Race To The Red Nail

[Josh O'Dell]

Nice bro!! Keep it up, need any advice feel free to post it up right here;)

[Poor Yorick]

Thanks guys!

[Mike Sharkey]

Bend my first IM Red today in 1.25" doubles. Struggled a bit after 90 degrees, so the bend took about 4 minutes to complete. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiikE2vBIlk

Nice bend. Nothing like closing a Red down. You're light and strong.

Here's my advice. Lose the leathers. I don't know what your best IMP bend is, but its probably more useful to bend a little lighter steel rather than going with bigger wraps. The hand position is different with bigger wraps, and they give you a false sense of power on the kink. Some people advocate working down in wraps, but generally that works for bigger dudes. The lighter you are, the more hand toughness is going to come into play. I practiced in 2/3's of IMP's too.

Hold your hits longer. Like, a lot longer. Especially as you get farther through the bend or you will wind up getting stuck in a disadvantageous position. You have an aggressive style, which is fine, but its also more dangerous in terms of the pressure you are putting into your joints. You want to access the strong muscles in your upper back and channel it into the steel. That happens more as you push into the steel for a longer period. The bigger wraps don't really teach you how to access this power.

Even if you decide to use larger wraps on the kink, take them off at that point, and work the steel down with IMP's, even if it takes multiple sessions.

Exercises to get stronger. DB bench is better than a barbell, as it won't compromise your flexibility and pushing into steel is more similar with the arms acting independently. I found high rep sets of a lighter weight (even upwards of 30 reps) were more similar to creating force into a bar than heavier singles. Bent arm DB rows are super useful as well Heavy one handed rows are going to help your kink more than you would think. I found heavy one arm DL on a ring very useful for my sweep strength, as you learn to involve your core. Bending is all push, so training things pulls is going to relieve the tension you create, and also wind your body up like a rubber band.

Learn and practice the open hand sweep for when you don't get the steel far enough down to interlock your fingers. Watch David Wigren's videos, he's the master of this.

Good luck!

Edited February 11, 2014 by Mike Sharkey

[anwnate]

Well...I have a slightly different perspective on some of that. What Mike talks about with the lighter steel is great...if you have access to it. If you don't, I can't blame you for working down with wraps.

But...mainly 'd like to address the holding the hits longer. In generaly he's absolutely right and the first time I watched the video this morning, I thought the same.

However, when I watched it a second time I noticed that you were stopping your hits when you ran out of leverage (which is correct).

So what does that mean? You need to be doing more with the nail during the time you have the greatest leverage on it.

Basically you need to get stronger.

After that...what Mike pointed out is exactly correct and you will be able to hold those hits longer without compromising your positional advantage on the bar.

The exercise suggestions he mentioned are excellent...particularly the contraspecific work (I have first hand experience with this)

...and in addition to them, I'd look at strengthening your wrists. Sledgehammer levering will go a long way to this.

With stronger wrists...you'll be able to engage your back quite a bit more...which will help you hit more strongly and allow you to sustain those hits for a longer duration.

In addition to those exercises...simply bending itself will also get you much stronger and of course...dial in your technique.

So...keep the bends coming, but make sure you rest enough...as addictive as I know it is...we get stronger when recovering.

[Josh O'Dell]

Agree i starting using lever for my wrist and very heavy dumbell rows , When i started

I did not hold my hits long enough but that will increase with practice. My first red took

Maybe 20 or more hits to kill and at my red cert it took 5 very big hits.

[Poor Yorick]

Thanks for responce!

2Mike: I never tried DB bench presses, but dumbbell flies help me a lot to gain kink strength. Also I find broomstick stretches very useful to warm up shoulders before bending sessions and not to lose flexibility due to barbell benching. To train upper back I do weighted pullups/chinups and lat pulldowns, as I find those movements more technicaly close to downward lat drive in the DO bending.

2Nate: I've started to do sets of isos to develop some strength and to be able to hold the hits longer. I remember Gazza and Wigren recommended that, and I've recently found an article by world-famous sport scientist with useful tips on isometric training. According to the prof, doing isos 10 minutes a day (2/3 max, but holding the hits for 6-10 seconds) can increase specific strength by 5% per week over 10-week course, so I try to follow this protocol now.

My best bend in doubles up to now was a 490# 6" CRS bar bent 1/2" offcenter in 3 minutes or so. I hadn't bend in singles for a while, but I think I'm somewhere at G8 level. I usually have 2 bending sessions weekly, with couple of easy warmup bends and 3 progressive heavier ones.

Edited February 12, 2014 by Poor Yorick

[Mike Sharkey]

Thanks for responce!

2Mike: I never tried DB bench presses, but dumbbell flies help me a lot to gain kink strength. Also I find broomstick stretches very useful to warm up shoulders before bending sessions and not to lose flexibility due to barbell benching. To train upper back I do weighted pullups/chinups and lat pulldowns, as I find those movements more technicaly close to downward lat drive in the DO bending.

2Nate: I've started to do sets of isos to develop some strength and to be able to hold the hits longer. I remember Gazza and Wigren recommended that, and I've recently found an article by world-famous sport scientist with useful tips on isometric training. According to the prof, doing isos 10 minutes a day (2/3 max, but holding the hits for 6-10 seconds) can increase specific strength by 5% per week over 10-week course, so I try to follow this protocol now.

My best bend in doubles up to now was a 490# 6" CRS bar bent 1/2" offcenter in 3 minutes or so. I hadn't bend in singles for a while, but I think I'm somewhere at G8 level. I usually have 2 bending sessions weekly, with couple of easy warmup bends and 3 progressive heavier ones.

Nate mentioned something about not knowing your access to steel . its pretty critical to have a progression of steel. its hard to go from a 200# bench to a 300# without having the intervening weights and bending is infamous for this problem. as soon as EJ told me the progression, it was a straight road.

I would recommend using 0-1 drill rod. its consistent, it binds up, and it crushes harder than it kinks. M Bars & 19/64's bars are just weaker than the Red. You can get that in singles. I've heard the steel has been varying a bit, but if you have a few bars you'll be able to range it. I bent more 19/64 bars than anything. N bars are very good too. They go from just under to just over the red. If you can crush an N reliably, you can defeat any red. you can get them at: toolanddie.com

oh also, everyone is different, but generally I would recommend only bending things at 7". 6" is a totally different feel.

[Poor Yorick]

I wish there were Drill Rods here in Russia (yep, I'm a Russian ). I usually train on cheap local CRS. Actually, those are different spikes cut down to length needed. Most common are 19/64 (340#@7"), 5/16 (about 380#) and 11/32 (500 - 530, they vary a lot). I bend 19/64 in singles and 5/16 in doubles fairly easy, and once used 11/32 as a crushdown bar. I also have 1020, which feels pretty similar to IM Red, so I'll spent some time on these bars to train for the Red.

[Adam Moyers]

Just certified on the Red nail at Sean Dockery's garage. My fastest red yet. Somewhere around 10 seconds. I'll upload the video later. I want to thank Ben Edwards and Jedd Johnson for helping me with bending and grip over the last several years.

[Tom Scibelli]

Congrats Adam!

[Josh O'Dell]

Just certified on the Red nail at Sean Dockery's garage. My fastest red yet. Somewhere around 10 seconds. I'll upload the video later. I want to thank Ben Edwards and Jedd Johnson for helping me with bending and grip over the last several years.

congrats bro! 10sec is smokin!

[Chez]

Just certified on the Red nail at Sean Dockery's garage. My fastest red yet. Somewhere around 10 seconds. I'll upload the video later. I want to thank Ben Edwards and Jedd Johnson for helping me with bending and grip over the last several years.

I'm late, but big congrats Adam.

[Adam Moyers]

It's up on Ironminds website. The video is below.

http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2014/Mar/Adam_Moyers_Certifies_on_the_Red_Nail.html

[anwnate]

It's a shame when good beards go bad.

Congrats man!

[robertmiller67]

Great advice from the Shark!! He helped me with my cert & a very technical bender... take notes & good luck bud!

Btw nice work Adam! Fast & strong brother! !

[jchapman]

I'm back in.

Here is a log I started.

http://www.gripboard.com/index.php?showtopic=42255

[Tom Scibelli]

I'm back in.

Here is a log I started.

http://www.gripboard.com/index.php?showtopic=42255

Good to see you back at it!

[Josh O'Dell]

Im ready to see the red die again!

[robertmiller67]

Good luck guys & stick with it!

[jchapman]

My bending goals:

[Chez]

My bending goals:

Very nice. Keep pushing Joel. I really want to see you cert. Tunnel vision bud.

[Mike Sharkey]

My bending goals:

My advice: focus on the contraspecifics. This will keep you healthy and actually add strength to your work.

[Sean Cashman]

My bending goals:

Start doing your easy warm-up bends without bands. This way you can start practicing taking the bands off and feeling how the wraps start sliding/ reacting. Still do all your max attempts with bands so you can just focus on killing big steel. But this is an easy way to start to get comfortable with no bands, which half the battle is maintaining a tight wrap while taking the bands off. It takes practice. You'll get so comfortable with no bands that by the time you start killing Reds, bands won't be an issue.

[Mike Sharkey]

Start doing your easy warm-up bends without bands. This way you can start practicing taking the bands off and feeling how the wraps start sliding/ reacting. Still do all your max attempts with bands so you can just focus on killing big steel. But this is an easy way to start to get comfortable with no bands, which half the battle is maintaining a tight wrap while taking the bands off. It takes practice. You'll get so comfortable with no bands that by the time you start killing Reds, bands won't be an issue.

Sean when you gave me this advice it made all the difference!

[anwnate]

My bending goals:

Start doing your easy warm-up bends without bands. This way you can start practicing taking the bands off and feeling how the wraps start sliding/ reacting. Still do all your max attempts with bands so you can just focus on killing big steel. But this is an easy way to start to get comfortable with no bands, which half the battle is maintaining a tight wrap while taking the bands off. It takes practice. You'll get so comfortable with no bands that by the time you start killing Reds, bands won't be an issue.

Very good advice. Should be standard protocol.