featsofalex Posted May 10 Author Share Posted May 10 Double Update! Pull Day yesterday and volume bending today!!! Pull Day 4x8 bent over rows on the elite fts angled cambered bar (forget exact name!) at around 175 pounds. Superset Holle 45k Inch gorilla rows and mega thick rope cable low rows. That was it … or so I thought!!! My 3 GripSport Latino setting blocks arrived so I had to give them a try! Did a fun little 20mm/38mm/cc/38mm/20km Volume Bending Day! Today was the last session before Horrido 6.5” 10.9 rematch, and it felt good! Did 10 179mm bastards and one 170mm shiny in 66 hits, which means I was able to repeat the same 6 hit cadence 11 times in a row!!! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
featsofalex Posted May 15 Author Share Posted May 15 I fell behind a little, but for good reason!!! Friday was a little squat workout with a couple quasi 20rep sets of single kb squats. My heaviest set was with a 32kg, and I was cleaning the bell, doing 5 reps switching the areas a sides and 5 more and repeat to get to 20 reps with only nominal switching the weight break. I thought it would do the trick to test some fortitude without causing any fatigue for a Monday. Monday was the rematch with the Horrido 6.5” 10.9! And what a rematch it was!!! I came out victorious in a fierce battle and moved up to 5th place on the Horrido main cert list!!! Tuesday - push day 4x5feet up bench with 225 4x8 single FatBell press with 32kg Superset lateral raises (18lb) and rolling skull crushers 35 Assorted wrist work with mini sledge hammer. I also started the process of breaking in the SteelBend Russia cordura since I’m now turning my attention to Secha-2024, their contest that just started a few days ago and goes through late June. I’m super excited to be competing again and rematching against some of the top ACE guys right away!!! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
featsofalex Posted May 17 Author Share Posted May 17 Wednesday was a pull day with rows upon rows!!! Used elite fts multi grip cambered bar, Holle 45kg inches, York Prostyle 150s and 2” crusher Thursday was normal volume bending day and breaking in the sbr cordura for the Secha-2024 contest by SteelBend Russia, so double volume lol!!! Did a bunch of easy drill rod and then tested them out with Px7” which was happily no problem!!! Should be a fun 6 weeks of hard bending ahead After working on the wraps I did a normal volume day of 2 bastards, 4 shinys, and 4 Online Metals hex with leather over the sbr cordura to give them a little extra bend time! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
featsofalex Posted May 23 Author Share Posted May 23 (edited) Ahhhh too long between updates, but there was a big contest bend!!! Last Friday (squats & grip) - did some “20” rep squats with a kb in rack position where it was 10 on 1 side switch and 10 on the other. Worked up to a 70 pounder! Then into some grip and another tough blob session. Managed a janky Legacy 110 lift right handed but no real hope at Legacy 115 or Holle 24. Then onto some pinch and key pinch highlighted by a cool 50 pound key pinch of a badass padlock made even more fun because my 2 year old brought a phone book to tear just before the lift so of course we tore it then I did the lift and then she was there waiting for me with another phone book to tear haha so it was a key pinch bookended by daddy daughter phone book tears Monday (contest bending!) - this was my first session for the Steelbend Russia Cordura singles contest and it was a good one!!! It was only my second session with the SBR cordura, but they already felt good so I wasn’t really concerned about them being too new. The bar options I have are 180kg 8&9mm round, 190kg 9mm round, 210kg 8mm round, 220kg 8mm hex, 225kg 8.5mm round and I have 230 hex but I’ll have to check the specs if I get that far haha!!! Bends must be done in under a minute, but if you cut bar shorter you get a minute and a half. Other than scoring an official bend by the 24th to stay in the contest, the big issue was the jump from 190 to 210 since this is probably going to separate the top guys from the pack!!! Thus I was hoping to get to 190 so that I could really focus training on making thr jump the next session. So let’s get to it. After some light drill rods and a bastard (around 150kg) it was time to get to it! 180kg is about Px7” O-1 drill rod, a bend I can do in under 15 seconds in broken in benders battlefield Cordura. And boom great start, around 10 seconds maybe less. Onward to 190kg and another 10 second bend woooo!!! Given how well they felt and fast they bent, it was time to make the jump to 210 right now and put myself in a great position early in the contest (or at least have a sense of how hard the jump would be, 210 should be a around a horrido 8.8 which I’ve done in like 25 seconds in BB and 1:15 in imps, but also failed a dozen times at least lol). But alas there was no need to fret the jump, 22 seconds later I was a superstar, or at least in the leader group haha (215kg in 35ish seconds by Andrey Osipov was first place at this time and currently 220kg at 168mm, cut from 178, in 55 seconds by Alex Denisovsky is first place with me in third). Since I got to 210 in the first week I’ll prob skip doing a contest bend next Monday and instead use the week to strategize with Derek and prep for the harder bends to come. Tuesday (horseshoes and push day) - since I’m mostly focuses on Cordura bends during the contest, it’s the perfect time to take a run at some horseshoes as well since while the Cordura is hard on the hands it’s not the total body war that the huge double wrap bends are. So I’ll try and use this time to also move up the Kerckhaert list of Anton and also bend some shoes that Carl-August sent my way! I left off at an SX7-00 success and Meister D7 and SSP 3 both at 90ish degrees. So today’s lineup was a Diamond Classic 1, SX7-1, Sx7-00, and a SELLsport Profil 0 TC from Carl. In general the bends felt good. The kinks felt a tiny bit odd timing wise but pretty good still given the time away and I felt like I was able to use my torso more throughout the bends without having to muscle too much with my arms, the downside was I was having the hardest time fully finishing the shoes and only the SX7-1 was fully bent, but still a good starting point I think so I’m generally happy! Then some feet up bench for a 4x2 with 275 and single arm db benching with a 70 and some tricep work on cable machine. Wednesday (pull day) Lots and lots of rows and lat pull downs!!! Coolest set was Croc Row for 5 reps without reset with a 155 pound 2” knurled handle dumbbell (right handed haha, left could only do 4 reps with resets) And were caught up Edited May 23 by featsofalex 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
featsofalex Posted May 24 Author Share Posted May 24 Volume Bending Day (and for once an update on the actual day it took place) Warmed up with some light E/F/G/H x 7” drill rod in sbr cordura and then onto 4 red nails (1 in sbr cordura only and 3 with leather over them) followed by 4 shinys (1 in sbr cordura and 3 with leather over them) and finished with two 6” hex from McMaster in sbr cordura and leather doubles. Was a good session overall even though was the the cordura singles volume a little lower than I’d like due aime skin tears. I’m wearinf four hydrocolloid bandages right now, but I’m only really worried about one of them right now, here’s hoping it’ll be all healed up stat!!! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Knowlton Posted May 24 Share Posted May 24 KILLER BENDS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
featsofalex Posted May 25 Author Share Posted May 25 Squats and Grippers (only yesterday!) 4x5 goblets squats with 124 pound goblet (kettlebell) 3x30 on reverse hyper with around 4 plate/ side then onto grippers and time to play with some new Grip Show setting blocks!!! Had grand dreams of doing my ghp 7 with the 38mm 3D block but despite a couple close calls couldn’t quite pull it off; but did manage a convincing ghp 6 (128 rec) close with the block!!! Plus I’m super excited to have expanded my grip podcast setting block collection!!! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
featsofalex Posted May 31 Author Share Posted May 31 (edited) Moar consolidated updates!!! Tuesday was a double bending day since I didn’t workout on Monday, started with my heavy session of DOH. I was using this week to prepare for another round of contest bends for the SteelBendRussia contest next week. I was really trying to walk the line all week at training hard for the contest and nursing/babying my skin tears so the actual cordura singles volume wasn’t crazy but the total bending was a little crazy haha. I did 4 easy drill rod (like D-J range) and a bastard in the sbr cordura then switched to sbr compliant double wraps (10cm wide, under 40mm thick, no additional crush pads) for: P Q R x 7” 3/8x7” CRS, 3/8x7” HRS Two 5/16x6” crs hex Then later in the day onto horseshoes since it was my actual horseshoe day. I’ve been working on a more athletic horseshoe style and although the timings and force placement arent fully dialed in, it did start to feel better and I think will raise my overall shoe bending ceiling. Fully bent a Diamond Classic 2 & 1 and St Croix Lite 3 & 2 and then finished off 2/3 shoes I had left just short of 180 degrees the week before! Hopefully laying a strong foundation for big shoe bends to come!!! Wednesday was bench and other pushing. Did feet up bench 4x5 at 235 and 4x5 feet up single FatBell bench for 4x5 at 88 pounds. Supersetted the single arm bench with some wrist work and then finished off outside with some light kettlebell pressing. Thursday was volume bending day and had one hiccup in 16 bends so of course completely forgot about the other 15 bends and felt the sky was falling plan was to do four easy drill rods and FBBC bastard/shiny/hex in the sbr cordura then add leather for 3 more of each. All was clicking through the shiny then I botched the hexabastard kink and after two hits decided to remember it was volume day not contest day so just added the leather and finished it off and then the next 9 bends without issue. My recent batch of FBBC hex is tough, especially at the kink, but I still should’ve gotten it, I def need to get over any hex in cordura brain drama stat!!! But alas onward to the contest bends next week and hopefully I set myself up for success … especially since the bends will be hard af!!! The final field is set (needed a successful bend by last week to be officially in contest) and with my 210kg first entry I’m in 3rd out of 17. But Sergey Kuznetsov has only done a placeholder bend so far and will be up at the top as well after his next attempt. Should be a fierce June of bending with almost all the top guys in top form right now!!! Alex Denisovsky (first with cut 220kg) and Andrey Osipov (second with 215kg) have been destroying huge bends in every kind of wraps right now as has Sergey who’s only in pretend fifth for the moment. Jan had taken some time off and also has a busy travel schedule this month but he’s still in fourth (190kg) and a great contest bender and great cordura bender!!! And let’s not forget our great host Dmitriy Anisimov who’s in sixth with 180kg as well and always bringing the perfect technique to every bend! Of course I want to win, but no matter what happens, it’s such a joy to get to slug it out with the best of the best, stay tuned for more my friends!!! Edited May 31 by featsofalex 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sid_arnes Posted May 31 Share Posted May 31 These "consolidated" log updates are great. The SBR contest got real real fast! Is the SBR cordura the Cadillac of singles? ? 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
featsofalex Posted May 31 Author Share Posted May 31 26 minutes ago, sid_arnes said: These "consolidated" log updates are great. The SBR contest got real real fast! Is the SBR cordura the Cadillac of singles? ? Yes it definitely is in full swing already and with it ending June 25th there’ll probably be constant mega bends! SBR cordura is my favorite of the 7 corduras I’ve tried! It’s only been around a couple of years and can be hard to get, but if it isn’t already the Cadillac of singles it will be!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
featsofalex Posted June 8 Author Share Posted June 8 Ahhh over a week without update, but I have a good one!!! Last Friday was squats and grip, did most of the squat/good morning work with a 176 pound sandbag and did nominal grip work, just a few reps on the push pin, to keep my hands fresh for Mondays bending. Monday was the big day to see if I was going to be a player the rest of the way in the SteelBendRussia Secha 2024 cordura singles contest or just on the periphery of greatness (I was already in fourth place with a 210kg bend in 22 seconds so already doing pretty well). The next bend was to be 8mm x 178mm hex rated 220kg. Alex D had already done this bend at 168mm and Sergey K did it at 178mm in 40 seconds. Thankfully I hit all my spots and pulled off a great bend and got it done in 30 seconds, putting me in second place - where I still am now! It was a really special bend where I don’t even remember the bar bending I was just doing the hits as I’d planned and the bar followed along for the ride and to have done it in such a fiercely competitive competition setting makes it mean all the more!!! There’s still a little over two weeks left in the contest, and 2-3 more contest bending days for me, so the excitement has only begun!!! Tuesday was horseshoes and push day. Push was workmanlike feet up bench and accessories. For the horseshoes I was again having trouble finishing the shoes, but the session was saved by getting a bunch of movement on a Meister D7 that had been stuck at 90 degrees for eons. It was great to see progress on it! Wednesday was workmanlike rows for pull day and then I assembled my new Euro Pinch!!!! I’m super stoked to have a Euro setup now and look forward to getting some practice with it! I also tested it with all spacers and no added weight (still 85 pounds) a couple times since it was technically a pull Thursday was volume bending day. I limited the cordura bends to just 4 easy O-1 warmups and then did all the working volume in sbr compliant doubles. 4 bastards 4 shinys and 4 dukes and that was all she wrote!!! Friday (yesterday) was squats and grip. I did squats in the yard gym so it was just informal grabbing weights and squatting or good morning them. I did a few carry’s outside for grip and then came in and worked on the Euro Pinch! I had all the spacers in and kept the weight low just to get a feel for it - it’s its own kind of beast for sure!!! I’ll probably keep getting acclimated the next couple weeks then try and push the weight after the bending contest ends. I was also mixing in one hand flask with the two hand euro. It was a bit more grip intensive workout than I’ve been doing the first few weeks of the contest but my hands survived in good shape so hopefully I’ll still be primed for a big bend (or bends ) on Monday!!! I think it’s still too early to select bends based on the competition so I’ll go with my planned bend regardless of leaderboard changes over the weekend. Pretty much every bend now among the Top 4 will be freaking massive bends in cordura singles, but hopefully we all have massive successes and really push each other hard!!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Knowlton Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 Nice work, I like those York collars 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
featsofalex Posted June 8 Author Share Posted June 8 30 minutes ago, John Knowlton said: Nice work, I like those York collars Thanks! Yeah they’re awesome and beefy!!! I’ve only ever used them sporadically so im psyched that they now have a forever home as the inside Euro Pinch collars! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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