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Started Bending


Bob Lipinski

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Lots of fun. Bought some bolt cutters and steel from Home Depot.

Just a question- Is the steel there hot rolled or cold rolled, or does it vary? The gentleman working there said cold rolled, but it was the "Round Rod Plain" stuff that I saw other people here refer to as HRS. Just wondering how I am compared to others.

Like a true grip nerd, I saved my first few bends and looped them through some powerlifting medals I had on the wall.

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I've had HRS and CRS and the round rod from Home Depot is definitely closer to HRS.

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all the rods have a color on the ends i figured the

blue - crs

red - hrs

green - plated or stainless

yellow - ? didn't ever pay any attention to

not a 100% sure

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Thanks guys.

Mine have blue on the ends, who knows.

So far, I bent a 7 long 1/4 piece, and put a decent kink in a 6.5. I will likely eventually get the bag of nails- I just wanted to start cheap to see if I liked it. Probably gonna give it a go once a week or so for now, depending how beat up my hands feel. Right now my left thumb is sore as heck from the bending.

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The Crown Bolt Co. color codes their stock according to diameter (blue=1/4", red=5/16", etc.). The Home Depots in these parts only carry HRS.

Sounds like you're off to a great start Bob!

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Now I have a big swollen bruise over my left thumb knuckle. Have to scrap todays pinching workout. Gotta learn to take it easy! You're right, it is tons of fun.

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Bob,

Pretty much all of the stock I have bought from Home depot is close to the stock used in the Bag of Nails. I would skip the Bag of nails and order some Reds. It sounds like you could bend the Blue within a few sessions, anyway.

For training purposes, the home depot 1/4" and 5/16" stock, various 60D nails, and Grade 5 bolts should do it.

Robert

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Thanks Robert. We'll see about the reds! I had a tough time with that 7" 1/4. Thanks though, probably will save me some money.

Just curious, what kinda frequency would you recommend bending for someone who is training just all around grip strength? I think I am going to stick to bender's recommendations on his web page, something like 1 easy bend, 2 harder ones, and a PR if I feel good. I was planning on once a week, but I'm wondering if I should go a little more frequently till my hands toughen up a little.

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something like 1 easy bend, 2 harder ones, and a PR if I feel good. I was planning on once a week, but I'm wondering if I should go a little more frequently till my hands toughen up a little.

At this point, I think you can safely do a PR every session. I would bend again as soon as your wrists and hands feel recovered. You probably have the strength to bend a cut Blue, but it may take a few weeks to get the technique down.

I think that in the long term it is best to train with a larger volume of sub-maximal bends. Bender, and others, recommend investing in a big bucket of timber ties. Then you can do several relatively easy bends a few times a week.

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I would stick with the stuff you know you can bend for the first few weeks and get the tech down solid. Going for pr every workout will give you very sore hands and wrists and possibly an injury. If you stick with the lighter stuff you can bend several times a week, heavier stuff 1-2 a week. your body will tell you how often I promise. Also I tend to over train bending even though I know better, and my other lifts suffer greatly due to sore wrists and hands. Just my 2 cents and I am still relatively new to this stuff too....Brett

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I definitely agree in hindsight. I PR'd every bending session right up to a kinked Grade 8 about 3 weeks ago that I'm currently blaming for jacking my wrist, and is making pretty much any bend a fairly unpleasant experience, leaving in its wake several merely kinked G-5's and a challenge bar that was much more of a challenge than it should have been. Big Steve preaches volume, volume, volume, and I'm quickly buying into that. So if you've got the patience, work yourself up to that 60d common bright level and hang out there a while and boost your connective tissue strength working volume there.

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RSW - You say to get timber ties as an easy bend for a few times a week. But if he is doing 1/4 inch HRS at 7 inches then wouldnt timber ties be much to strong for him to bend???

I ask because i recently started bending also and i did 1/4 HRS 6.5 inches pretty easy the other day. What do you recommend I use to train with next after 6 inch pieces of 1/4 inch HRS are too easy????

Also how close am i to doing a 60D?

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I think the 60d galvanized timber ties from Home Depot are right in that 6.5-7" hrs ballpark. . A lot cheaper than cutting up the round stock.

After the 6", go 5.5". Then 5".

re: 60d, I think when you can do <5" hrs that you should have a good chance at a 60d common bright.

Edited by CMunger
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There seems to be a lot of variation in either the 1/4" HRS or the timber ties. I have been struggling with the 7" x 1/4" HRS for a month now, and just bent my first one last Friday. However, two days later, I was able to bend two timber ties from Lowes back-to-back and I think they are considerably easier than the 1/4" HRS. I have purchased 1/4" HRS from both Home Depot and Lowes and they both feel harder than the 8-twist/nail timber ties from Lowes.

I also found some 12-twist/nail timber ties at a local hardware store, and I think these are harder than the 1/4" HRS. I have not come close to U'ing one of these yet.

My point is, try a wide variety of material as it seems to vary in difficulty. I wish I had tried the 8-twist timber ties earlier as I feel they would have helped me conquer the 1/4" HRS sooner.

Keep grippin!

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Thanks alot guys it's a BIG help for me. For some crazy reason i was under the impression that timber ties were harder than regular 60Ds. Im going to go pick up some 8 twist timbers tomorrow.

I appreciate it guys, thanks!

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Thanks alot guys it's a BIG help for me. For some crazy reason i was under the impression that timber ties were harder than regular 60Ds. Im going to go pick up some 8 twist timbers tomorrow.

I appreciate it guys, thanks!

Timber ties vary quite a bit. I have some from Lowe's that are much tougher than Blue nails.

What I meant was to get some nails you can easily bend and try to do multiple sub-maximal bends.

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I've found two types of timber ties at Home Depot, galvanized and zinc coated.

The zinc coated ones were covered in powedered zinc and far to strong for me to bend, even leveraging the tools of my leg, the floor, and my power rack.

The galvanized ones are a step above a 7" piece of 1/4" hrs.

The only thing I've come across between 3/16" hrs and 1/4" hrs are some 6" carrige bolts that cost 48 cents each. To pricey for volume IMO.

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