Race To The Red Nail

[Mike Sharkey]

keep at it. bending big steel is a trio of strength, technique, and hand conditioning. don't underestimate this aspect. working in doubles or big pads is fun in the beginning, but not that productive in the longer term if your goal is certing the red. especially considering your already considerable base strength. when I worked exclusively in IMP's, if I slapped on doubles once in a while, I would add 60# to my bend.

I would try out some easier stock, like maybe any graded bolts you have lying around in a single IMP (or maybe some easier 7" stock). once you can push through a grade 5 this way, your pain tolerance and understanding of the mechanics will increase quickly. IMP bending is extremely technical, especially on the kink. play around with how far you put the wraps in. some can do it around 1.5 or 1.75", but I found 2" exactly gives me the most leverage.

[Josh O'Dell]

keep at it. bending big steel is a trio of strength, technique, and hand conditioning. don't underestimate this aspect. working in doubles or big pads is fun in the beginning, but not that productive in the longer term if your goal is certing the red. especially considering your already considerable base strength. when I worked exclusively in IMP's, if I slapped on doubles once in a while, I would add 60# to my bend.

I would try out some easier stock, like maybe any graded bolts you have lying around in a single IMP (or maybe some easier 7" stock). once you can push through a grade 5 this way, your pain tolerance and understanding of the mechanics will increase quickly. IMP bending is extremely technical, especially on the kink. play around with how far you put the wraps in. some can do it around 1.5 or 1.75", but I found 2" exactly gives me the most leverage.

Thanks i have only bent that one bar with doubles

i will proble stick to one pair from here on out, i did bend a black 5in 1/4 grade 5 the other day in single imp. That was proble my toughest bend yet.

[Mike Sharkey]

Nice. I look forward to your progress. Go slow. The forearms and hands take a while to get used to it. Don't ignore the little stresses and niggles that occur. Better to take a day or 3 off. Further, the more contraspecific work you do, the more your body will allow you to bend.

[Josh O'Dell]

I hear that man, i am takin a break from bending and grippers for a few days

still do my regular lifting though. I noticed my palms are a bit bruised i like it

i have not got a good soreness in a while till i started bending.

[robertmiller67]

Well said Mike.. You helped me a lot on my RED Nail cert!

Josh- nicely done bro. Listen to 'the Shark'... he knows his stuff! Very technical bender!

[Josh O'Dell]

Thanks man, I will take any advice i can get on here. Is there any exercises that will

help with bending ?

[robertmiller67]

There's plenty. .. the main thing is wrist strength & shoulder/ upper back strength & flexibility for DO!

I do a lot of front- hammer leveraging for wrist.. helps the kink.

For the sweep & crush plenty of basic chest/ shoulder work such as DB pressing KB statics & heavy gripper chest crushes. Have you seen diesel crew's bending vids? Awesome resource & everything is covered.. I learned a lot from Jedd!

[Mike Sharkey]

there's a few things you should test out. i definitely had to develop my strength for the red.

in addition to the obvious pressing exercises ( - be careful with flat barbell benching, it will hamper your flexibility - just ask Chez) EJ told me dumbbell flys are very helpful, i found them so.

chest strength is really the key and there are a few other things I discovered. first, heavy one handed ring deadlifts helped my sweep strength immensely. also though it doesn't seem like it, they work the shoulders alot. if you can do 400#, that's a little like an 800# shurg. push ups with added weight are great, i did them with a 100# sand bag on my back. decline bench or floor press will help the crush. its the same direction of force.

really every chance I got i was doing pushups. yeah bodyweight pu's aren't a classic strength builder, but i found if i did long breathing sets i was better able to put energy and pressure into a bar during a bend.

however, I would recommend working the contraspecific movements even more. Adam Glass told me the key to bending greatness was to focus on the contraspecifics. i believed him and i stayed mostly injury free.

i.e. heavy dumbbell rows are the exact opposite movement in the kink, and there is a lot of narrow back pulling strength you can involve in the kink. my press isn't strong at all. but i can one arm row 180#'s, maybe more. cvl deadlifts, pull ups (with or without weight) kettlebell swings, etc. light kettlebell snatch was nice to work out the pressure that builds up in the elbow for the kink. all these movements will unwind the tension of bending. you have to discover the own angles of your body really.

if you focus on the contra movements you will stay healthy and kind of wind your body up like a rubber band.

lastly, get used to isos. there is no substitute for it in bending. especially if you are under 220#. it has to be used carefully. EJ really advised me to do nothing the week i was iso'ing a bar and to eat very well and rest. done right they are incredibly taxing on the body, but they will let you get bigger and bigger bars. i recommend studying David Wigren's videos. he's technically the best bender you will find. he has a good article on isometrics pinned on steelbender's technique section.

ps EJ advised me to tiger balm my forearms. i did it every day. tuff foot to condition the hands.

that's pretty much all i know.

good luck.

Edited September 21, 2013 by Mike Sharkey

[Mike Sharkey]

truly lastly, IMP's are your best friend. you will develop the best technique, condition your hands and really get the feel for the steel.

though there haven't been any recently, there are plenty of benders that hurt themselves so badly they can't bend anymore. Adam told me the same thing. less is more. when you get a bar in IMP's you know its yours and you know exactly where your strength is.

i look forward to seeing your name on the Red Nail Roster!!

Edited September 21, 2013 by Mike Sharkey

[Josh O'Dell]

This is all great advice! I actually already do alot of pushups and

dumbell presses so thats good.

[Buccos1]

there's a few things you should test out. i definitely had to develop my strength for the red.

in addition to the obvious pressing exercises ( - be careful with flat barbell benching, it will hamper your flexibility - just ask Chez) EJ told me dumbbell flys are very helpful, i found them so.

chest strength is really the key and there are a few other things I discovered. first, heavy one handed ring deadlifts helped my sweep strength immensely. also though it doesn't seem like it, they work the shoulders alot. if you can do 400#, that's a little like an 800# shurg. push ups with added weight are great, i did them with a 100# sand bag on my back. decline bench or floor press will help the crush. its the same direction of force.

really every chance I got i was doing pushups. yeah bodyweight pu's aren't a classic strength builder, but i found if i did long breathing sets i was better able to put energy and pressure into a bar during a bend.

however, I would recommend working the contraspecific movements even more. Adam Glass told me the key to bending greatness was to focus on the contraspecifics. i believed him and i stayed mostly injury free.

i.e. heavy dumbbell rows are the exact opposite movement in the kink, and there is a lot of narrow back pulling strength you can involve in the kink. my press isn't strong at all. but i can one arm row 180#'s, maybe more. cvl deadlifts, pull ups (with or without weight) kettlebell swings, etc. light kettlebell snatch was nice to work out the pressure that builds up in the elbow for the kink. all these movements will unwind the tension of bending. you have to discover the own angles of your body really.

if you focus on the contra movements you will stay healthy and kind of wind your body up like a rubber band.

lastly, get used to isos. there is no substitute for it in bending. especially if you are under 220#. it has to be used carefully. EJ really advised me to do nothing the week i was iso'ing a bar and to eat very well and rest. done right they are incredibly taxing on the body, but they will let you get bigger and bigger bars. i recommend studying David Wigren's videos. he's technically the best bender you will find. he has a good article on isometrics pinned on steelbender's technique section.

ps EJ advised me to tiger balm my forearms. i did it every day. tuff foot to condition the hands.

that's pretty much all i know.

good luck.

Mike - A lot of great advice in this post! EJ advised me the same thing a little back, with the Tuff Foot stuff and it works great if used correctly.

I never got into doing isos. I wanted it to work and the concept felt sound, but in the end, it did me more harm than good.

[acromegaman]

I was just stubborn and didn't and still don't put the bar down and I guess I was doing ISOs.

[Mike Sharkey]

Mike - A lot of great advice in this post! EJ advised me the same thing a little back, with the Tuff Foot stuff and it works great if used correctly.

I never got into doing isos. I wanted it to work and the concept felt sound, but in the end, it did me more harm than good.

I never actually got anything out of kink isos except soreness. Crush isos made a huge difference for me though. Probably a lot more useful than isoing the beginning of the bend. (also I don't have a 400# bench press )

[Stephen Ruby]

Regarding iso is this a bar you can get some movement-even if its just 1 or 5 degrees- or absolutely no movement at all? I have used bars over my max to get some movement on it and I felt that helped but I never tried a bar that I had no chance of moving at all. I know david wigren mentioned that he liked to attack a hard bar that he would only get a little movement on but do it again on another workout until the bar was finished.

Make sure to properly warm up your entire body before a big bend though. I have made the mistake of going hard on a bar after some light bends but my body wasn't really warm so I strained my shoulder before. It's kind of surprising how much your entire body is involved in a max effort bend. The lighter guys really use their body to their advantage. Bending is a fully body type activity and a very explosive movement so the chance of injury is possible if you mess up even a little.

Good post mike that should be apart of a sticky.

[Mike Sharkey]

Stephen, David has a really good article on isos on steelbenders. He discusses this at length, but basically you would just keep hitting a bar at close to 100% max for between 5 - 10 times. He worked on horseshoes for a year or more and got zero movement. If you keep doing it, eventually you will be able to move the bar.

And I agree about the sticky part haha. I stuck it in the training section of steelbenders. We talk about technique alot, but how to get stronger for bending when you aren't already a titan can be a bit of a mystery.

Edited September 22, 2013 by Mike Sharkey

[Josh O'Dell]

I got some tiger balm today and put it on my forearms and hands, it realy helps

soreness. Is there something else it does that helps with bending?

And can tuf foot be found in stores?

[Stephen Ruby]

I got some tiger balm today and put it on my forearms and hands, it realy helps

soreness. Is there something else it does that helps with bending?

And can tuf foot be found in stores?

You can get it on amazon

I never used it but I've heard good things about it. If you have like a golf ball or lacrosse ball lying around put it on a table to do some deep tissue work on your forearms and even thumb pad. That along with any other basic things you have found to help with hand soreness. You are making really fast progress though so you seem to be doing everything right, just keep it up.

[Josh O'Dell]

Thanks stephen! I bent a 7x5/16th grade 2 today but the video is short due to junk phone

i will make a more thorough video tomorrow.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=c4-feed-u&v=h8_KSJz60ts

[Tom Scibelli]

Nice job Josh, things are coming along good!

[Chez]

Thanks stephen! I bent a 7x5/16th grade 2 today but the video is short due to junk phone

i will make a more thorough video tomorrow.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=c4-feed-u&v=h8_KSJz60ts

Too easy. Great bend Josh. Have you tried a red nail. I'm curious if you could at least kink it in IMPs right now.

[Josh O'Dell]

I tried when i first got them with no movement i will give it a try and

post a vid, Thanks !

[Josh O'Dell]

I tried when i first got them with no movement i will give it a try and

post a vid, Thanks !

It may be a few days though i have a bad

shoulder and its been acting up a bit.

[Josh O'Dell]

Well i attempted the red in IM singles and just did not move it enough

to even tell on camera so i seen no use in posting a video.

However i will get it.

[acromegaman]

Keep after it! Hit it on every commercial break during your tv show.

[Josh O'Dell]

Ha i will only i dont have cable lol