Today, I have a review on my Nail Bending DVD from EJ Livesey, a guy who has accomplished quite a bit in his short time bending, certifying on the IronMind Red Nail, among other elite-level bends.

As you read, you have to understand that to say that EJ Livesey is “intense,” would be a huge understatement. This guy is willing to look for, buy and put instruction into action, and he’s willing to put in the work to be great. EJ, like many others I have helped, (and maybe even like you) had the potential to be great at bending already – I just showed him how to turn all of his strength into being a nasty bending machine. Check it out…

My name is EJ Livesey, and I have been bending since 2010. When it comes to learning new things, I am a very visual person. My luck and progress in Bending came slowly until I got Jedd’s DVD NAIL BENDING: HOW TO MELT STEEL WITH YOUR BARE HANDS.

When I saw the DVD advertised, I knew right away this would skyrocket my success, so I had to have it. Now some of the information in the DVD, such as the different types of wrapping materials, I was already familiar with. Other things, such as the correct mechanics for the different styles of bending I was not so familiar with.

With the DVD playing in front of me, I was able to wrap up a piece of 9/32″ drill rod in a set of Ironmind Pads. At the time, this piece of metal I could only kink in these pads (IronMind Wraps make the bend much harder, due to the lack of padding). So I studied the DO (Double Overhand) section over and over.

For me, DO was always weak and painful, until the “circle of strength” was discussed and explained in the DVD. I finally saw the error of my ways, and right away my DO was strong.

Within a few weeks (as opposed to months), I was strong enough to bend the Red Nail in IronMind pads. I was amazed and a true believer.

There are tons of little secrets to be learned in all of the different styles of bending, and these secrets are explained by one of the best in the community, Jedd. These secrets need to be explained by an elite bender, or you are in for a long road of pain and disappointment.

Other very important aspects of this DVD, are the Recovery and Strength sections. There are tons or exercises out there and tons of products that claim to make your hands and arms stronger. However, all you need are a few simple exercises/movements. This is the information you could spend months trying to find and never get a credible answer. Jedd does all the work for you and his reputation speaks for itself.

The end of this August I will have been bending for 2 years. I have certified on the Red Nail, bent the King of All Bastards Bar in 1.25″ double wraps, Stainless Steel Hex Bar in IronMind Pads, and my favorite: an 8″ adjustable wrench unbraced Double Overhand. All those bends in less than 2 years, and your DVD helped, a lot.

Jedd knows what will work, and work fast. If your dream is to bend the Red, be the “freak at work” or bend some bastards, buy HOW TO MELT STEEL WITH YOUR BARE HANDS. You will be satisfied.

Sincerely,

EJ Livesey
Certified Red Nail Bender

EJ – Thanks for the awesome words. Looking forward to more awesome bending exploits from you, dude!

All the best in your training,

Jedd

Two Bent Shoes by Jason Bergmann

Bending your first horseshoe is one of the milestones you will never forget when you practice feats of strength. After all, these damn things are made to go on the feet of horses and ponies and to take a freakin’ beating.

Bending horseshoes is no joke.

I recently got an order from one of the members of the Diesel Universe, for the Hammering Horseshoes DVD. Shortly afterwards, I got an email from him as well. His name was Jason Bergmann, a Strongman Competitor who does strength demo’s for youngsters in his area, and he said he was looking to add Horseshoe Bending to his repertoire of grip strength feat.

Check out the email he sent me below:

I just ordered the Hammering Horseshoes DVD from your site. Since it will take a few days to get the DVD I really wanted to order some horseshoes as well. Since that info is in the DVD could you give me a few suggestions for beginners? I currently compete in Strongman and my brothers and I do demo’s for k-8 schools and I would like to add this in to my program along with a few other grip feats. So If I can order some shoes and get them around the same time as the DVD it would save me some time. Thanks, Jason Bergmann

Ordering horseshoes ahead of time actually seemed like a damn good idea, so I pointed him to this post, Horseshoe Progression List, and told him to check out Ken-Davis.com to pick up some shoes.

Well Jason Bergmann is a true action taker, because he jumped on the Ken-Davis site and had the shoes at his house before the DVD even got there! And I don’t wait when I send in these orders. I could see right now that this dude was serious!

Today, I got another email from Jason and this time, and this time I could tell he was excited. Check this out:

Jedd, I came home from strongman training and saw the DVD arrived today! I was going to wait to watch it and maybe try some shoes tomorrow since I had already tried to bend a few before watching the DVD (didn’t even nudge a diamond classic #2). But after watching about half the dvd on wrapping technique and learning more about the kink I gave it a go.

After giving it a few tries on the lightest shoe I had bought (St. Croix Forge polo #0), I knew something wasn’t right. Repositioned the shoe and followed the tips in the video and started to bend the shoe! I will admit that I used a towel on my leg to get it past 180 degrees and I’m sure I will have a bruise or two. After about 5 minutes I had to see if I could do it on my right side as well (torn pec on that side) and after getting everything set up right that went as well.

Without the tips and technique on your DVD it would have taken me a lot longer to figure it out if at all. I can say after bending my first shoes that it is not a trick. Getting the leverages right yes, but trick no! Thanks for putting the DVD together and putting so much information in it. Well worth the money and when I’m looking to try another feat of strength I will be checking out your other products. Thanks, Jason Bergmann

The Hammering Horseshoes DVD, Two Slain Shoes, and the Wraps Used to Slay Them

DIESELS, this kind of stuff gets me pumped up!!

I love hearing about success stories such as this one! Being a part of their success is even more awesome. That is why I put together these instructional videos – I know how cool this stuff is and I want you to experience it too.

That is also why I partnered up with my buddy, Mike Rinderle on Hammering Horseshoes and Braced Bending – he gets pumped up hearing about new benders’ success every bit as much as I do.

If you want to see what it feels like to have the crafted steel of a horseshoe bend to your will, make sure to get our DVD, Hammering Horseshoes. We’ll get you going on the right path, just like Jason Bergmann is doing now.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Ever since releasing Hammering Horseshoes last August, one of the most common questions I have received about Horseshoe Bending has been regarding the Horseshoe Progression.

These are some of the examples of questions I have gotten:

Which horseshoes are best for beginners to bend?

Are there any more shoes in my difficulty level I can bend to add to my collection?

I have hit a wall with my horseshoe bending – are there other shoes I can use to break through my plateau?

These are all perfectly valid questions, and I think today’s post is going to help a lot.

After all, when you are new at Bending Horseshoes, it’s nice to have some shoes that are on the easier side so you can work on technique on lighter shoes before progressing upwards.

And of course, once you hone your technique, you will want some reasonable jumps to make as you move up the ladder.

And, if you happen to be a gifted Horseshoe Bender and are aiming to be one of the best, then you’ll need to know which ones to choose in order to climb the mountain.

All levels of bending prowess need variety and that is what this post will give you.

Hammering Horseshoes DVD Progression List

In our DVD, Hammering Horseshoes, Mike and I laid out a nice progression of the most common shoes – the most widely available, and most often bent. We ended up with more than a dozen horseshoes for people to choose from.

However, as time has gone by, we found that people wanted even more shoes. We found that people are willing to put in the work to find some of the more rare shoes, just so that they can make smaller jumps without running into a wall on the track to Horseshoe Bending Heroism.

So, Mike and I reached out to one of the top horseshoe benders in the world, David Wigren. You see, David actually designed the progression for the current horseshoe certification list that is used by most benders on-line at Benders’ Battlefield.

One of the things David and I talked about was, why, if there are so many more shoes on the market, are they not included on the current horseshoe bending certification progression list?

This is what he had to say:

“The #1 reason why there aren’t more shoes on the cert list is to avoid unintentional overlapping. As you know steel varies, and because of that my idea was just to have a “safety” distance between each shoe, so that the easiest level 10 shoe won’t be easier than any level 9 shoe.

The 2nd reason is that not a whole lot of shoes meet the criteria. Some shoes vary a lot, so they won’t be added to the list. Clipped and healed shoes won’t be added, since it would be easy to manipulate a clipped shoe and get away with it.

I also wanted all the shoes (with one or two exceptions) to be available in most parts of the world. However I’m only that picky when it comes to the cert list. I do have a list that is more “approximated” and contains more shoes. This list contains most of the shoes I’ve bent (or partially bent) and I’ve rated them by the difficulty I experienced while bending them.

Unfortunately not all shoes are on there. But I think Rinderle could fill in with some other shoes he’s bent, and you’ll end up with a pretty good list.”

So, Mike and I put out heads together and placed a few more shoes on the list to help you guys out. What we came up with appears below.

Horseshoe Variation

Now, remember as you look at and utilize this list that shoes will vary, even within the same shoe. You may find weaker shoes in a given variety that could be easier than shoes that are ranked below them on the list. This is just the reality of the feat of strength of bending. Use this as your guideline to greatness with horseshoe bending.

Horseshoe Progression List

Beginner

1. St. Croix Forge Ultralite #2
2. St. Croix Forge Ultralite #1
3. St. Croix Forge Polo #2
4. St. Croix Forge Polo #1
5. St. Croix Forge Polo #0
6. St. Croix Forge Polo #00
7. Diamond Classic 1
8. Diamond Classic 0
9. Diamond Classic 2
10. St. Croix Forge Lite Rim 0

Novice

11. Kerckhaert sx7
12. St croix Lite rim 2
13. Nordic Delux 2
14. St croix lite rim 3
15. Nordic Delux 3
16. St croix lite rim 1
17. Werkman 3
18. Kerckhaert SSP 8×22 #3
19. St croix Lite plain #3

Advanced

20. Kerckhaert SN 8×25 #5
21. Kerckhaert SSP 8×22 #2
22. Diamond bronco PL 000
23. 5/16×7/8 healed
24. Wide sliding plate
25. Kerckhaert SSP 8×22 #1
26. st croix forge regular plain 000
27. Kerckhaert SN 8×25 #3
28. Diamond special 5
29. Kerckhaert SSP 10×22 #5
30. St. croix plain regular #3
31. SSP 8×18 #000
32. SN 8×20 #000
33. Kerckhaert SN 10×22 #3
34. Kerckhaert SSP extra 8×22 #0
35. Unmarked healed shoe 3/8×3/4
36. AB #6
37. Kerckhaert WH 10×28 #6

I hope this new Horseshoe Bending Progression List helps you all out. You now have a huge list of shoes to choose from. Take note, some of these shoes are much more common than others, and some can be nearly impossible to find.

What you should do right now is Bookmark this post, because I can assure you from time to time I will hear from more people who have bent lots of horseshoes over the years and I will add to this list from time to time.

Of course, just because you know which shoes are easy and which ones are hard, don’t be surprised if you can’t bend one of the easier shoes. Horseshoe Bending is extremely dependent upon technique. You can be strong as a son of a bitch and still get your ass handed to you by a shoe that is residing way over on the lighter side of the spectrum.

So, when you go on-line or to the local Farrier supply shop to order your shoes, add the Hammering Horseshoes DVD to your shopping list as well so you can learn the right techniques for horseshoe bending. Pick it up below:

All the best with your horseshoe bending,

Jedd

P.S. HUGE thanks to David Wigren and Mike Rinderle for helping me put this together for everybody!

Hello DIESELS!

There’s nothing that bothers me more than when I buy something and it doesn’t meet my expectations.

To give you an idea of what I mean, I recently picked up one of those lights with the flexible bodies that you can hook around stuff and direct light where you want it.

Yeah, too bad when you hang it upside down, the light portion literally falls off the body part.

GARBAGE!

It is experiences like this one that have forged my approach to designing information products. My goal is always to exceed your expectations.

When you buy one of my DVD’s or eBooks, I want you to finish going through it and not only learn exactly what you wanted to when you picked up my DVD, but also many other things that will help you in your training.

To illustrate this, check out the feedback we recently received from Carlos Rodriguez about the Braced Bending DVD:

“I received the Braced dvd this past weekend. Jedd I was literally blown away by the dvd. I admire the fact that Mike and yourself take a no B.S. approach to giving instruction and demonstration. There is no fluff, no corny
soundtrack , and rock solid advice!!! Great job and congrats on a really awesome product Jedd.

There are a couple of things that I was doing wrong with my bending, but I believe the Braced dvd has helped me tremendously. Also the pics of Carl Ansara are pretty impressive, the Bazooka Joe tee was very cool. He is one strong dude.”

Thanks for the compliments, Carlos, and I am glad the DVD is helping you so much.

My partner on the Braced Bending DVD, Mike Rinderle, has the same approach I do – to provide you with the absolute best information about Feats of Strength.

We take a great deal of time planning our products and we even add things in as we go along to enhance them throughout the process, such as close-ups, voice-overs, slow-motion replays, and more.

We even added a a presentation that Carl Ansara, one of the best braced benders in the world, put together for us for the Bonus Section.

If you want the best information on Feats of Strength, you’ve come to the right place. Check out everything we cover in this DVD:

This is the cool collectible Chapter Card
that comes with your Braced Bending DVD.

Go get it here: Braced Bending DVD.

All the best in your bending.

Jedd

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK!

Since Mike Rinderle and I released the Hammering Horseshoes DVD, we have continued to receive outstanding feedback, and Mike and I really appreciate it when you all write in to us. We truly tried to put out a video that would break away all the chains that could keep someone from performing this awesome feat of strength.

We recently received this note from David Mitti through Facebook:

Hey Mike, Just bent my first horseshoe, a St. Croix Ultra Lite #2 the other day. A LOT harder than it looks, but I got it past 180. It was an awesome feeling. Just wanted to say thanks for all the info provided on the Hammering Horseshoes DVD. I now have the bug…LOL. Thanks again, David M. Peace – Out

Thanks a lot for the note, David – keep on slaying the shoes.

Occasionally, we not only get an email from the customers, but we also get a video – very cool!

This is performing strongman and missionary evangelist, Peter Mehl, bending his first horseshoe. Peter related to us that he had always wanted to include horseshoe bending in his act, but was unsure of how to go about doing it.

As you can see, Peter now has very good technique for horseshoe bending, to go along with his already present strength, so he was able to knock out his first shoe no problem.

From Peter’s YouTube video description:

Peter Mehl Bends a Horseshoe past [180] degrees and then attempts to bend it into a shape of a heart. Peter is a Missionary Evangelist in Ukraine and Moldova where he oversees more than 150 crusades each year. In many of them he does feats of strength youth outreaches. He also has a team of Ukrainians he has raised up to do the same feats.

Peter, keep up the good work with the feats, and much respect for the work you are doing overseas – very awesome.

If you would like to get started bending horseshoes, now is the time. All you need to do is pick up our DVD and we will tell you everything you need to know!

Grab it today at this link: Hammering Horseshoes DVD

All the best in your training,

Jedd