Bending

[bender]

Here’s my thing with holding the bar: I bend slim-style about 4-days a week, but for my PR day, I bend in a traditional style. I’ve observed Tom Blacks style too, but it’s just frustrating to emulate. My advice is to find a traditional form that fits YOUR hands, something that feels good to YOU.

What I found worked for me, and gave me at least 50lbs more bending power, was to start holding the bar slim-style, but then to rotate my right hand 180 degrees around the bar, so that I had the same grip, but only my right hand was palm-towards my body. With this style, I found I can really use my chest and back, and a lot or wrist strain is lessened. Now, I focus on bending the bar across my left thumb by holding the left hand hard and steady, while bending the right hand down. Then when the bend starts, I start to bend the left hand down too.

Three Points on Training that worked for me:

1). Play with a sledge! Work the same angles you would in “Slim” or “Traditional” bending. Keep a journal, and record your inch-pounds for the different levering motions.

2). Train the vice-like-grip with any type of thin v-bar or rope lifting.

3). Bend Easy, Bend Often. I found that “high-rep” bending forced me to learn the correct technique and it toughens the hands greatly.

I’d compare bending to O-lifting. To excel in the lifts, you can’t just practice the lifts, you have to master the first pull, the second pull, the shrug, the clean, the squat, the Jerk, and over-head squat. If you look at bending, think of how you can break down the bend in to every different part you can train.

I hope I’m not straying too off topic, I don’t mean to insult your intelligence, I just wanted to share everything I’ve learned so far.

As for Braceing? Brace away. It toughens the hands and strengthens the fingers, as it allows you to surpass other weaknesses. Just don’t get dependant on it. Especially with slim style, that first little bend is really hard, and I will some times brace bigger nails to start them.

60D 6” Spiral Nails. 30lbs for 28$. Bend 15lbs of those guys, and your form will be perfect. I would start with these, and bend them as much as you can. 5/16” steel is something I save for PR days. It all depends on how you like to train.

I hope that helps.

-Eric

[bender]

I've been chatting with the big benders on this page, and I've found something all of us have in common: We all believe that bending is all mental.

The beginning bender assumes a nail is:

85% physical, 10% technique, 5% mental

The more you bend you will soon know it's:

33% physical, 33% technique, 33% mental

From your posts you appear to have some serious wrist strength and total body strength. This combined with you only bending the Green tells me you are still looking at the nail like the beginner, as you should.

Physical: You need total body strength, hand strength and strong wrists. Too easy.

Technique: When bending, a slight misalignment of the wrist or elbow can drain all your power, making the steel feel unbendable. Through practice you will feel "the groove" where your upper body is being applied 100% to the nail, with no wasted energy.

Mental: This is what I've been talking about with Strongman etal. When you pick up a piece of steel, you need to be able to feel it bend in your head. It should feel soft and conquerable. You should even be able to look at it, and "feel" it bend, and know where it will bend, before you even apply pressure.

The second half of the mental aspect is concentration. When I bend, I can feel the complete circle of muscle and bone starting at the nail, to the hand, wrist, arm, shoulder, and back stabilizers. Then, when the "circle" is complete, I imagine the one weakest point being the middle of the nail and focus 100% of my strength into that little section of steel.

There it is, the trick to bending: confidence and concentration.

Now, when you confidently pick up a nail, your strength, through technique, will be applied with a 100% mental attack at the bending point, and NO nail will be able to stand against you. Right now, I KNOW you can bend the Yellow with a sub-max effort. The problem is you don't know it yet.

Hope that helps, and good luck with your bending. In my life I've been an O-lifter, a power lifter, a men’s health style lifter, I've tried cutting, bulking, distance running and cycling for a triathalon, and nothing, NOTHING has come close to the nature of bending nails.

-Eric

[bender]

What I've noticed about the difficulty of the RED Nail vs. it’s bending “weight” is the flexibility of metal. Let me try and explain my observations…

1/4" HRS and less, all flex when you start to bend it. Aluminum REALY flexes, even 3/8" round-rod. (ARR)

On the other hand, CRS and 5/16" HRS do not flex at all.

My point, is that a flexible metal is much easier to bend, and here is what I observe to be true:

The hands-down hardest part of a bend, is starting it. Just getting that first 10-degrees of a bend, for me, means I can bend the rest of the nail. (Yes, some steel is at it's hardest after that little bend, but for the most part, I find I can bend anything once it's started)

When you bend a straight, non-flexing nail, that initial bend is all Torque. It is all wrist, all rotational force, all lower-arm strength.

When you bend a flexible metal, or non-flexible metal with a bend in it, you can start using your upper body, much like crushing the last few inches on a bent 3-foot rod. The second you can start using upper-body strength, the bend gets much easier.

What happens with a flexible metal, is when you initially start the bend with pure rotational-force, the bar does not bend, but instead flexes. And, as I've said, the second it flexes, you can start using upper-body strength, and thus the bar bends quite easily.

The difference I see between a 360lb flexible bar, and a 300lb non-flexible bar, is both may require the exact same "initial torque" to get the same effect before the upper body can do the rest.

This is what I've observed to be true, let me know if I'm not too far out there. It makes sense to me.

------------

Now the problem with the RED, is that it has NO flex. Thick, AND cold-rolled! Starting the Red is ALL wrist strength. As for me, I've attempted the RED twice now, and have noticed no bend or even a slight wobble when rolling it after the bend. Not yet.

I guess there is another example to prove my theory. Using a "calibrated sledge-hammer", I've been keeping track of my sledge-levering feats, and have noticed that my inch-pounds of torque for the sledges are quite less than my bending torques.

Example: Say I have about 200 in-lbs of raw torque in my wrists. Not body mechanics-tendon-ligament-lock-off ability (much higher torque) but raw muscle strength. This should mean that I should stop at 200lb nails. But, I can observe myself bending 350lb nails. What I assume, is that those 200 in-lbs from my wrists starts the bend, and my upper body makes up for the other 150lbs. But, with a 300lb CRS bar, I can start with my 200 in-lbs of rotational wrist strength, but the bar does not flex, preventing me from ever using my upper body strength.

Yea, I hope I didn't kill that topic, but it seems to be right, to me. I hope that could shed some light on the world of bending.

-Eric

[Guest Ray]

Bender,

What's your best bend to date?

[bender]

I'm not too sure... I've bent two GREEN nails at once, the BLUE with 3/4" cut off, a 7" by 3/8" threaded carriage bolt, and six hard 60D nails in 1 minute 15 seconds. Right now, I'm focusing on 5/16" HRS, which I would say is much harder and different than any 60D or thinner HRS. I would say the 3/8" threaded carriage bolt was the hardest.

[bender]

For my bending technique, check out:

http://www.geocities.com/ltgodfrey/bend.html

I've taught a number of people this style with great success. I tought my best friend this technique, and he bent the BLUE nail. The best part is, he doesn't lift weights and is not a muscular person.

[Sybersnott]

Question: When you bend nails, do you bend using just your bare hands, or do you use like a cloth or something wrapped around the nail? I witnessed Tom Black do some nail bending at the AOBS, but he used a small cloth to perform his bends. Would you recommend using a cloth for beginners if they are to do nail bending?

[bender]

I would recomend a wash-cloth. I use one for every bend. I would highyl recommend padding your hands. Not padding can lead to some horrible injuries. On the other hand, bending with out padding can extremely toughen your hands, and looks cool.

[Sybersnott]

bender,

What type of "padding" do you suggest? (please bear with me, since I am a newbie when it comes to steelbending - the question is a legit one, thanks).

[Gripper42004]

I use an ace bandage cut in half,I've been usen the same two hand pads since about 95.They have a lot of holes in them but still work.I use to go bare handed to get the nail ends to just about touch but I stop'd doing it ,I didnt like the holes in my palms.

[Big Steve]

I just use a towel or pieces of towels.

[bender]

Army-Issue Brown Wash Cloth with a 2" strip cut off one end to eliminate some of the bulk.

[Gripintime2]

What has worked good for me is a thinner style towel that you'd use for drying dishes. I fold it in half then 'reverse twist' from the center out and then fold the overhang into the palm of my hand and that acts somewhat like a layer of padding for the palms. You still get the markings and reddness in the palm, but no serious brusing and it does toughen up the hands. I'm just getting back into the bending. As Bender states, repetition does help with form. I made some good progress and went to thick materials at short lengths probably too quick and have had to wait for the past two to three months for the soreness on the outside of my left hand to subside before getting back into it. Hopefully it's like riding a bike!

[terryduty]

John, I like the Kevlar cloths that Ironmind provides in their Bag-of-Nails. BTW, these cloths ARE available separately, but you can't use their web store to order them - call Ironmind to place your order. The total cost is even under $10 US.

With Kevlar, I never worry about a nail or sharp steel barb impaling my hand when I bend - so, I can go all out!

Train smart!

[SqeezeMasterFlash]

I found some washcloths at Wal-Mart that are just the right thickness to protect but not so thick they get in the way. Super Value utility cloths. 9 for $2.50.