I have continued to train my ass off on the Inch Dumbbells the last few weeks.

Even though the Inch Dumbbell and Thick Bar itself was not an event that was part of Gripmas, I continued to train it hard because I was seeing a relationship develop between my performance on the Inch Dumbbell and my Two Hands Pinch lifting, as I highlighted in this article: Continued Progress with the Inch Dumbbell Deadlift.

Here is my first lift, which I luckily caught on tape.

I have since carried the dumbbells a longer distance, but I have not had the opportunity to cut up the videos yet. When I do another batch of editing, I will do my best to get more footage uploaded.

Training continues to go well each time I get to the gym. I have begun training specifically for the Arnold Sports Festival and the Sorinex Mighty Mitts competition. I have not actually been selected yet to compete, nor do I know what the events will be. However, if I wait to be told I am in, then I will be wasting time, and I have a hunch of the general idea of the events, so I am not wasting any time getting started.

If you have any interest at all in going to the Arnold Classic, which is the first weekend in March, then I hope you will come and cheer me on from the crowd. Having the support of the people watching when you are up on stage feels amazing.

I competed at the 2010 Mighty Mitts competition, and was selected to participate in the 2011 competition as well, but I had injured the middle and index fingers on both hands and was able to do almost no Grip Training from February to May, and so I had to write the organizers and tell them I could not make it.

This year, I am not even thinking about that. I am just focusing on training smart and staying healthy, which has been working very well for me over the last few months.

On the work side, I just went to Bucknell University yesterday and shot footage with my good friend, Head Strength Coach, Jerry Shreck. We looked at the system he uses to reduce and eliminate knee injuries in his collegiate athletes, especially his basketball, lacrosse, and volleyball players. I am anxious to bring this project out.

In addition, I am working as hard as I can to finish up Braced Bending: How to Destroy Everything in Your Path. Between computer snags, babysitter call-offs, and other commitments, my progress has slowed, but I know this one is going to be awesome for those looking to bend stuff like wrenches, short, mid-length, and long bars, frying pans, and other things. If this is something you are interested, make sure to get on my Feats of Strength Newsletter below.

I am also in the planning stages of a collaborative effort with Rick Kaselj on preventing and eliminating forearm pain. We don’t have everything worked out yet, but we do have a general idea of what we want to do and we spoke on the phone earlier this week and he is just as excited about it as I am. While many gripsters, strongmen, and powerlifters come to me for advice on how to fix what they are feeling in their forearms, Rick, I am sure gets even more in his line of work because he covers a much broader scope. I think be working together on this we can really put something together that will help a lot of people.

Another iron I have in the fire is a DVD that I shot the footage for with Steve Slater when I was in Ohio on Strongman Atlas Stones. There was more to shoot when I left his place but we were not at the position to shoot it, so he had to shoot it a few days later. he will be compiling the footage on his end and sending it to me so that I can process the video and get the ball rolling. More on that down the road.

And, I think the last video project I am working on here and there is another documentary on my Two Hands Pinch Record. I had the camera running during every training session and you will be able to see everything I did leading up to the event, including many tactics I have never tried before, but have come to love very much.

That is enough of the updates for now. There is still a ton of stuff I am working on. I will share this at a later date.

The plan for the next post here on the site will be a Diesel Classic. This one has recently come up as a request from multiple people across the land, so I am going to dust it off and post it for all to see soon.

Thanks and all the best in your training.

Jedd

If you are into feats of strength, check out Hammering Horseshoes. It’s gotten incredible reviews from many satisfied customers. Click the image below…

Beginner Horseshoe Bending Information

Since the DVD HAMMERING HORSESHOES came out this summer I have had numerous people ask me what they need to start bending shoes.

Common Beginner Horseshoe Questions: Can you give me a good horseshoe progression for a beginner? What types of wraps should I use and where do I buy horseshoes and wraps for them?

It’s really pretty simple to prepare for successful horseshoe bending. You will need four things:

• Horseshoes You Can Bend
• Horseshoe Bending Wraps to Protect Your Hands
• Padding to Protect / Desensitize Your Body
• Proper Horseshoe Bending Technique / Instruction

Now, let’s take a look at each one of these in more detail.

Beginner – Level Horseshoes

The best place I have found to get a good selection of shoes is a local farrier supplier. These shops have a wide selection of shoes from most of the major manufacturers of horseshoes. If you don’t have a farrier supplier local to you, a great resource is www.ken-davis.com. They will have every shoe you need to get started.

Another option is Tractor Supply Co. They carry many of the Diamond Classic shoes. Many people will need to start with easier shoes than these though. A good progression of beginner to intermediate shoes is:

• St. Croix Forge Ultralite
• St. Croix Forge Polo
• Diamond Classic
• St. Croix Forge Lite Rim

Make sure you get different sizes to work on.

Wraps for Bending Horseshoes

Most people use suede/leather wraps to bend horseshoes. I purchase my wraps from the local Michael’s Craft Store. They are Tandy Leather suede. They come in 8.5” X 11” pieces and sell for around $6. Each piece will make one set of wraps. Just cut the piece up the middle in the longest direction and you have a great set of 11” X 4” wraps.

Make sure you feel the suede before you buy it. These pieces are remnants and some are thinner than others. You want the thicker pieces.

Padding for Horseshoe Bending

Padding for horseshoe bending is a personal choice. I recommend that beginners use padding when they start their journey for safety reasons. After you have bent shoes for awhile, you can decide whether or not bending shoes without any leg padding is for you.

What I have found works best is a folded up hand towel. You don’t want this to be too big or it will absorb too much energy and hurt your bending. The other option is a few pieces of the wrapping material folded up. The suede makes a good transition from using a towel to going with no padding as well.

Horseshoe Bending Instruction: Hammering Horseshoes

Finally, you need to get our DVD Hammering Horseshoes. This DVD has helped countless people become horseshoe killers and has received great reviews from some of the best shoe benders in the world!

Now go kill some shoes!!!

Mike “The Beast in the East” Rinderle

Hammering Horseshoes DVD Reviews

Mike and Jedd have managed to condense the knowledge that would normally take years of potentially dangerous trial and error training to acquire into a concise and entertaining video package. I enthusiastically recommend this comprehensive tutorial for anyone interested in pursuing the rewarding and richly historical pursuit of bending horseshoes with your bare hands!

Eric Milfeld
(Captain of Crush #3 & Red Nail Certified / Horseshoe Bending Legend and Steel Benders Hall of Fame Member)

Bravo! Hammering Horseshoes was a pleasure to watch. The video is very structured and organized, how a training video / “How to” video should be, including step by step examples, some of which are even in slow motion. I especially liked the horseshoe progression ladder. I was impressed. I already know a thing or two about horseshoe bending and frankly I didn’t think I was going to learn anything from watching it, but I was pleasantly surprised. That being said, “Hammering Horseshoes” is good for beginners through advanced and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking to make a name in the bending community or even if you just want to show-off your horseshoe bending skills to family and friends. Five stars Mike and Jedd!

Paul Knight
(Captain of Crush #3.5 & Red Nail Certified / Extraordinary Horseshoe Bender and Steel Benders Hall of Fame Member)

Pick up Hammering Horseshoes today: How to Bend Horseshoes Instructional DVD.

A cool feat of strength that you can do is rolling up a frying pan. If you want to learn how to do this, pick up the November issue of Men’s Fitness and check out the short “How-to” piece I put together for them, on page 24, called Roll Up a Skillet.

Like many feats of grip strength, this is one where if you learn to engage the rest of your body with Radiant Tension, you will be able to perform the feat better.

What’s Radiant Tension?

I talk about Radiant Tension in this kettlebell press article I did last fall. (Here’s the accompanying radiant tension video).

Radiant Tension is a skill. It’s not as easy as clenching your teeth and squeezing the bar as hard as you can. That’s not what it is about. You have to be able to turn it on and off as you need to.

Here’s an example with a feat you might have a bit more experience with than rolling up a frying pan…card tearing.

When ripping a deck of cards, you want to use radiant tension when starting the tear to keep the cards tight together, to get the initial tear started, and to involve the larger muscles of the torso in the feat.

However, once the tear is started, if you are too tight, it can be tough to keep the tear going. What results is you get the initial break going and then stop. The. you throw another jolt of power into it and it tears a little more, and you essentially keep starting and stopping over and over until you tear the whole way through the deck.

Through practice, however, you can understand how much Radiant Tension is necessary to grip the cards and get the torso muscles involved, and also to keep the tear going fluidly.

If you need help learning how to tear cards, no resource on the planet will give you the level of detail my Card Tearing eBook gives you. From Techniques, to Progressions, to Exercises, I’ve got everything you need to know in order to start “cutting the deck” with extreme vengeance.

In a much more standard form of lifting, such as the Bench Press, Radiant Tension can instantly increase your bench by 10 to 20 pounds by learning to manage the tension. Like I said before, it is a skill that needs to be practiced.

Often when I see it discussed in other locations, Radiant Tension is described as “squeezing the bar as hard as you can.” While a new person who has never tried to employ Radiant Tension may indeed end up putting forth that kind of exertion in order to build a connection between the mind and the body, I think squeezing at that level of intensity all the time is actually a waste of energy and at the very least an unnecessary distraction.

I actually used to “squeeze as hard as possible” on many lifts when I performed them, but after playing around with this concept in the last year or so I’ve found that I get just as good if not better results by moderating the level of exertion and changing it depending on the movement I am doing and how much radiant tension I need on that day.

For instance, on the bench, if I squeeze too hard on the bar, it feels like I have trouble lowering the bar and my shoulders end up hurting. Whereas if I just tense my hands slightly, I can begin to feel that familiar sensation of tension radiating back and forth from my core and torso out to the bar and back in, feeling more stable, stronger in the movement, and having less stress in the shoulders.

Like I’ve said a couple of times, tension is a skill that needs to be practiced. This past summer, I was training a dude named Jim who would get on the bench and the bar would be all over the place. The first day I mentioned squeezing the bar, his form improved greatly and he was able to repeat the form much more easily. Gradually we worked outward away from the torso and began using systematic pulsing of the glutes in order get even more confident with the bar, perform more reps, and pack on more muscle.

Remember, tension is a skill you can practice to help you out in all of your strength endeavors, whether you are tearing cards, bending a frying pan, or powerlifting, there’s a place for it. You just have to use it and practice it in order to make it work best for you.

Incidentally, in this issue of the magazine, on page 20, there is another short piece by Ben Bruno called, “Curl More Weight, Increase Your Strength Immediately” that pretty much covers the same principle of Radiant Tension. I will let you check the magazine out yourself to see what I mean.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Hello DIESELS!

The moment so many of you have written to be about is here.

In October, I will be holding my first Feats of Strength Workshop in Baltimore, MD, along with Mike Rinderle.

This will be held in conjunction with the Grand Opening of my good friend, Dan Cenidoza’s new facility, Art and Strength.

The Workshop will be entirely Hands-on. No lecturing, just demonstrations and working with you on a Hands-on Basis to develop your skills.

What we Will Cover at This Workshop

• How to Wrap Steel for Bending
• Short, Non-Braced Bending Techniques: Reverse, Overhand, Underhand
• How to Wrap Horseshoes
• How to Bend Horseshoes
• Where to Get Steel to Bend
• How to Progress to the Red Nail Certification
• How to Tear Cards
• How to Rip Phone Books
• And MORE…

Here’s where I need your help…

The Grand Opening of Art and Strength is Saturday October 15th from Noon to 4 PM, but I can’t do the Workshop during that time, so I want to know which option of the following two works best for you…

The Workshop will either take place on Saturday Oct. 15th from 5 PM to 9 PM or on Sunday, October 16th from 10 AM to 2 PM.

I need you to tell me what time you would prefer.

To give me your preference, simply leave a comment below or reply to the email I sent you by way of my newsletter.

Not on my Feats of Strength Newsletter? That’s crazy talk.

You can sign up for my Feats of Strength Newsletter below.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

Usually, when you hear about a horseshoe tournament, you think of a bunch of old sun-burned dudes with beers in their hands wearing tank tops and wife beaters, throwing horseshoes into dirt or sand pits, trying to hit a stake for points.

Double Ringer – 6 Points – YEAH BUDDY!

There’s an old saying that mentions horseshoes that goes something like this: “Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.”

What that means is that when you have a goal, you need to accomplish that goal, and not just settle for “almost got it.” You see, in normal horseshoes, if you almost hit the stake, then you still get partial points for your throw. Throwing grenades is kind of the same thing. You don’t have to hit your target spot on every time because the shrapnel will do the damage for you.

Well, almost doesn’t count in horseshoes when you’re bending them!

Last week was the fourth week in the Diesel Classic Strongman Tournament, and the feat of strength contested was Horseshoe Bending!

The great thing about last week’s tournament was that both master horseshoe benders and beginner horseshoe benders competed.

In case you are wondering, there is a near endless variety of horseshoes out there to try and bend. In our DVD, Hammering Horseshoes, Mike and I cover about a dozen types of shoes that are readily available and easily obtainable.

Mike and I are also working to extend this list in order to give more options for beginners as well as more steps in between established shoes. Look for this listing to come out sometime soon.

Now, let’s get back to the tournament.

Here are the standings after last week’s tournament:

• 1st – Cameron Bailey – 4.5 Points
• 2nd – David Horne / Mike Rinderle / Darrin Shallman – 3 Points
• 3rd – Richard MacLean / Jason Steeves – 2 Points
• 4th – Daniel Reinard – 1.5 Points
• 5th – David Wigren – 1 Point

Here is how the tournament panned out this week. Remember, a win is worth 1 point. A tie is .5 points, and a loss is worth zero. A lot of how the tournament works out each week depends on the luck of the draw and how many people submit entries into the tournament.

So, after this weeks bracket, we now have a new leader and the running score is looking very different. Here are the standings:

• Darrin Shallman – 5 Points
• Cameron Bailey – 4.5 Points
• David Wigren – 4 Points
• David Horne / Mike Rinderle – 3 Points
• Richard MacLean / Jason Steeves – 2 Points
• Daniel Reinard – 1.5
• EJ Livesey – 1 Point
• Christopher Smith – .5 Points

So, now we head into the final week of the Classic Strongman Feats Tournament.

The rules for the final showdown of the tournament will be posted tomorrow.

Believe me, you do not want to miss the final turn of this spectacle. There will be MANY points up for grabs.

Now, let’s check out the awesome shoe bends from the entrants this week:

David Wigren – Kerckheart SSP 8X18 #000

Mike Rinderle – St Croix Forge Plain Regular #3

EJ Livesey – St Croix Forge Lite Rim #1

Darren Shallman – Diamond Classic #1

Daniel Reinard – St Croix Forge Polo #1

Andy Thomas – St. Croix Forge Ultra Lite #2

Christopher Smith – St. Croix Forge Ultra Lite #2

Great week guys. Look for the next challenge very soon.

Jedd