Recovery

[Jaz]

When i got my bag of nails i could bend white and green nails. A week or so ago i tried my hand at the yellow i ended up bending 4 that day, around 20s a piece. Then a day later i did one more, attempted a blue, and got a nice good kink in it. around 10m later i fully bent a blue, then 2 others the same day. I did some odd attempts at the blue after that (show freinds) but could only kink it. Last week i did bend a blue again, but it was a toughy. I tried again yesterday and today and i just cant get much impact on them at all, i did a yellow but it was very hard. I think that the week with the blue and yellow i just completely overtrained, anyone else ever had an experience like this. I do have soreness in my wrists (it was gone until i tried to bend again) probably just some tendon issues (not a huge deal). ANyone else ever had something like this? Am i just pushing too hard, too soon after? Do i need to let myself recover more?

[foxyj75]

What form are you using? Double overhand, Double underhand, or reverse? I have found that DU and Reverse take longer to recover from than DO. My advice? Take a week off. Stretch every day. Take some ibuprofen. Grab some rubber bands and do some extensor work with those(using the band to provide resistance to you extending your fingers). Watch those blues melt after your week off.

[timiacobucci]

Ya especially when you are starting take some time off to rest when it hurts or feels overly hard to bend. Your work and recovery capacity for bending will increase eventually if you stay with it but I usually needed like a week or more after every bending session to come back strong when I first started.

Also I have found vitamin c helps speed tendon recovery allot.

http://www.gripboard.com/index.php?showtop...&hl=vitamin

[neilkaz]

I think I'd take a full week off from bending if I were you. When you start back up, make sure to do a warm up by bending a white and at least 1 green. These are trivial if your doing Yellows/Blues, but will warm you up somewhat.

Once you have more bending experience. you should be able to recover faster, IMHO .. neilkaz ..

[gazza]

Start getting yourself a good recovery system from the get go things that work 4 you and follow it like a ritual.

Bending hits the tendons very hard as your finding out get yourself a cheap TENS and EMS machines and use them after every bending session you wont regret it.

Heres a recovery system i used to use when i was bending it worked 4 me :-

About 1 hour before bed adjust if you work nights like i sometimes do so you are still doing it before bed but obviously at daytime.

TENS machine on low trickle will depend on the model and its settings for 5 mins on each forarm just below the elbow each arm then 5 mins each arm just above wrist same setting then 5 mins each hand below the wrist same setting.

During this i also have an ipod with a variety of music from punk rock to classical and chillout stuff etc make a nice playlist of chillout stuff or just put the same song on repeat and sit in a nice comefy chair whilst doing this or lie on the bed no tv no distractions you are useing the ipod whilst the TENS machine is doing its thing just relax and think of how much stronger your getting.

After you have done the TENS routine put the EMS machine patches on your arms it depends on model and settings i have a decent model with quite a few pads i just put these on each arm from elbow to hand now just sit or lie back and adjust the frequency so that it doesnt lock the muscles but is not to easy you have to experiment here with your model and settings i have a music track that lasts 10mins so i use that sometimes i sit sometimes i lie down and just think of piece and how much stronger i am becomeing.

I then take the TENS machine again and now my muscles/tendons/joints are warmed up and used to the vibrations etc i put the TENS on a faster pulse and just do 5mins on each position i did before with the ipod on again sitting or lying down.

I find it better if the room is also dark for me i invested in a blindfold thing as my room especially in the day if ive worked nights is hard to keep the light out.

When i was bending i did this after every bending session before bed and i also had another one similar with a self hynosis tape i put together to a very low chillout soundtrack of heartbeats,whale music and water i also used this one with a mirror and candles again it worked for me.

The above routine for me was as important as the bending itself as im a highly stressfull person and bending released loads of adrenaline which sometimes stressed me out even more and made my blood pressure rise etc so i think this helped me alot.

You will have to give it a few shots before you dismiss it as it does feel weird but to some benging steel is weird.

[MalachiMcMullen]

but to some benging steel is weird.

What wierdos They don't know what they're missing!

Something I HIGHLY recommend is contrast baths. Fill up a bucket, sink, bathtub, etc, with ice water and just set your arms up past your elbows into the water. Soak for about 1 minute(it usually becomes uncomfortable for me around 30 seconds but I'm a baby) then run them under steaming hot water for a second or so. Make sure you move your hands around in the ice water too. Open and close your hand move your elbow from side to side, etc. I can promise you any pain you have in your forearm will either be gone or greatly reduced for an hour at the very least.

[Jaz]

Alright, thanks for the advice, ive heard of the contrast baths and stuff, sounds good. I do extensors with rubber bands alot lol, i didint know that they could heal though (although they are in the healthy hands ironmind kit or whatever). Ill definately try the vitamin c, i currently take glucosamine and massage the area as much as i can.

Thanks!

Oh and i bend double underhand. I have good back levering strength, but the front has never been that great (i cant do a front lever with an 8lber, not sure if this is tough or not) ive done 13lb back lever, but could probly hit 15 on a good day. (hence the DU)

Edited February 20, 2008 by Jaz

[Jaz]

Thanks for the help, ive upped my glucosamine, and started taking vitamin c again. I also have been doing the contrast baths once and a while. Using the bands (hand expansion) and regularely massaging the wrists. As of a couple minutes ago i bend 3 white nails as a warm up, 2 of them very off center. Then a yellow. A couple minutes later i bent a blue, then i just did another blue a few minutes after that. I could probly get another blue, but i want to keep the wrists safe. After this i did the contrast baths again, imo the closeness of the baths in relation to how long ago you bent is a big deal, like how its important to ice an injury RIGHT after it happens.

Thanks for the help!