Nails and Ales for ALS 3: Shoes and Brews

[Donc101]

I met Scott Smith over 20 years ago when we wrestled together at Truman State University in Missouri. We wrestled for the legendary Coach David Schutter. There was a lot of sweat, blood, hard training, competition, travel, smiles, laughs and good times had on the wrestling team. We rambled all over the country and became brothers. Scott was a strong, fast and talented athlete.

Fast-forward to the fall of 2020. Scott had become a successful personal trainer and gym owner. He was married to Jamie. They had one daughter and had just found out they had a second child on the way. Then, they were blindsided with news that hit them like a ton of bricks. Scott was diagnosed with ALS.  ALS affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control. ALS is a devastating disease that is undefeated against its victims and leads to an early death. 

In typical Scott fashion, he decided he was not going to just roll over for the undefeated monster. He was going to fight it head on. Scott is a wonderful writer and  documented his courageous and painful journey in a gut-wrenching blog. Scott also started the Flex on ALS movement to combat this disease.  Unfortunately, this terrible disease took Scott’s life and left his wife and daughters without their husband and dad.

Scott’s fight against ALS put a hole in my heart and hit me emotionally to the core. I learned that 15 Americans are diagnosed with this disease each and every day.  I also learned that the disease needs more resources to come up with treatments and a cure.  I wanted to do my part to help fight this disease. I decided I would train to break the record for the most construction nails bent, 725 nails, and use that feat of strength as a platform to raise money for ALS research.

Scott put me in touch with Ales for ALS, a charity that raises funds to support ALS research. Nails and Ales for ALS was born!  At our first event in 2021, I broke the record by bending 831 nails! More importantly, we raised a bunch of money to help find a cure!!

We did another record breaker attempt to raise money to beat ALS in 2022, Nails and Ales for ALS 2. On July 30, 2022, I set a world record by bending 375 3/8” spikes and we raised more money to fight ALS.

Now, on July 22, 2023, we are doing another record breaker attempt, Nails and Ales for ALS 3.  We have joined with Brown Iron Brewhouse in Royal Oak. I will be attempting to set a World Record for bending the most horseshoes ever.  The event will start at 11am. It will be at the Brown Iron Brewhouse:  30955 Woodward Ave., Suite 510, Royal Oak, MI.

This is our event page:

https://fundraise.als.net/nailsandales

This strongman is just trying to help all the people who are fighting ALS each and every day. They are the real strongmen and women.  They do significant feats of strength, endurance and pain tolerance every day of their lives when they fight the misery of this brutal disease. Stand by me. Let’s join together and help come up with a cure. The time is now!

          Don Cummings

          #FlexOnALS

[Donc101]

I bent 40 horseshoes yesterday as part of my training for this feat. Fun times!

[Donc101]

New scroll sculpture series to be given to donors over the next 2 weeks.

[Donc101]

Event was yesterday. Bent 176 horseshoes. Raised a bunch of money for ALS research. Good day. I will do a more detailed write up when I get a chance. Video of the bending:

 

[Blacksmith513]

So amazing.  @Donc101You are a true warrior and true friend.

[Donc101]

2 hours ago, Blacksmith513 said:

So amazing.  @Donc101You are a true warrior and true friend.

Thanks so much. Was a really good day!

[Blacksmith513]

19 minutes ago, Donc101 said:

Thanks so much. Was a really good day!

There are not to many people who can use bending 176 horse shoes and good day in the same sentence.

[Donc101]

Nails and Ales for ALS 3: Shoes and Brews was a great success. We raised a bunch of money for ALS research to help beat that terrible disease that killed my friend Scott Smith last year.

We did the first 2 events at Founders Brewery in Detroit. However, Founders closed their Detroit location this past year.  We found a new venue at Brown Iron Brewhouse in Royal Oak, MI. Was a really good venue for this.  The turnout was great for the event.  I had Michael Rogowski, Chris Stilwell and Shawn McKay helping with the wrapping, measuring, etc. They were vital for my success.

The most horseshoes I bent in training was 40 in a single session. Horseshoes are expensive so I relied heavily on long isometrics on heavy shoes and snapping shoes for my training.

I had 5 unopened boxes of St. Croix Ultralight #2 shoes to bring to the event. Each box has 20 pairs. Thus, 200 shoes to use. I was motoring along at a good clip until somewhere in the 25/ 30 range. I injured my pec, in the area where it connects at the shoulder. I could not tell at the time what was injured, if it was my bicep, shoulder or pec. Later, I figured out it was the pec.  I was very concerned once it was injured, bending was painful and difficult. I knew I would get to 40 but had doubts on if I could go further than that. I started experimenting with how I bent the shoes and figured out I could pin my left arm against my side and immobilize it and use my right arm to do all of the pushing.  That really limited the pressure on my pec and allowed me to keep bending.

The final tally was 176.  I was beat. My strength had really left me. I was feeling a little loopy and slightly nauseous. My hands were torn to shreds. I have a big bruise and welt of damaged tissue on the outside of my thigh and tissue damage and abrasions on the top of my thigh too.  Crazy soreness after in my whole body, especially in my core, triceps, arms, forearms, chest and shoulders.

Here are some stats from the event:

• 36 horseshoes in 20 minutes
• 50 horseshoes in 33 minutes and 28 seconds
• 60 horseshoes in 40 minutes
• 88 horseshoes in 1 hour
• 100 horseshoes in 1 hour 8 minutes and 48 seconds
• 116 horseshoes in 1 hour and 20 minutes
• 135 horseshoes in 1 hour and 40 minutes
• 150 horseshoes in 1 hour 53 minutes and 52 seconds
• 156 horseshoes in 2 hours
• 172 horseshoes in 2 hours and 20 minutes
• 176 horseshoes in 2 hours 29 minutes and 57 seconds

Great day!

#FlexOnALS

[Donc101]

Here are the hand damage pics:

[Donc101]

Other pics of the day:

[Blacksmith513]

Great pics. 

 

I don't know if this weird to ask but how you sleep after doing these things? Id have to imagine its like a rock.

[Donc101]

14 hours ago, Blacksmith513 said:

Great pics. 

 

I don't know if this weird to ask but how you sleep after doing these things? Id have to imagine its like a rock.

Like a rock for sure!

[Donc101]

This is the poster for the podcast episode I just did that Mike @miked4c drew. The episode dropped, just coincidentally, on the one year anniversary of my friend Scott @scottfightsals dying from ALS. We talk about Scott, ALS and our Nails and Ales For ALS fundraisers in the show. The drawing is cool because I am wearing the shirt from Scott’s business with his #FlexOnALS on it. I wore this shirt while setting the horseshoe world record. Also, the horseshoe trophy in the drawing was given to me by ALS TDI @alstdi as a thank you gift for doing the fundraisers. They are the research group we raise money for to beat ALS. The quote is very cool too. 

"The true man is revealed in difficult times. So when trouble comes, think of yourself as a wrestler whom God, like a trainer, has paired with a tough young buck. For what purpose? To turn you into Olympic-class material." — Epictetus

 

 

[Blacksmith513]

Looking forward to listening to these.. Great quote