Finishing Bends In 2 Workouts

[Muscle Turtle]

How do yous do it? There is just no way I can finish a workout.

I know Oldy and Porky just love doing this and I have tried, but once I get a G5 to 90, I can barely finish it, I couldnt imagine trying to do 5/16 like this.

So if you fail on a bend to say 90 degrees, how do you re wrap it and how do you finish it off if you couldnt do it the first time???

Oldy and Porky, I want yous to post to this for sure please, an anyone else with some ideas.

Thanks

[porky]

lol first of all i dont love doing this. i hate having half bent pieces in my bending stash, and i have about 8 or 10 lol.

my sweep is weak and it took me a few weeks from my first red attempt to even be able to sweep the red.

oldy sent me a 90 degree red, i moved it till knuckles hit, but couldnt sweep it, so i used my knees to sweep it a bit, and then i crushed it on my own.

my first red attempt got it till knuckles hit, couldnt sweep, cheated it with knees, crushed it on my own.

second red attempt, got it till knuckles hit and even a smidge further, finished it off 4 days later.

to re wrap it, lets say ur have a 5/16 piece u want to re wrap. take a fresh red, wrap the wraps, elastic them, slide them off, and then slide them onto ur half bent piece

[Dude]

Starting pre-bent sutff for me is hard as hell, can never match up the same angle its bent as I'm forcing. I usually say "crap" and then set it to the side. Trying to rewrap it with IM pads tight enough so it doesnt slip has eluded me thus far. Might try it with leather.

Eric Milfield fights pre-bent stuff all the time, lot of stuff from 90 i think, he'd be a good one to ask

[Muscle Turtle]

Well heres a question for you Dude, how is your sweep so strong?

If I get to 80 d its done no matter what, but getting it past 90 is the problem.

What do you do with your hands to get through that sweep and past 90 so well?

[Oldtime]

lets say im wraping a bolt.

Ok, the threaded end doesnt need to be wrapped on, so i wrap the wrap on another bolt really tight, take it off, and put it on the threaded end.

What i do with the head, is point the "L" end away from me(doing all this with the wraps and bolt laying on the ground), wrap it around once tightly, pick it up and wrap it holding it up.

Or, just wrap it off the side of a stair, so the L wont smack into the ground.

Now as far as finishing off a bolt you failed, if it doesnt matter if it is official or not, heat it up with a lighter, then put leather around the heated bend so you dont burn your neck.....

Edited December 1, 2005 by Oldtime

[Muscle Turtle]

I just dont understand how you get it moving again, especially if you failed with it earlier while it was hot?

[Oldtime]

Somtimes i just dont have enough steam to finish it off.

I failed on a 5.5 Red, I later finished it off. The initial kink and sweep just took too much out of me.

[Muscle Turtle]

aight, maybe ill give that a go sometime...

I miss a lot of bends at 90 degrees and I just cant blow by it and its really making me mad.... lol...

I havent been trying to get stronger lately, just trying to get my lifts up, and now its really hurting my bending, which sucks....

[porky]

I just dont understand how you get it moving again, especially if you failed with it earlier while it was hot?

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i have the same wall too. once my knuckles hit, its stuck . which is usually about 90 degrees on most bars, depends on the length.

the kink used to be my worst part when i startet bending, but now its my sweep.

i just keep working at it, getting stronger until i can get it moving again and finish it off. usually if i get stuck, i cant just do it the next day or whatever, unless i was weak the day of bending for some reason that stopped me from finishing it off that day. but usually it takes me a bit to work up my strength to get past that sticking point with that bar.

Edited December 1, 2005 by porky

[Grh122]

I learned one thing that helped me take bolts from 90 d down to a 2" spread. I used to try to chest crush them (with fingers interlocked) just like I would a gripper. Then I tried the crush-down (from 90 d) with my forearms farther out to the front, along the lines of how I would kink and sweep the nail/bolt. This made a huge difference, I was much stronger this way. I've taken a pre-bent grade 8 6" from 90 d to under 2" using this approach.

[EricMilfeld]

Somtimes i just dont have enough steam to finish it off.

I failed on a 5.5 Red, I later finished it off. The initial kink and sweep just took too much out of me.

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This pretty much sums it up for me, too. But there are those times when the extra strength you gain by resting isn't sufficient enough to compensate for the nail's newfound strength gained from "cooling off". Yep, I've got plenty of little "L" shaped demons residing in my garage!

[Muscle Turtle]

These reds are just in a spot where I just cant seem to get a decent hold on it either way and it really frustrates me!!!

Ill get past it soon enough!

[Anuwbius]

Alas, I too have the most trouble at the sweep. And as others have said, its because by the time I get there I am too weak to take it any farther. My opinion on it, the sweep takes the most upper body strength out of the whole bend. In the kink (at least with DO) you have leverage and the hand positioning working on your side, with both arms in this high leverage position. In the crushdown, you have your fingers interlocked to pull on each other and the direct compression on the sides of the bar. However, on the sweep, you have to combine the leverage position of one hand which is still "bending" the bar, and the other hand, which cant quite push directly on the side, yet cant "bend" the bar in the high leverage position. As a result, raw upper body strength and keen technique have to be combined to get it moving again. Personally, when my lifts, especially pushing motions (bench, one arm push ups, over head pressing etc) are strong, my bending is strong b/c I can get through the sweep portion of steel that normally puts me at a dead stop.

I say, rest up, especially the pushers before going back to a prebent bar, and bring up those lifts and previous sweep stopping bends will no longer be a problem

[Dude]

Well heres a question for you Dude, how is your sweep so strong?

If I get to 80 d its done no matter what, but getting it past 90 is the problem.

What do you do with your hands to get through that sweep and past 90 so well?

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By sweep you guys are talking about the point after its kinked a bit until it gets past 90-80d right? Just wanna make sure I'm on the same page, lol.

I recently found that I can't bend very well when I put constant pressure into the bend. During the kink I do but immediately after I feel it start to move I quickly explode back into it and keep giving it short bursts to keep it moving.

If its stuck at 90 I'm screwed because its not moving, like anuwbius said its in a very akward position that I have no technique for yet. I always try and skip ahead to the crushdown too early and screw myself over. I need to work on placement with the hands and hopefully I'll take down bigger things. But whats helped me so far is exploding into it in short bursts.

[Grh122]

Here is how I picture it:

- Kink - takes the nail from 0 degrees to approx. 10 or 20 degrees (maybe a bit more)

- Sweep - goes from 10 or 20 d to about 90 degrees

- Crush-down - goes from 90 degrees to an under 2" spread

Anything less than a kink would be a "wobble" or a "warp". I can warp a 60d double underhand but I can't kink it DU. A true kink allows the nail to be repositioned in the hands so that another attempt can be made with slightly different leverage.

[porky]

for me

kink- start to when knuckles hit.

sweep- after knuckes hit, where u cant close both hands, or interlock fingers. where u have to have 1 hand open and 1 hand closed.

crush- where u can interlock fingers.

[TennisDude]

Here is how I picture it:

  - Kink - takes the nail from 0 degrees to approx. 10 or 20 degrees (maybe a bit more)

  - Sweep - goes from 10 or 20 d to about 90 degrees

  - Crush-down - goes from 90 degrees to an under 2" spread

Anything less than a kink would be a "wobble" or a "warp".  I can warp a 60d double underhand but I can't kink it DU. A true kink allows the nail to be repositioned in the hands so that another attempt can be made with slightly different leverage.

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I think porky is right. Sweeping it that early would be really awkward.

[Muscle Turtle]

I lay into the bar and get it to just short of 90 instantly, thats where I get lost, my knuckles hit and thats all she wrote. Its not far enough to lock my fingers but my hands dont fit in the middle any longer, so im screwed...

I have a game plan now though, so we shallsee...

[porky]

I lay into the bar and get it to just short of 90 instantly, thats where I get lost, my knuckles hit and thats all she wrote. Its not far enough to lock my fingers but my hands dont fit in the middle any longer, so im screwed...

I have a game plan now though, so we shallsee...

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open 1 hand close da other

[Muscle Turtle]

I cant get enough torque on it.

[porky]

ur right handed right?

put the placementof the point of the bar higher up in ur right hand.

and lower in ur left.

the left is like a vice it just stays still, then torque with the right.

[Grh122]

for me

kink- start to when knuckles hit.

sweep- after knuckes hit, where u cant close both hands, or interlock fingers. where u have to have 1 hand open and 1 hand closed.

crush- where u can interlock fingers.

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Interesting, in my mind that's a huge kink, and a small range for the sweep. When I used to start nails DU, I would only be able to get them to 15 or 20 degrees at the most with the initial kink, then I would turn them over and finish the bend DO. That's why I think of the kink as being a small range of motion.

It sounds like your initial attempt - the kink - bends the bar much farther than I'm used to ... I need to be more explosive on my kink and see how this feels.

Also, my knuckles don't hit each other, so I don't have a left-hand bracing/right hand pushing or bending approach. For me, it is one continuous process of bending - arms high, forearms way forward, and hands pushing/bending evenly, until the steel is bent enough so that I can get my fingers interlocked around it. This is how it's been for grade 5 bolts - I'll have to see how this works out when I get to 5/16".