Bent A Huge Bastard And Failed Miserably :(

[wscorpion]

Thorsten had sent me several bars to bend, of which one bastard.

I knew bending the bastard would be easy, so I've cut it down to 6". I wanted to use this 6" piece for certification here on the board, and since I only had one shot I had to be sure I could bend it under 2" in less then 5 minutes.

So I waited until I could bend the 6" Red Nail consistently.

The last few days I didn't feel to good so I postponed bending the 6" bastard until I felt better again.

Finally this morning I've decided to take a shot at it this evening. Just before I went up the attic I hurt my right arm (bicep tendon) in some way, but since I'd already decided to take on the 6" bastard I continued to set everything up.

Camera was recording, measured the thing in front of the camera, wrapped it and started bending.

The initial kink already felt painful for my arm, but as stubborn as I am (since I only have one shot) I decided to continue to bend it.

Each time I applied pressure to the bar my arm started hurting more and more...

Finally I reached the point where I could crush it to finish it. That's when the real pain came in. I've crushed it to 2.2" and then it just stopped. I barely managed to keep my right arm up, let alone continue the bend.

In a normal situation I know I can easily finish the crush once I got this far, so that's even more annoying...

So now I'm really pissed at my arm for hurting, and at myself for trying to bend it anyway

I have the complete bend on camera, and if only I could finish that final 0.2" it would have been well under 5 minutes and most likely accepted as certification (I'm not the judge ).

But now the tape is useless....

Unfortunately I am unable to order anything with FBBC myself since it would cost me approx. 30 euros for transfer costs alone

So if anyone in Europe is planning on ordering new stock from FBBC, I would like to ask to order several bastards for me as well. I can easily transfer the money to your account in europe without additional costs, but for some strange reason transferring money to the US cost a lot of money.

Thanks in advance (and glad I've got that off my chest)

- Mark

Edited June 27, 2007 by White Scorpion

[ox3782]

Mark that sucks about your arm get some physical thearpy going if you dont and just try to let it heal you could be in for a bad ride.Please take care of it theres no reason to stop here you are a strong bender and need to continue.All the best

Brendan

[Tim71]

Wow! I'd think with the lousy exchange rate the U.S. dollar is enjoying now that wouldn't be a big deal. Go figure though, international finance and economies is something I have a hard time understanding.

Good effort on the huge. I know all about being stubborn like that. I wasted one of my last 2 hexabastards like that. You'll get it though as strong a bender as you are and to me a 6 inch of this new steel John has got is an outstanding bend.

Hope your arm isn't hurt too bad and recovers quickly.

Tim

[wscorpion]

Thanks guys..

There's no need for therapy... Within a couple of days it won't bother me anymore until something similar happens again.

For some reason I've always had this, at least ever since I started lifting heavy weights. I remember the first time was somewhere in 98/99. After that it happened every couple of months until I stopped lifting weights in 2002.

But since I started end 2006 with lifting weights again, this came back as well

Luckely I know I'll live , and no way am I going to give up bending, I just need to be more careful with my tendons

[GetAGrip87]

Great job anyway Mark!!!

[makey98]

There's no need for therapy... Within a couple of days it won't bother me anymore until something similar happens again.

For some reason I've always had this, at least ever since I started lifting heavy weights.

I think that you need to look into this problem some more. Just accepting it is not a great long term solution in my opinion. I think that you should have a doctor take a look at it or you are going to have a big problem somewhere down the line. It may not happen until your much older, but for me I wouldn't want to be the grandpa that can't pick up his grandkids, or something like that because he didn't take care of something when he was younger. I would look at that seriously. Your body is telling you that something is not right, listen to it.

[crobb1320]

sounds like it was a good fight,great bend with a sore arm,man that must have hurt.hope it feels better soon.you will get that bar no problem once your healed.

[AP]

There's no need for therapy... Within a couple of days it won't bother me anymore until something similar happens again.

For some reason I've always had this, at least ever since I started lifting heavy weights.

I think that you need to look into this problem some more. Just accepting it is not a great long term solution in my opinion. I think that you should have a doctor take a look at it or you are going to have a big problem somewhere down the line. It may not happen until your much older, but for me I wouldn't want to be the grandpa that can't pick up his grandkids, or something like that because he didn't take care of something when he was younger. I would look at that seriously. Your body is telling you that something is not right, listen to it.

Yeah and plus if you strengthen it and resolve the problem you won't have to worry about working around it anymore either.

[wscorpion]

Thanks guys...

I really doubt there's something to do about it. It started when I did bicep curls back in 98/99. 32kg was no problem, but as soon as I got a little more weight on it, 34kg for example, this started to hurt.

Now, whenever I hold my forearm close to my upper arm by bending my elbow and apply pressure on my bicep / forearm, for some reason at the place where my forearm is pressing my bicep this comes back. With normal movements I can do anything with my arm, I just need to be careful with this movement....

If I go to someone specialized in muscle injuries he will give me a massage, but that doesn't help, and if I tell him what kind of strength training I'm doing I will get the response that I should lower my training volume / weights.

This is a pretty useless advise as you can imagine since I'm not going to stop lifting weights

[makey98]

I agree that maybe seeing a doctor may not help, but I think you are making a mistake here. I would look into the injury and do some research and see if you can figure out what the underlying problem is, 32kg is not a very much, there clearly is something wrong. You might try to get one of those foam rollers and try some myfocial (sp?) release stuff and see if that help your symptoms. But, it could be a tendon or ligament problem, not a muscle problem....good luck and nice bending!

[Autolupus]

Mark,

try getting an opinion off a good osteopath, where a doctor will usually give you pain relief, tell you to come back in two weeks and cut down on the weights. An osteopath is likely to be slightly more sympathetic and will be more used to dealing with sports related injuries!

All the best with your recovery, Mike.

[dimmers]

sorry to hear about your arm Mark, still that was a great bend!!! even more so with an injury

hope everything heals up quick for you!

[wscorpion]

I agree that maybe seeing a doctor may not help, but I think you are making a mistake here. I would look into the injury and do some research and see if you can figure out what the underlying problem is, 32kg is not a very much, there clearly is something wrong. You might try to get one of those foam rollers and try some myfocial (sp?) release stuff and see if that help your symptoms. But, it could be a tendon or ligament problem, not a muscle problem....good luck and nice bending!

Well, I haven't seen too many people doing bicep curls on a preacher bench with a 32kg dumbbell, but ok .

I doubt there's much wrong, but I will do some googling and see what I can find

@Autopulus, I will see if I can find an osteopath as soon as I know what the word means

Thanks dimmers, don't worry, I'll be bending again probably tomorrow or this weekend

Edited June 28, 2007 by White Scorpion

[John Beatty]

Mark-

Does Paypal cost that much? they don't charge to convert USD to Euros. And shipping for 25pc bastards is only $11. Sorry about the arm, that sucks.

[makey98]

Well, I haven't seen too many people doing bicep curls on a preacher bench with a 32kg dumbbell, but ok .

My bad, I misunderstood, I thought that you were having problem curling 34kg with both hands!! 34kg one handed curls is very respectable...my bad. Good luck.

[wscorpion]

Mark-

Does Paypal cost that much? they don't charge to convert USD to Euros. And shipping for 25pc bastards is only $11. Sorry about the arm, that sucks.

Paypal requires a creditcard before you can actually use it. If I would have a CC it wouldn't be a problem, but having a CC isn't that common here in the Netherlands, and I honestly prefer not to have one. I have seen too many sites where hacked creditcard info is posted. I would hate to have mine in those lists as well...

I'll see what I can do, I know that even converting euros to GB pounds already costs 5.50 euros, and that's still in Europe...

Maybe I should get another bank

Well, I haven't seen too many people doing bicep curls on a preacher bench with a 32kg dumbbell, but ok .

My bad, I misunderstood, I thought that you were having problem curling 34kg with both hands!! 34kg one handed curls is very respectable...my bad. Good luck.

Lol, no problem, normally I wouldn't have bothered to correct this, but it will show how I'm training. I can't train easy, if I can use heavier weights, then I will.

I've been reading up on the problem a bit, and apparently this is quite common for beginners since they make a lot of progression in strength in a short time.

It seems the tendons cannot keep up with that progression.

Although I'm not a beginner when it comes to strength training, I did have a 4 year period of rest before starting again. Of course from that point on, I made a lot of progression due to muscle memory.

Perhaps that has something to do with it as well.

Unfortunately the only remedy I could find for this was lay off for the heavy weights for a while and give the tendons the time to get strong enough for the current strength of the muscles.

I know I'm not going to do that, so I will have to be more careful with certain movements until my tendons have recovered.....

btw, yesterday I was back in the attic again, and the bastard was still wrapped up. Since I didn't feel too much pain in my arm at that time I couldn't resist to crush it once more.

At least it's now under 2 inches, even though I couldn't apply all my strength because of my arm.

So I don't have to worry I won't be able to bend it, I know I can, so after the weekend I'll probably give the 5.5" Red another go, last time I got stuck at 80 degrees, but I'm sure I can finish it if I'm fit again

Edited June 29, 2007 by White Scorpion

[nailzilla]

MAN I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL!!!!! Im on holiday so im finally getting to look at some posts. All I can say is KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON you'll get that little BASTARD

[wscorpion]

MAN I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL!!!!! Im on holiday so im finally getting to look at some posts. All I can say is KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON you'll get that little BASTARD

Thanks I will

I've already contacted John for banking info, I've probably found a way to transfer the money with 'only' 12 euros of transfer costs.

If that works, I will place a nice order of some things definitely worth bending (bastards, hexabastards, stainless, edgins and spikes).

[verdigriz]

Another thing to try is if you are hurting your bicep through bicep training, or you can specify what exercises you think make your arm sore, stop doing those exercises, or do them less often. I cant do upright rows for some reason they really hurt my front delts so they are out the window, and your biceps get a decent workout from benidng anyways so I cant see much mass or strength loss there.

[wscorpion]

Another thing to try is if you are hurting your bicep through bicep training, or you can specify what exercises you think make your arm sore, stop doing those exercises, or do them less often. I cant do upright rows for some reason they really hurt my front delts so they are out the window, and your biceps get a decent workout from benidng anyways so I cant see much mass or strength loss there.

I've been doing bicep curls as active recovery and warm up for bending the last couple of days, guess that really helps.

I can bend (unbraced that is) again without my tendons bothering me too much, but braced bending still has a negative effect on my tendons...

I've decided to lay off the braced bending for a while and focus on DU and reverse bending. Of course I'll stay bending DO as well, but I'd like to become a cert. BIEW soon so I still have some training to do