EricMilfeld Posted October 4, 2003 Share Posted October 4, 2003 Shortly after a few tough bends, I've been noticing a pain in my left arm (my bracing arm). It runs from just above my elbow up nearly to my shoulder, and feels as if it's tendon, or possibly the humerus itself. It clears up after about a half day. Comments or suggestions? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen aish Posted October 4, 2003 Share Posted October 4, 2003 i have been bending for 2 weeks and made steel reinforcing rod equivalents of the ironmind white, green, yellow and blue nails. i was going to work up to them but training like i do, i set to them and horseshoed each one in 10 seconds or less. i have exactly the same pain, in exactly the same area. it runs from the inner elbow of the left arm, through the bicep and finishes slap bang in the middle of the deltoid. as i have only just started bending, but progressed very quickly i think its the fact that my wrists are very strong but the technique used to bend is something new to my body and therefore the resulting pain from going so heavy. i have ordered the ironmind bag of nails to see how my reinforcing rods compare to them and would recommend going slowly with some lighter nails/bars to build the rotational strength in the injured elbow/bicep. i am addicted to bending and when i ran out of nails i horseshoed a set of screwdrivers and will be trying to snap spanners next week hopefully. however, like yourself i do not want to risk injury and slow my progress. hopefully some more experienced benders will have more knowledge and may have experienced a similar condition on their journey. my advice-go slow and always warm up fully, maybe with a few light bends before the heavy stuff. hope this helps stephen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chips Posted October 4, 2003 Share Posted October 4, 2003 Eric, see a MD if it lasts for more than 2 days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McMillan Posted October 4, 2003 Share Posted October 4, 2003 Sounds nasty Eric, You could try a different bending style -this is quite a challenge when you get use to only one style. After reading Amaury's post that he trains all the common bending styles I gave it a try and have been doing so since BFGS. Hopefully you can solve this before it becomes serious -goodluck!!! Jon@han Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Horne Posted October 4, 2003 Share Posted October 4, 2003 It's quite similar to the armwrestling pain you get as a beginner. Advice. Rest it till it's better. Train on exercises that don't cause it a problem. Plenty of massage, to get rid of the scar tissue. Ice if you need. Painkill, and anti inflamatory drugs to calm the area down. Remember as your technique gets better, and your arm toughens up, this problem will occur less. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2strong Posted October 4, 2003 Share Posted October 4, 2003 It's quite similar to the armwrestling pain you get as a beginner. Amen to that ! I attended a arm wrestling contest about a week ago, and I can still feel the pain Eric described in both my arms. But it's starting to get better ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bender Posted October 4, 2003 Share Posted October 4, 2003 I've had that pain. I sort of feels like deltoid pain, but then shoots down into the elbow. This still happens on occasion when I try to bend with out a warm up. If I bent warm, it never happens. For me, I do a light push-up / pull-up work out with some shoulder presses until I break a sweat. Then, the pain doesn't come back. -Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen aish Posted October 4, 2003 Share Posted October 4, 2003 thanks for the ideas Bender, i never thought of using bodyweight stuff-just light bending as i was having a bending session. a full warm up is necessary as the areas are seldom used in other training routines. i dont think its a serious problem just a reaction to a new way of training. good luck with the bending log-let you know how i go with the "real" nails from ironmind next week train hard stephen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricMilfeld Posted October 4, 2003 Author Share Posted October 4, 2003 (edited) Thanks a lot for all the advice guys! I suspect my one or two bends with a timber tie isn't a sufficient warmup before trying the "big bend". I'm so gung ho on this bending that I often get in a hurry. Bad, bad, bad... Yep, the last time I felt this pain was the last time I armwrestled, which was in 1982 as a freshman in high school. I'll rest for a few more days, warm up like I should have in the first place, and see what happens Stephen, I'm looking forward to hearing how you fare with the IM nails. I think I'll soon be bending the blue. Edited October 4, 2003 by EricMilfeld Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen aish Posted October 4, 2003 Share Posted October 4, 2003 just read your other post Eric, im now wondering myself if there is much variation within ironmind nails like their grippers. it would be a shame to bend a blue and find it was only a tough yellow, or to get a yellow and it doesnt budge hopefully they will be here monday and after a full warmup i will see how good my steel rods compare. stephen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smitty Posted October 4, 2003 Share Posted October 4, 2003 Eric, I would like to give a few suggestions (and also repeat some suggestions from above). I am also addicted to bending and have the same pain you have. This is how I have removed/diminished the pain. I would like to precursor these statement with a special thank you to Bender, whose PM's and website are a continuous inspiration. Before a bending session: 1. Sledge hammer levering - 5 minutes a. pronation/supination (palm up/palm down) - grab a spot on the sledge where you can hold it in front of you. b. lever to shoulder and back out front - only take 1/2 the sledge, ie grab it half way down the handle 2. Wrist Curls/Reverse curls - 5 minutes - olympic bar or fat bar 3. Nerf football squeezes - 3 minutes 4. Soak your hands in the hottest water you can stand - 5 minutes 5. Bend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricMilfeld Posted October 4, 2003 Author Share Posted October 4, 2003 I appreciate ya Smitty. It is reassuring to know I'm not alone with this pain problem. I have a homemade lever bar I can use in place of the sledgehammer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bballdad Posted October 4, 2003 Share Posted October 4, 2003 I'm getting a sledge today!! 10 lb. Wow Eric you went wild with the bending. I really been going slow. Afraid of messing something up from reading benders pages on bending. And remembering Big Steve saying "bending can hurt you" ! Probably just need to back off a little maybe. Try to progress a little slower. Give everything ligaments, tendons time to strengthen. I'm older and beginning and nowhere near your guys strength. So I have no choice but to take it slow!! lol You did just start bending didn't you Eric? I liked Smitty's warmup routine!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricMilfeld Posted October 5, 2003 Author Share Posted October 5, 2003 You did just start bending didn't you Eric? I started only a few weeks ago, and have fallen quickly in love. Unfortunately, my personality type (some call it obsessive) won't allow me to intentionally slow down my progress, so I guess I must pay more attention to warming up properly. I sure hope this is the answer to my pain. The idea of calling off my budding relationship with my beautiful nails is most upsetting to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedd Johnson Posted October 5, 2003 Share Posted October 5, 2003 Another thing I would suggest is wrapping the sore area. If I understand the pain you decribe correctly, I had the exact same thing on the tricep side of my left arm. I wrapped my arm with an ace bandage for three weeks during every single workout and my arm feels much better now. At first, i could NOT do a pressing movement without pain. Now, it is like it never happened, and I don't even need the bandage anymore. Don't think you're a wuss becuase you use a wrap or warm-up the right way. I am sure you want to be doing this stuff for years to come, not just up until your final injury tragedy. -Jedd- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen aish Posted October 6, 2003 Share Posted October 6, 2003 got my bag of nails today i wrecked the white and green but the yellow only went to about 35/40 degrees. i was so shocked i decided to stack up a loading pin and calibrate the stock. to my surprise the yellow bent as follows: kinked 3 degrees at 216lb kinked 5 degrees at 226lb kinked 6 degrees at 235lb kinked 10 degrees at 244lb finally bent past 20 degrees at 250lb !!! so i have some mean beasts for yellow nails that are actually more like blue nails going by ironmind's ratings. now i just got to horseshoe one so i dont feel bad. i dont want to test the blue in case it is a red . my verdict-if in doubt, calibrate your own nails to see what you are bending! stephen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bender Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 I just remembered something else I did when i started bending to help with the wrist pain. I wore the longer baseball wrist bands. The long black terry-cloth bands. There were also a few times I would wear ace-wrist straps with the wrist bands over the top of them. Then with the pair, or just one, I'd do my wrist warm ups to really keep my wrist warm. This helped a lot with wrist pain, but I stopped as I felt i was getting dependant on them. There was a time I was bending for some friends and stopped to put the wrist bands on... lame... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSW Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 got my bag of nails today i wrecked the white and green but the yellow only went to about 35/40 degrees. i was so shocked i decided to stack up a loading pin and calibrate the stock. to my surprise the yellow bent as follows: kinked 3 degrees at 216lb kinked 5 degrees at 226lb kinked 6 degrees at 235lb kinked 10 degrees at 244lb finally bent past 20 degrees at 250lb !!! so i have some mean beasts for yellow nails that are actually more like blue nails going by ironmind's ratings. now i just got to horseshoe one so i dont feel bad. i dont want to test the blue in case it is a red . my verdict-if in doubt, calibrate your own nails to see what you are bending! stephen Stephen, your reasoning is only valid if YOU have measured other IM nails, and found variance. i think they are consistent. If you want calibrated nails, contact David Horne. BTW, a partial bend of the Yellow is a very good first effort. Great job. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen aish Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 (edited) i think my partial bend of the yellow put me off of trying the blue and it was only today that i got one out of the bag and decided to give it a shot. to my complete surprise i put a 30 degree bend in it unbraced-and it wasnt in the middle but about 2/3 from one end. the reason i stated about measuring the nail strength is based on an old thread about HRS and CRS variations of the ironmind nails. also to find out why i could not fully bend my yellow-as it was rated 40lb more than stated-just like getting a tough no.2 and wondering why you cannot close it i guess. i am not stating there is variation in the nails, just that my yellow was a 250 rather than a 210, i like to know what i am bending to keep track and make my progress easier. thanks for your comments RSW-much appreciated! talking of Coc 2 - i am now at 1/2 mm so it should go this week stephen Edited October 13, 2003 by stephen aish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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