Bending When You Feel Like It

[Justin Reagan]

For some reason, bending just doesn't like to follow a schedule. Sometimes I'm ready for bending again 3 days after a hard bending session. Sometimes (including right now) my hands and wrists still aren't ready for anything serious more than a week after. I don't want to wait that long for a workout, but I do want to give my bending muscles the time they need to recover. Sometimes other grip and wrist work actually helps my hands and wrists recover. Does anybody here do their bending workouts separately from another, more conventional workout schedule? I tried this once, but I didn't know the meaning of recovery. My hands and wrists got totally cooked. I'm not planning on letting that happen again.

Thoughts/comments/suggestions?

Thanks,

Justin Reagan

[carusom1]

I think the more experienced guys would have a better answer but I fell like the longer and more you have been bending- you could probably take more volume in a week (even though you are probably bending tougher steel)

just keep going, lay off or try some crazy stuff, you can always learn from what you do and what you don't do

keep us updated

[Oldtime]

it usually takes about 4 days for my hands to get prepared to bend again...

[com202]

I have no schedule while bending. I do it when I feel like it. I make sure I'm healed before I bend again.

Unfortunately both of my shoulders feel like hell ,hurt constantly , and I think I fractured a bone in my left hand so bending is out for awhile.

Later, Jason

[Justin Reagan]

it usually takes about 4 days for my hands to get prepared to bend again...

←

What do your bending workouts usually consist of? Just curious.

I have no schedule while bending. I do it when I feel like it. I make sure I'm healed before I bend again.

Unfortunately both of my shoulders feel like hell ,hurt constantly , and I think I fractured a bone in my left hand so bending is out for awhile.

Later, Jason

←

Do your shoulders hurt from the bending, or something else? Mine don't usually bother me when bending, probably because I bend DU.

It would be horrible to have to take more time off from bending. I've hurt my hand and wrist before, and for some reason, I didn't automatically stop bending for any length of time, until I was in too much pain to do so. That was a bad idea on my part. Hopefully you'll heal up in no time.

Justin Reagan

[com202]

The shoulder problem has been there for years. I assume from bench pressing.

But a couple of weeks ago I tried a 5"x1/4" CRS. Got it to about 100 degrees. And my shoulders popped. Since then I've bent a pre kinked 60d that wasn't too bad. I then tried a straight 60d, Barely put a noticeable kink in it. That sucked, after all the hard work to get there now I'm back to the beginning.

I'm gonna have to go back to DU. When I recover.

[Grh122]

I have no fixed schedule for bending either. Some weeks I can bend for several days in a row. This corresponds directly to whatever style I am using. I am trying to make progress in a number of styles at the same time.

I would recommend the following:

1) buy a pair of bolt cutters (for cutting up to 3/8" steel)

2) buy as much variety of steel as you can find: 3/16 square stock, 1/4 round stock (HRS, CRS, zinc-plated, key stock), 1/4 square, 3/8 aluminum, 5/16 round. Cut starter lengths from each 3' or 4' rod, always in the 6" to 7" range.

Day one: use your favorite style, the one with which you can bend the hardest steel, e.g. DU chest-level, or DO at chin-level

Day two: try alternating or reverse grip. I have found two types, one that is described on "Bender's Page", the other I have only seen twice: it appears to be what the Mighty Atom used, and I've seen one video on this board where someone used it. (left hand farther away from body, holding bar with palm face down, right hand close to body, palm facing up). I've been doing isometrics this way with the harder steel.

Day three: switch to the other style from day one - e.g. DU or DO

Day four: DO at waist level ("Slim style", the same style that John Brookfield uses). I have to use the easiest steel for this, for instance, something less than a yellow nail.

Until I perfected my DO/chin-level technique, my favourite style was DU. I haven't done any intense DU workouts for several weeks, needing that much time to get strong at it again. But in the meantime I have gotten better at DO and have now bent several 60Ds that I had kinked with DU. Now it's time for me to rest from DO and get back to DU. I don't work as hard at reverse grip, so I can do this style every other day or so.

One more way to continue bending during recovery - buy a 3/8" x 3' steel rod; bend it to somewhere less than 90 degrees, then cut off the ends of both sides, leaving it about 16" to 20" inches in length (bent in the middle). Now use this for isometrics using the alternating grip style at chest level. This is a great upper body (especially chest) workout that hits the muscles in a slightly different way than short bar bending.

[EricMilfeld]

I pretty much feel the need to keep my big core lifts such as squats, deads, and benches on a strict schedule. Bending allows me much more flexibility in terms of frequency, duration, intensity level, volume, etc. Although, I've discovered after recently taking up double underhand that I need more recuperation time for this style. Maybe this will change to some extent in time, but it's definitely tougher on my wrists.

By the way, I've yet to have a "bad" bending workout when I was really in the mood and pumped up for steel demolition (maybe my mind knows when my body is ready). It's cliche, but so much of it's mental.

[Justin Reagan]

Eric

What have you bent with DU so far? I know you've bent extremely tough steel (stuff most of us only dream of...) with DO (isn't that the style you've used the most?), but I was wondering what DU has been like so far. If it takes you longer to recover with this style, then I don't feel so bad.

Justin Reagan

[EricMilfeld]

Justin, my best DU bend is a 5 1/2" grade 5. Anything shorter, and my hands get in the way of eachother. I try to get between a 45 and 60 degree bend using DU before swithching over to DO. At those angles my hands get in the way. I've only been training DU for about a month or so. So, I'm hopeful I'll be able to eventually get a Red Nail with this technique. That's my current big grip goal. I'm been hitting the hammers pretty hard to help my progress. I'm still working on perfecting my technique. By the way, I place all but my first finger on the bar.

Yes, up until now, all of my bending has mainly been DO. I started off using reverse grip, and my technique evolved into DO unintentionally. Over the course of trying to prekink tougher and tougher steel using reverse grip I discovered I was requiring less and less of an initial kink to finish off a bend.

It is slowly getting better, but it's the wrist pain caused by DU that prevents me from training as frequently as I'd like.

[kerbjr]

I think for me at least that I only go for Pr's when I feel like it, but do lighter stuff on days that i just aint got it...Cause sometimes I dont feel like bending at all for a couple of weeks at a time..Brett

[Oldtime]

right now my workouts arnt great, all i have are reds and 60d's

usualy do one red, and 60d's for volume.

[Lyle]

humm, I had a regular training schedule, 1 on 3 off, it worked very well, I usually hit between 15-20 bends, starting with a warmup 1 or 2 then hitting my goal bends for #3-8 then finishing with somethin a slight bit easier for some volume work.