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Road To The Red


bencrush

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I need to start posting my workouts again for critiques and encouragement and sometimes just plain abuse.

This will probably be a long time in the earning for me since I still can't seem to get my form down. But it's coming along a bit now.

My first 60D Nail (DO) pleased me quite a bit and let me know that the Red is eventually possible for me double overhand.

So I'll list a few of the DO workouts that I did before today just to show the buildup.

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1-19-06

BENDING-DOUBLE OVERHAND-LEATHER PADS

1/4"X4.5" CRS-->nothing

Prekinked 60D Nail-9 pennies-->14 seconds ***PR***

1/4"X4.5" CRS-->50 seconds ***PR!***

60D Nail-->kink

Notes: This was my best bend at that point. 1/4"X4.5" CRS. I wasn't able to bend the 60D Nail yet.

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1-23-06

BENDING-DOUBLE OVERHAND-LEATHER PADS

8TTT-->3 seconds

60D Nail-->13 seconds

6" Grade 5-Triangle-->micro kink

8TTT-->4 seconds

60D Nail-->nothing

60D Nail-->kink-6 pennies

Notes: This was only my 2nd time to bend a 60D nail at this point. Good workout for me.

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1-24-06

BENDING-DOUBLE OVERHAND-LEATHER PADS

8TTT-->4 seconds

8TTT-->8 seconds

60D Nail-->nothing

60D Nail-->23 seconds

6" Grade 2-HKT-->42 seconds ***PR***

60D Nail-->16 seconds

Prekinked 5" Grade 5-Triangle-@ 45 degree prekink-->kinked a tiny bit more

Notes: This was my first time to get 2 60D Nails in one session! Got to start somewhere, right?

----------

More today hopefully.

1-29-06

BENDING-DOUBLE OVERHAND-IM PADS

8TTT-->6 seconds

60D Nail-->nothing

-->nothing

-->micro kink

8TTT-->5 seconds

6" Grade 2-generic-->nothing

-->nothing

Prekinked Blue Nail-8 Pennies-->nothing

Notes: SOB! What a piece of crap of a workout! I used the IM Pads and am glad I did...but wow. Was very ###### off with this workout. I might try double underhand on the 30th.

1-30-06

BENDING-DOUBLE UNDERHAND-LEATHER PADS

8TTT-->5 seconds

60D-->9 seconds

6" Grade 5-Triangle-->22 seconds

4.5" 60D Nail-->55 seconds ***PR!***

Notes: Wow! I am a bit weaker at the DU actually, but because of the DO work I've been doing, I was able to kink the stock and then quickly turn it over and DO finish it off! The Grade 5 would normally have not been bendable today for me. I was only able to kink it moderately. I then turned it over quickly and finished it off with great difficulty. Wow.

Then I cut a 60D Nail to 4.5" and barely kinked it DU. So I again quickly turned it over and managed to somehow finish it off DO! New PR!!!

----------

BENDING-DOUBLE OVERHAND-LEATHER PADS

4.5" 60D Nail-->26 seconds! ***PR!***

Notes: WOW! This is crazy. Yesterday I couldn't even bend an uncut 60D! Now today I cut one down to 4.5" and bend it. WTF? But I'll try not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Thanks again Travis for the goading/encouraging today!

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Wow, bunch of new logs.

Very cool Ben.

Your first task will be:

Kink a Red to 45° (straight bar is 0°) and try to finish it off.

Don't think about it, just do it.

I don't want to hear that its too hard, just go for it.

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Keep it up man, slow and steady will win this race before quick and injury prone.

-Sean

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Wow, bunch of new logs.

Very cool Ben.

Your first task will be:

Kink a Red to 45° (straight bar is 0°) and try to finish it off.

Don't think about it, just do it.

I don't want to hear that its too hard, just go for it.

Thanks Franky! I wish it was that easy to just kink one to 45 degrees and then finish it off. How do you guys kink bars that you can't bend by yourself? Crowbar? I have managed to kink some Grade 5s for my DO attempts on them by hitting them in the center with a hammer while bracing on end on a 10 pound plate. It's obviously not a very exact science that way. And not much of a kink either.

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2-1-06

Had a great bending workout today! Not great as in bending a Grade 5 or anything...but still.

BENDING-DOUBLE OVERHAND-SUEDE PADS

8TTT-->4 seconds

Prekinked 1/4"X3.75" CRS-3 Pennies-->NOW 4 Pennies

Prekinked 1/4"X5.5" Square-2 Pennies-->NOW 2 Pennies & 1 Dime

6" Grade 5-Triangle-->nothing

60D Nail-->11 seconds ***PR!*** (I think this is a time PR)

Prekinked 6" Grade 8-Triangle-9 Pennies-->nothing

60D Nail-->29 seconds

60D Nail-->21 seconds ***new volume PR***

Notes: I actually thought I'd be able to bend the 1/4"X3.75" CRS yesterday. But it just wouldn't go.

I was surprised that I didn't even kink the ###### Grade 5 either.

Not surprised about the Grade 8. It is just frozen for me.

The fast (for me) 60D Nail is good though.

And a new volume PR on the 60D Nails! 3! Woohoo!

On the last 60D I concentrated very HARD on keeping the nail very high under my chin. It still dipped down like usual, but not nearly as hard. I also concentrated on "folding" it instead of "levering" it over my index fingers like usual.

It was weird because when it went I could feel it folding. That's a very apt description of the technique.

I still don't know how anyone is strong enough to fold Reds though. I could just barely fold the 60D and I feel strong in that position with chest crushing grippers.

----------

2-2-06

BENDING-DOUBLE OVERHAND-SUEDE PADS

8TTT-->4 seconds

60D Nail-->13 seconds

Prekinked 6" Grade 5-Diamond-16 Pennies-->NOW 18 Pennies

5/16"X6and1/8" all thread-->8 seconds

5/16"X7" HRS-->micro kink-1 Penny ***PR***

5/16"X6.5" HRS-->nothing

60D Nail-->27 seconds

60D Nail-->35 seconds

60D Nail-->13 seconds (focused on keeping hands as high as my flexibility would allow)

8TTT-->5 seconds (used the straight down method that Travis M recommended)

60D Nail-->micro kink-1 Penny (used the straight down method again)

Notes: Very good workout again! I hit another volume PR with the 60Ds. 4 this time. More to come...

The straight down method may be why I can't bend bigger steel. I am not strong like that and it shows. I will just work harder

The 5/16" all thread was ridiculously easy like I thought it would be. I just wanted to get a little work in with something easy at 5/16" before my first DO attempt on some 5/16" HRS.

I was surprised that I couldn't just MELT the 5/16" HRS. I'll keep working on it!

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Wow, bunch of new logs.

Very cool Ben.

Your first task will be:

Kink a Red to 45° (straight bar is 0°) and try to finish it off.

Don't think about it, just do it.

I don't want to hear that its too hard, just go for it.

Thanks Franky! I wish it was that easy to just kink one to 45 degrees and then finish it off. How do you guys kink bars that you can't bend by yourself? Crowbar? I have managed to kink some Grade 5s for my DO attempts on them by hitting them in the center with a hammer while bracing on end on a 10 pound plate. It's obviously not a very exact science that way. And not much of a kink either.

Ben,

See if you can find some small pipes about 1 foot in length and around 1/2" in diameter. Any pipe should work, electrical conduit, black pipe for propane, but not copper. Just put half the red in one piece of the pipe, and hold it on the ground with your foot. Then, use the second pipe to pull up on the free end of the red nail until it is bent the desired amount. You will be surprised how easy this is. Hope it helps.

Chris

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Probably the easiest solution would be using a vise.

Or you can use pipes and just kink it over any bar, even over a dumbell.

I'm kinking my bars in my bench. I'm putting the bar instead of the pins (which adjust the height) inside the holes and simply push it down.

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Keep after it Ben.

I use a similar method to Franky for the kinks i use a hole in my power rack just put 1 half of the bar through the power rack holes then either hit the other end with a hammer/bar/wrench etc,or just put a piece of tube over the other end and push down till you get the desired amount of kink.This sometimes ends up with of centre kinked/bent bars but these all add to the challenge. :D

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Thanks for the kinking tips guys! :rock I'll put it to use.

I'll see if I can cheat kink a Grade 8 to 90 degrees then work my way down from there.

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Ben

I would say a pre-kinked bar of 45degrees a 90degree kink will be way easy for your crush,you might even suprise yourself and not need much kink at all.

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2-5-06

BENDING-DOUBLE OVERHAND-SUEDE PADS

8TTT-->3 seconds

60D Nail-->9 seconds ***PR!***

6" Grade 5-Triangle-->1 penny kink

6" Grade 2-generic-->nothing?

5/16"X6.5" HRS-->nothing?

Prekinked 6" Grade 5-Diamond-29 penny kink-nothing!

Notes: Wow. I'm done with DO for now. Not out of anger, but out of complete frustration. It's hurting my hands every day I bend, sapping my crush strength badly, and yet I STILL can't get the form down enough to bend steel that I know I have the strength to kill.

So I switched to DU for the remainder of my workout. I've lost a lot of top end strength DU but it will probably come back quickly.

BENDING-DOUBLE UNDERHAND-SUEDE PADS

6" Grade 5-Diamond-->1 penny kink

6" Grade 2-generic-->7 seconds

60D Nail-->7 seconds

60D Nail-->6 seconds ***PR!***

6" Grade 5-Triangle-->12 penny kink

60D Nail-->14 seconds

Notes: Much better than my crappy DO session! But still below par for me. I can either drop the bending now or keep soldiering on with the DU and hope it doesn't effect my crush strength.

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What the heck? Yer still stronger DU than DO? How do you do it?

How do you measure how kinked a bolt is i.e. 1 penny etc...

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What the heck? Yer still stronger DU than DO? How do you do it?

How do you measure how kinked a bolt is i.e. 1 penny etc...

I wish I wasn't stronger DU than DO. Because many people have told me that I could bend bigger steel with the DO method than the DU. I just can't dial in the form to do it though.

I measure the kinks in nails and bolts by lying the nail (or bolt) flat on my counter. Then if it's kinked, one of the ends will be off the counter. 1 penny kink just means that 1 penny will fit under the edge of the end that's off the surface of the counter. That should make sense. No kink equals no air under either end of the nail.

Let me know if that doesn't clear it up for you, because it's a great way to measure progress!

Here's my bending workout for the day. Good volume!

This is quite a bit of volume for me! Here's the full list of today's destruction. Thanks once again to Travis Mickelberry for the inspiration!

BENDING-DOUBLE UNDERHAND-IRONMIND PADS

8TTT-->5 seconds

60D Nail-->6 seconds

6" Grade 5-Triangle-->13 seconds ***PR!***

6" Grade 5-Diamond-->1 penny kink

6" Grade 5-UH-->3 penny kink

5/16"X6.5" HRS-->nothing?

5/16"X7 and 1/8" HRS-->nothing?

60D Nail-->7 seconds

4.5" 60D Nail-->nothing-too short

60D Nail-->8 seconds

60D Nail-->8 seconds

Prekinked Red Nail-8 Pennies-->nothing!

60D Nail-->9 seconds

Blue Nail-->9 seconds

1/4"X6.75" Square-->nothing!

Hard 60D Nail-->15 seconds

6" Grade 2-HKT-->8 seconds

6" Grade 2-generic-->7 seconds

60D Nail-->7 seconds

Hard 60D Nail-->12 seconds

Notes: This was a very good workout for me! First Grade 5 since the Dino Challenge, which hasn't been all that long technically. But I was pretty psyched up that day after watching John O'Brien bend.

I am appalled that I'm not melting that HRS stock! I actually think it might be mislabeled CRS. I remember that I could bend 6" and under pieces of it before I could do the Grade 5s.

I was cleaning out in the garage and found another nonbent Blue Nail. Smashed it in 9 seconds DU! That's actually pretty fast with that style with the turn over to crush it down.

The Hard 60D Nails are interesting. I found them out in the garage. They are all shorter than 6". Some are like 5.5" and some are 5.75". And they are quite a bit harder than the normal 60Ds that I have, and the normal ones I have aren't the super easy kind either.

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2-12-06

Hey Travis! Thanks to you I laid off the bending long enough to actually come back stronger! Which is of course the name of the game. I sometimes need that pounded into my head though.

Let me start off by saying that I actually had a DREAM about bending the night before. That must mean that I was ready to bend.

Here it is in all its glory: :)

BENDING-DOUBLE UNDERHAND-IRONMIND PADS

8TTT-->4 seconds

60D Nail-->8 seconds

6" Grade 5-Triangle-->12 seconds ***PR*** (Started chalking the pads inside and out)

6" Grade 5-Diamond-->11 seconds ***PR!*** (WOW!)

6" Grade 8-->1 Penny Kink (not bad really)

6" Grade 5-Triangle-->9 seconds ***PR!*** (Again!)

6" Grade 5-Triangle-->13 seconds

6" Grade 5-Triangle-->10 seconds

5" Grade 5-SJ-->nothing (Ouch!)

6" Grade 5-Triangle-->9 seconds

Prekinked Grade 8-10 Penny Kink-->nothing!

5.5" Grade 5-Triangle-->16 seconds ***PR!*** (This one surprised me!)

5.5" Grade 5-Triangle-->23 seconds (New Volume PR!)

6" Grade 5-Triangle-->21 seconds

Notes: What more can I ask for besides finally being able to bend the damn Grade 8?

I melted most of the Grade 5s that I touched today! On DU 9 seconds is fast really.

And getting the Diamond Grade 5 in 11 seconds just floored me!

Then the 5.5" Grade 5 Triangle went down pretty quickly for me. The 5" is just too short though to get any leverage on.

So the rundown is a total of 9 Grade 5s went down today. 2 of those were 5.5" Grade 5s. 1 of those was the super hard Diamond Grade 5.

PRs fell down on their heads today.

I am stoked.

I'll build on this bending workout by resting until my body really feels like bending again. Even if that is 4 or 7 days from now.

Then I'll try to do some more 5.5" Grade 5s. Maybe set a volume PR of 3 or more with the Triangle Grade 5s.

Or I might try to get some volume on the Diamond Grade 5s.

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How do the diamonds compare to the triangles compared to square compared to round?

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That is just an awesome bending workout, Ben! Great job!

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Bendzilla!

That's your new name. Awesome workout, man!!! The grade 8 is only a mental game at this point.

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Thanks Eric! I sure hope it's mental now. I am very thankful that my hands have stopped hurting since I've switched back to DU.

That is just an awesome bending workout, Ben! Great job!

Thanks Chris! You'll be bending your first Grade 5 soon. :cool

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Ben, You Rock :rock:rock

I enjoy reading your posts. Keep them coming along with all of the PRs.

Your workouts are great.

I bet the Grade8 isn't too far away.

\\m//

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Ben, You Rock :rock:rock

I enjoy reading your posts. Keep them coming along with all of the PRs.

Your workouts are great.

I bet the Grade8 isn't too far away.

\\m//

Thanks a lot man! That Grade 8 just continually resists my efforts. I'm quite amazed at the strength of it actually. Every time I feel like I will destroy one, it kicks me in the face and humbles me again. I have a long way to go. But it's fun again!

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It's not as far as you think. The grade 8 will feel unmoveably until one day comes along and you destroy it.

Trust me, that day is soon.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey, Ben.

Any updates here?

You know what I'm waiting for. ;)

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