends so different I dont know what to call it.

[Mr.Moose]

I would also expect someone with your build to do well with double underhand.  What can you bend that way?

←

I have only tried it that way once and it did not feel right.

←

I checked out some videos to compare my technique when it "hit" me. Some BIG benders were using what I think is called "Terminator" style. ,

←

I dont know what this style is. I checked out Benders page and he bends so different I dont know what to call it.

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That's the way I mean. The videos I watched were of David Horne, Patrick Poviliatis and Steve Weiner. Pretty good benders so I thought I should try their way. For me, that technique works alot better than DO. I alternate hands every bend doing equal amount on both hands.

Claes

[Scott Styles]

Terminator's Old Gallery, most of the bends are reverse style.

http://www.cyberpump.com/gallery/albun03

[Mr.Moose]

Terminator's Old Gallery, most of the bends are reverse style.

http://www.cyberpump.com/gallery/albun03

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Hmmm... I thought that in the reverse style you held the bar so the pinky side of one hand was close to the thumb side on the other, if that makes sense?

You learn something new everyday.

Claes

[DAN PRAYDIS]

that looks good to me except that you need to move the wrap wider apart and let them bend down past the nail about 3/4 of an inch then you use the palm below your little finger to push the most as you do the nail will follow the bend in the wrap and you will have it looks like in your bend you could of gotten 2 nails at a time good luck

[EricMilfeld]

Scott, I think you're right on about DU mimicking the movement of reverse sledge work. I pretty much never practice DU, and the first time I attempted it I failed to kink an average 60D nail (at the time I was doing 5.5" Reds using DO). Shortly after that I started training the sledges, and a few months later when I gave the DU another go I was surprised to discover I could do a 6" grd 5 bolt. Also, the severe wrist pain caused by the DU technique was no longer present. Cool.

[Oldtime]

I would love if someboady could give me some pointers on my form please

http://www.gripboard.com/index.php?act=mod...album&album=358

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One thing i noticed is, the position you hold the nail in is very poor for leverage, it seems that your bending the nail on your thumpad on the start of the kink, like i said this isn't the best way for good leverage.

Try putting the nail in your hand similar to this.

http://www.gripboard.com/index.php?act=mod...cmd=si&img=3100

Also one more thing, before you start torquein on the nail to kink it, try bending it with just your wrists if that makes sense, this helps activate your wrists in the kink more, giving better leverage.

Be patient, geting perfeact form takes long, Im bending red nails and still havnt perfeacted it myself.

Edited September 11, 2005 by Oldtime