Bending log

[Fist of Fury]

39 minutes ago, anwnate said:

It's an acquired taste.  If you transition slow enough, you barely notice it.

Without that transition time...it's remarkably unpleasant.   

Maybe, but I have a fair share of pain in my life (being chronically ill) so I don't want to add more.

Also not really into bending because of hand strength, only because of the fun and it also forces me to work on my upper body mobility and strength, which is a bonus.

[Fist of Fury]

Video of todays Red Nail bend. It was pre-kinked to 3 degrees in singles first, I had to abort that because I tore my skin on my left index finger.

 

[Fist of Fury]

Thursday 11/6/20

Went to the gym today instead. Felt low on energy. Which was expected since I haven't been able to eat properly for the last 4-5 days.

Did some bench press as warmup, I'm trying to bench with widest grip allowed to see if I can get a stronger chest like that, I feel it gioves me better training at least on the side of the pecs and on the shoulders. Which should be needed for bending. I have to buy some wrist wraps though. My very old injury on my right wrist doesn't like wide grip bench press.

Proceeded to DO Bending
Finished the 226k bar and it was surprisingly easy. So I tried ther 233k bar but I didn't have the energy to finish it. I got it to around 12 degrees, starting from 3 degrees. Then I gave up because I had to do other stuff.

Did some back stuff in machines. Three different exercises, three sets each.

Finished with some Fatgripz deadhangs. Much weaker than before, despite being 2 kg lighter.

[Fist of Fury]

Sunday 14/6/20

Some hand health stuff and some light gripper closes. Tried the #3 and couldn't move it past parallel. I don't think bending is the reason for that tho, it's the thick bar holds and deadhangs I've been doing lately.

Hardcore Bending
With suede pads touching in the middle
6 mm nail cut to 120 mm - did two of them.
IM Yellow Nail x 1, slightly off center.

With a single suede leather
6 mm nail x 1
Attempted another one but it hurt too much, so I snapped that one instead with vertical style.

Squats later, if the heat doesn't kill me first.

[Fist of Fury]

Monday 15/6/20

Reverse
Suede touching in middle
7x165 mm CRS - two of them, both to 55 deg
7x160 mm CRS - to 45 deg
7x160 mm CRS - to 54 deg
7x155 mm CRS - to 5 deg (tried to use leverage on this one and I think I placed the pads too far out)
7x155 mm CRS - to 45 deg
1/4x6" Grade 5 bolt 166k - to 37 deg

[Fist of Fury]

Tuesday 16/6/20

Gym day, felt tired. Did high rep wide grip bench and a bunch of back exercises, finished with SSB squats and a few sets with the #2.5. Did some light db curls as well.

Wednesday 17/6/20

DO Bending
Finished all bars I reversed and did 3 double bars (6 mm nails)

Thursday 18/6/20

DO Bending
Finished a Grade 5 and Grade 8 bolt with loose wraps.
3 double bars (6 mm nails)

8x178 mm EN3B 212k @ 6" in double suede wraps - done in 10 minutes, felt very slow.
IM Red Nail 7" in double suede wraps - easy, under one minute.
IM Red Nail 7" in IMP's - to 9 deg. Skin isn't ready for this.
8x178 mm EN3B 214.75k @ 6" in double suede wraps - Felt better, finished it in 3 min~
8x178 mm EN3B 222k @ 6" in double suede wraps - Felt OK, finished it in 3 min~
8x178 mm EN3B 233k @ 6" pre-kinked to 13 deg in double suede wraps - two hits, didn't move it, it's to hard for me right now
IM Red Nail 7", pre-kinked to 9 deg in double suede wraps - finished it without leaning forward (PR).

Will stick to double suede instead of using the cordura wraps. These make it a bit harder but that's all good, it doesn't bother my skin too much.
 

 

[Fist of Fury]

Friday 19/6/20

Did some DO bending today in double suede wraps.

209 kg
214.75 kg
218 kg

This was the last DO training session in a while. I will take a break now and let my skin heal. I can't bend in singles at all right now. Will rest until it has healed properly. I'm quite confident that I can take down the Red nail under cert conditions if my skin is fresh. Right now it feels like the wraps are made out of razor blades if I try. Way too painful. Even the double suede wraps starts to hurt. The 218 kg bar hurt a lot today.

Will focus on powerlifting and maybe some light bends that doesn't bother the skin, and of course, reverse bending.

[Fist of Fury]

Sunday 21/6/20

Did some wrist developer, 20 reps on 3-3 then a few sets of grippers. My really weak base strength with grippers seems to be in the mid 140's.

Monday 22/6/20

Gym workout, bench press and three different back exercises. SSB squats and some axle deadlifts. Finished with some tricep extensions and some dumbbell cleans.

The heat is killing me, always been vulnerable to heat for as long as I can remember but aging certainly doesn't help me. I don't think I will go to the gym and train if it's hot anymore. It's a waste of money and time. Better to train in my basement where it's cooler. Unfortunately I can't do wide bench press there since I only have a squat stand.

Tried some braced bending. Did one grade 8 bolt.

[Fist of Fury]

Friday 26/6/20

Did some DO bending today just out of curiosity. Got the bolts from Horrido and I wanted to try them. Did three of them after a Grade 8. Skin is only healed to around 80%. Need some more time to heal before I can bend more again. 8x178mm 209k bar was not possible, skin started to tear so I gave up on that one.

Also tried some reverse bending yesterday and unfortunately the jump from 155-150mm with 7 mm steel is too hard for me, feel like I'm going to destroy my thumb webbing completely. I guess more work with the wrist developer is the only way to go.

Did some proper wrist levering as well. Need to start doing more of it from now, been way too lazy lately.

 

[Slippery Pete]

Grattis till A2 cert! 8.8 härnäst

[Fist of Fury]

14 minutes ago, Slippery Pete said:

Grattis till A2 cert! 8.8 härnäst

Ja, någon gång i nästa liv typ

[Fist of Fury]

Sunday 28/6/20

Did some DO bending again, wanted to try to cut the bolts down to 6 inches. A4 bolt was done without problems in single leathers. Then I tried the A2 bolt in single leathers, then tried it in double leathers. Didn't affect the end result at all. It's too hard for me to crush down short stainless steel like this. Don't think I will bother with bending at that length. I will most likely move up to bigger steel instead. I'm more into bending because of the challenges it puts on the upper body, not on the hands.

I'm waiting for a bunch of steel I ordered from GBI. Up to 210 kg. I'm really happy the stainless steel bars are not shorter than 170 mm.

 

[Fist of Fury]

Tweaked my left hand/wrist at the gym today. Can still do most wrist exercises, so I'm going to focus on that until I'm fully recovered.

Did some bench and some back exercises, seated db press and some pull-ups with fatgripz. Finished with radial deviation with kettlebell. Did 4 sets to failure.

 

[Fist of Fury]

1-6/07/20

Done a bunch of gripper closes with right hand. Also did some with left and it made my injury worse. So probably need one more week of rest until it heals. Done wrist work as well.

Beyond the range with vulcan gripper, which I've filed down now. Closes with 146#-153#. Can't close the 156# anymore, haven't closed it since febuary before I quit training grippers.

Gym today, did bench press, could only warmup, felt some problem with my hand so I stopped. Dumbbell row up to 80 kg x3. COC#3, three sets of 1-2 reps. Some back exercises. Very tired and completely without energy. I really don't want to eat more than I do, so I guess this is how I'm going to feel.

New steel should arrive tomorrow. I will try to bend all of it, then probably stop bending, it hurts too much

[Fist of Fury]

Never been stronger at bending, however also never been more disappointed. I've decided to quit bending. It simply isn't for me. I feel it's more about enduring pain than actually training strength. Whoever said bending is 100% mental was 100% right. Felt strong today but it's always pain somewhere that ruins the workout for me. Not my thing.

I will buy a real bench press and I will focus on that instead. One lift that I've actually enjoyed a lot lately.

End of log.

[Fist of Fury]

Will summarize this, very short journey of bending for me.

Double Overhand
Managed to do what I wanted. Could bend the 233k bar with doubles. That's good enough for me. Don't want to abuse my body any further.

Double Underhand
Really weak technique for me, haven't trained it but managed the Blue Nail.

Reverse
Did not manage to get any stronger at it. Grade 5 bolt is doable on a good day. Not satisfied with that though. Won't bother with it anymore, don't feel it gives me anything, other than pain.

Bending require a tremendous amount of mental effort and to be honest, it's also too expensive for me. I'm extremely stiff and need a lot of warmup, doing sledge work and other stuff isn't quite enough for me. I really need to warmup with steel for the kink.
Risk to reward ratio sucks. It's simply not worth continuing for me. Especially at this level when the steel is starting to get hard.
I really want my right arm back. I know I will get it back in a few months.

The stock I got left will be up for sale. So check out the sales forum if you need some steel to bend.

 

[Fist of Fury]

Decided to try and make another "run" with bending. Been stronger at bending since I last updated this log but now I'm probably weaker than I was since I last updated in this particular log. Or maybe at the same level.

Last few weeks I've been able to DO bend HRS rebar at 8x165 mm. Easy to kink at that lenght but quite hard to crush. Can't crush them at 160 mm. Maybe I could on a good day but I definitely cant crush them any shorter than that. 

Also been able to bend harder rebar at 8x178 mm. Easier to crush but harder to kink. About equal to an easier red nail I would say.

Also done some braced snapping a few months ago, managed to snap a red nail in around six minutes.

Tried some reverse bending also, managed a 7.5 mm nail at 178 mm. Really struggling with consistency, can't even bend a 7 mm nail at 160 mm any time I want anymore, which is a disappointment for sure but I will keep working at it. Hopefully I can get back to at least the level I was at a year ago.

My goal is still to strictly bend a 1/4x6" Grade 8 bolt.

My DO goal is to completely bend any grade 8.8 bolt. I've bent one at 160 mm but not been able to crush it down completely.

For braced bendng I guess the goal will be a hard grade 8.8, maybe a 10.9 if everything goes well. I haven't even tried this style in over a year, until today when I snapped a 7.5x230 mm nail and made a "Christmas tree" out of it. Saw some people do this so I wanted to try it. Wasn't that hard but did it without a leg pad so it was at least a little bit of a challenge.

When I last trained this style I could at least bend a 8x127 mm bar which was rated 233 kg at 6". But I had better padding then. Now I only have really torn, thin suede leathers. I need to order more leather.

When I snap I only chest crush as well, so I had no training with leg crush for a long time.

I used to have great mobility a year ago but I've now lost it. I can't bend the rebar at any lenght longer than 225 mm. I think my best was at 270 mm.

Bought a bunch of spikes. So I now have 8.9 mm spike steel cut down to 180 mm. I will only train for that lenght. They feel very impossible for me right now, at least in the shitty padding I have now (less than a degree of movement). Will try to train a bit with rebars and see if I can make any progression. Might have to buy some steel to bridge the gap as well, hopefully I'll get there some day.

Will also try some horeshoes when I get more money to order some.

Tried some DU bending as well and it's really terrible. For some reason this technique has never danced with me. My best ever was 7 mm spike steel at 160 mm but now I can't even completely bend this steel at 200 mm. Then again I use really shitty padding...

[bruce1337]

Glad to see you back on the bending wagon! Excited to see your progress.

[Fist of Fury]

Just now, bruce1337 said:

Glad to see you back on the bending wagon! Excited to see your progress.

Thanks Siamak. I'm exited too, hopefully there will be some sort of progress  

[Fist of Fury]

Last training of this year. Tried some reverse bending, in pads touching.

WU with WD2: 5 reps with lvl 6 & 2 reps with lvl 9.

Spike steel

7x160 mm x 1 
7x155 mm x 1
7.5x175 mm to 35 deg

I think when I can get the 7.5 mm at 150 mm i should be fairly close to a grade 8 bend. At least an easier grade 8 if I can find one.

The 7 mm spikes are slightly harder than hard grade 5's at the same length.

[bruce1337]

From my experience with training for Steel Shredder 9, the 7.5mm nails feel close to the 6mm 12.9 bolts (183k) at the same length on the kink, but easier on the crush.

[Fist of Fury]

1 hour ago, bruce1337 said:

From my experience with training for Steel Shredder 9, the 7.5mm nails feel close to the 6mm 12.9 bolts (183k) at the same length on the kink, but easier on the crush.

Good to know. I had a few 12.9 bolts which was harder, about the same or harder than the grade 8's I've tried.

No more WOG orders for me anymore though since I have to pay tax for it, which I'm not going to do.

I found some 7 mm stainless hex steel on ebay today which I'd like to try.

[bruce1337]

2 hours ago, Fist of Fury said:

Good to know. I had a few 12.9 bolts which was harder, about the same or harder than the grade 8's I've tried.

No more WOG orders for me anymore though since I have to pay tax for it, which I'm not going to do.

I found some 7 mm stainless hex steel on ebay today which I'd like to try.

Yeah me neither. I feel like even the same rated bolts vary quite a bit and I would rather train with local steel which much cheaper.

Thats interesting, let me know how they feel i would guess with your strength a 7mm stainless hex shouldn't be too difficult. Maybe the crush will put up a fight. 

[Fist of Fury]

5 minutes ago, bruce1337 said:

Yeah me neither. I feel like even the same rated bolts vary quite a bit and I would rather train with local steel which much cheaper.

Thats interesting, let me know how they feel i would guess with your strength a 7mm stainless hex shouldn't be too difficult. Maybe the crush will put up a fight. 

I have no idea how they will be. But hopefully they can fill a gap. In my experience hex steel is much harder than round in the kink. So they might be as hard as the A2 bolt or even harder, I don't know. Those bolts are not actually 8 mm in size either. Should be interesting to try. They should be useful for reverse bending at least and if they are harder than expected they could be used for DO instead.

[Fist of Fury]

Double Overhand
7.5x200 mm spike steel x 1
8x225 mm rebar x 1
7.5x180 mm spike steel x 1
7.5x160 mm spike steel x 1
8x180 mm rebar (doubles) x 1 (very fast and easy)

Reverse 7 mm spike steel
160 mm - 22 deg
155 mm - 33 deg
150 mm - 40 deg
155 mm - 45 deg

WD2
Lvl 10 x 0
Lvl 9 x 0

I exceeded my work capacity for today, this is normally not that hard for me. I can do Lvl 11 normally. Not Lvl 12 though. So I'm about 1.8 levels below my best on the WD, normally. Today's attempts I was several levels below.

Reverse hurts a lot, once I've done a few hits and rested in between for like 20-30 minutes in total, I get warm and the pain is not as bad anymore. I really need to find a better way of warming up for reverse bending. I have never been quite able to figure that out unfortunately. I need at least 4-5 hard hits before I'm ready, problem is that my strength is not as good after I've done that. Doing light stuff like you normally do when your lifting weights doesn't seem to work unfortunately. The pain will still be there. Then there's a mental barrier. My brain just tells me to not hit again when it hurts this bad, can't do it no matter how much I want to. Natural response to pain I guess.

Might not be a better way. I should probably just increase my work capacity and rely on more warmup.

My work capacity is indeed pathetic compared how it used to be.

DO felt pretty good today though. Wanted to continue with it but those were the only bars I had access to right now. I'm going to try to up the volume next time. Hopefully I can get stronger at it.