This weekend, we traveled to Johnson City, NY, and Fitness Headquarters.

This would be the locale for yet another Diesel Bender to certify on the Red Nail.

The Red Nail, is not actually a “nail,” but a piece of round stock measuring 5/16″ in diameter and 7″ in length.

In the past Eli Thomas certified on the Red Nail at Fitness HQ (2005) and I did it in 2007 as well.

This time, it was Luke Raymond’s turn.

Here’s the video:

Luke Raymond Slays the Red Dragon

If you’ve been following along, you know that Luke took to bending pretty well. The first time he tried bending, he wiped out a 60D with suede wraps.

The 60D has been considered the benchmark feat of bending strength for quite some time. If you could bend on, you earned the respect of others as someone with potential.

To say that Luke has potential is an understatement. We can only guess what he will be capable of.

If you want to try bending, make sure you get the ebook that has helped several hundred people get their bending career going in the right direction. The Diesel Crew Nail Bending eBook.

No other resource in the world covers the information you need to know as a new bender like this eBook does.

Grab it today, and who knows…maybe we’ll see your name up in lights as a Certified Red Nail Bender sometime in the not-so-distant future.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

Few things make me happier than seeing my students reach their goals.

I know how much work they have put in, the sacrifices they have made, and the battles they have fought.

Today, one of my members at The Grip Authority, Adam Moyers, appears on the IronMind website for his official Red Nail certification.

Here is a picture below. Adam is the one with the Red Hillbilly Jim Beard (blue shirt). My friend, Sean Dockery was his witness, as the feat went down in Columbus this past Saturday night.

What is the Red Nail?

If you aren’t familiar with the Red Nail, it is the primary steel bending certification that is out there.

The Red Nail is actually a cold-rolled steel bar 7″ long and 5/16″ in diameter.

So, it’s not really a nail, as in something you would use in carpentry, but it is still given that name.

In case you are not altogether familiar with steel bending terminology, think of a steel bar about the length of a pencil, but about as thick as a Sharpie marker.

The Red Nail – The Primary Bending Feat

Bending a Red Nail is quite an accomplishment.

When I first started bending back in 2002, there was only 1 person certified for bending a Red Nail.

He did it in 1995 and nobody else did it until 2003!

Since then, on average, only about 6 to 10 guys get certified each year for bending these bars.

So, you can tell, it is quite a legitimate feat of strength.

Red Nail Bending Rules

There are a few rules for the official Red Nail bend.

First, you can only wrap the bar to protect your hands with the cordura wraps that IronMind sells.

These wraps, called IMP’s or IronMind Pads, offer great protection for your skin so you don’t drive a bar through your skin, so that’s great.

However, they do very little in the way of padding.

Using something like suede leather pads the bend and reduces the sting.

Believe me, you EARN your Red Nail bend when you go with IMP’s.

Next, you have to take the bar from perfectly straight to a U-shape with less than 2″ of space between the bar ends in less than 60 seconds.

That means, you have to be explosive in the bend. If you take your good old time bending it, you might miss the 60-second cut-off, and have to try to bend another one.

You also have to perform your bend before a witness of IronMind’s choosing.

IronMind will assign you a witness, and then you must contact them to line-up the specifics of your certification attempt.

Of course, the bar also has to be an official Red Nail from IronMind. They send 3 of them to your witness for the official attempts.

Red Nail Bending Technique

Naturally, just like any other sport or execution of strength, there are rules for how you bend it.

For the Red Nail bend, no bracing is permitted. Do so, and you get disqualified.

So, you have to know the ins and outs of proper bending technique.

That’s where I come in.

Instructional Bending Resources

Before 2005, there was very little information on bending. I decided to fix this by publishing my Nail Bending eBook in December of that year.

This eBook covers everything you need to know to bend the Red Nail and other challenging bars, nails and bolts.

Of course, some people learn better from video than still-shots like are in my eBook. So, by popular demand, I put together another resource called the Nail Bending DVD in 2010.

I would estimate that over 50% of the people who have certified on the Red Nail did so after studying at least one of my resources on bending.

Naturally, having the how-to information in front of you isn’t going to guarantee an instant Red Nail certification.

You still have to hone your technique.

You still have to develop your strength.

You still have to put the work in.

But, one thing is for sure, all other things being equal, those who utilize at least one of these resources will have a much easier time of accomplishing their goal, than the person who just tries to figure everything out on their own.

So, if the thought of bending steel interests you…

If you’ve ever wanted to try feats of strength…

Or if you want to see your name up in lights, like Adam Moyers, John Manna, Trevor Lainge, Adam Glass, Carl Donati, and many of the other benders who have tackled this elite feat of strength, your best bet is to get my products.

Nail Bending eBook

Nail Bending DVD

I look forward to seeing your name on the Red Nail Roster sometime soon down the line.

Happy bending,

Jedd

Recently, a friend of mine, Nathaiel Brous, was successful in certifying on the IronMind Red Nail. I thought his progress was fantastic, so I asked him if he’d be interested in an interview.

If you love steel bending, I encourage you to check this out. In addition, I encourage you set your goals firmly for tackling the Red Nail. Set your date, lay out your training, and if you need assistance getting there, let me know.

Let’s get this done together in 2013!

And now, Nathaniel Brous:

Jedd: Nathaniel, Tell Us a Bit About Your Athletic Background

I was a pretty active kid and a competitive swimmer in my youth. While I was never really into weight lifting, working construction helped keep me pretty fit into my early twenties. Unfortunately at 23yo I found myself in heart failure and was diagnosed with Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathy (with atrial fibrillation) which severely curtailed my activities. This basically meant I had a weakened, enlarged heart that no longer beat normally…and they had no idea how it happened. I felt I had been cut down, at the time many consider the prime of their lives.

Jedd: That is Something I Have Never Heard of. So, What Made You Get into Grip & Bending?

I have to credit my daughter Abigail with getting me into grip. Because my heart condition had forced me to be relatively stagnant, I lived vicariously through watching physical shows like World Strongest Man and Sasuke (Japan’s premier obstacle course program). In early 2011, we were watching American Ninja Warrior and she said, “You can do that Daddy!” The reality was that I couldn’t – not even close. But, I wondered what would happen if I trained for it. And so my little odyssey began.

I began researching Ninja Warrior and learned about the value of grip. I discovered the Captains of Crush Grippers and Ironmind. These led me to learn of sites like the Gripboard (anwnate) and Diesel Crew.

All successful athletes in Sasuke are slight in build but pound for pound the toughest around. I quite casually throw that in, but don’t really have any doubts of it. It would be a nice discussion in the future. A Urushihara Yuuji or Nagano Makoto interview would be an awesome addition to the Diesel files. Few people even know the insane things these guys do with their grip. Sorry, I digress.

I began my training with a focus with weight loss. I decided to drop 50lbs to get down to my high school weight of 195. I figured from there I could reevaluate. By the way, I’m 6′ 4″ so I wasn’t exactly obese at 245. It took about 6 months to shed the weight and while I felt ok – people were very worried about me. I actually appeared gaunt and sickly…but didn’t even realize it until I started seeing pictures of myself. I question the sanity of the people who created those BMI charts…

Anyway, as I trained, I found that my heart really was holding me back. Due to my intense swimming regimen in the past, I was keenly aware of how my body responded to exercise. Don’t get me wrong, I was making progress and improving, but I knew I was never going to become successful in Ninja Warrior because I couldn’t train as hard as was necessary to become competitive. However, since I had already “gotten off the couch”, I was happy enough to shift gears and my training entirely to “Grip Sport”. Over a period of a year, I built my weight back up, but it was a different (more muscle based) weight.

I can’t tell you how pleased I have been with training Grip. It is something you can get into for little financial cost and make solid gains…regardless of your age, weight or background. I had such a blast at my first event, World’s Strongest Hands 2012 (Wyalusing, PA location)…I didn’t mind getting my butt kicked in the events. I came home with a renewed sense of motivation and purpose. Over time, I have met a great network of people who are extremely supportive and helpful.

(Note from Jedd – Here is Some Footage of Nate at World’s Strongest Hands 2012 on the Wrist Developer)

One of those people, John “Wojo” Wojciechowski was kind enough to invite me to a grip training session at his place. Afterwards, he taught me how to reverse bend a nail. I managed to reverse IM Blue and put a kink in a G5 my first time out. I would say that after my first bend, I was hooked.

Jedd: What Made You Decide to Certify on the Red?

That night when I came home very pumped up about bending. I spoke with my wife Maureen about possibly going for the Red nail. She had been pretty supportive of all my grip work and in quite the Rocky-esque fashion…said “Go for it!” I decided then that I would bend on the “down low” and then do a “double cert.” like Hannes Kainzj. With her blessing, I immediately ordered a bunch of Blues, Reds, and IM Pads. There is a wealth of bending knowledge on the internet, but I would have to credit Jedd’s ebook for setting me on the correct and safe course. I think it should be standard issue for anyone just getting into bending. As it turned out, a pinky issue has really slowed my gripper progress. Just before Christmas, I decided to Cert. the Red by itself and kind of “get on board” if you will.

Jedd: As you Progressed Through the Levels of Bending, Was it Pretty Easy Progress for You, or Were There Struggles? And How Did You Get Through Them?

I was fairly lucky to start where I did with bending, but no matter where you start, there will always be your first wall. For me, that wall was the G8. I struggled with that bar week after week and had almost no visible results. It was quite disheartening. I figured (correctly) that I was missing something pretty basic…but really didn’t know what it was.

I finally decided to slap double IMP’s on the G8 and see what happened. I melted that sucker down to like 80deg (finished it later). This was the beginning of what I’ve named “Reduced Padding Progression.” I certainly didn’t invent the idea, but I may have coined “RPP” as an expression.

It’s a very similar idea to people who progress in grippers. Ideally, you have like 100 rated grippers that you can slowly move up the ranks with. But reality dictates that we don’t have the money, time or luck to collect such a comprehensive collection, so we make do with other means (Vulcan’s, forced closes etc.). In the same vein, an ideal bending situation would mean acquiring slightly harder steel (baby steps) that progresses you from one piece to the next.

RPP provides an alternative route to that. I cut down a pair of IMP’s to 2/3 and 1/3 total length and then a single pad in half. So then I had the opportunity to bend the same piece of steel in 2’s, 1 2/3s, 1 1/2, 1 1/3 and 1’s. While it’s true that bending in doubles and singles are very different beasts…there is not a tremendous difference in technique between any one of these steps from the one before or after it. And…all of them work the same muscles to some extent…particularly the sweep and crush. You could literally take this idea to the extreme and cut the pads down to any fraction that you thought would help.

I took this idea and ran with it. It turned out, I wasn’t bending the G8 because it was “uncomfortable” to hit it hard in the kink. I never (a long time anyway) would have realized this, if I hadn’t de-mystified the G8 by bending it in doubles. A week later I managed the G8 in singles. Right then, I immediately tried and succeeded in bending a Red in doubles.

Over a few weeks, I gradually worked my way down to singles and eventually without bands. I didn’t immediately stop using bigger pads…I took it slow. After a bunch of bends in doubles, 1 2/3 became my “big” pads and this went on until at the very end I was doing the majority of my bends in singles. The hands need time to condition to the stress, and I’m of the opinion that this allowed me to continue training when I otherwise would have bailed. My cert. day actually saw me bend my 100th Red nail.

Jedd: What Would You Recommend to Others Who Might be Interested in Bending Steel and Certifying on the Red Nail

If someone is interested in getting into bending, the first thing I’d recommend would be to learn as much as you can. Again, I must pimp Jedd’s book. It’s really required reading for the beginning nail bender and will save a ton of time, money and possibly doctor’s bills (bending steel carries it’s own risks)

Next, make use of the internet… Youtube, Gripboard, Benders Battlefield. There are a lot of good people out there, more than willing to lend a hand. All you have to do is reach out. Thirdly, don’t skimp on padding. It’s super cheap and (in my opinion) can to get you from point A. to point B.

Since I’ve got the pulpit…there are two more important things I’d like to impart. One I would like to borrow from the poker world. Leaning. When you “lean” on your opponent, you keep pressure on him and generally, the longer you do it, the more of an advantage you gain…until you have all his chips.

There will be times you will want to be more aggressive…there are time you’ll be less aggressive. It won’t be linear, and it won’t be stagnant, it’ll be like an ever-changing and ever-flowing river. But it will always be moving forward. Basically I advise that you “Lean” on your goals. Find out what it is that you want, how you are going to approach it…then start leaning. Any time you can adjust your strategy to exploit something, do so. Whether that be incorporating a new technique, or adding a workout, or subtracting a workout…keep the pressure on your goal. It will have no choice but to fall to your will.

The last thing is just a thought to keep in mind. You don’t get stronger by working out…you get stronger by recovering. Try and stay in tune with your body…call audibles if you have to. We don’t recover based on a chart or our peers, we recover at our own rate…a rate that changes as we age. Know your body and figure out what kind of rest it requires…then allow it to get stronger.

“The most productive and the most difficult thing about grip training is waiting until your body is ready to train again.” – me

Nathaniel’s Red Nail Certification (First 40 Seconds)

Jedd: Nate, thanks for the interview and for sharing that awesome wrapping progression with my readers. That is the first time I have heard anyone lay it out in that way. Very nice work and I wish you well in your pursuit of the Gold Nail. Please keep us posted!

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Jedd: Diesels, if you are looking for guidance to get you to your Steel Bending goals, look no further than the resources below for all the information you need on conditioning, wrapping, technique, and progressing…

Nail Bending eBook | Nail Bending DVD

Free Report on Oldtime Strongman Feats = > Sign up for it Here

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I am proud to announce that one of my coaching clients, Richard Giese, has succeeded in bending the IronMind Red Nail with IronMind Wraps and no rubber bands only.

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Rick first contacted me at the beginning of last year and wanted coaching on Grip and Bending. He said he felt he had a good understanding of Grip and Bending, but he wanted some guidance to break through some plateaus. He told me his goals, sent me his list of Grip equipment (dude ricks nice collection of toys), and we scheduled our first coaching call.

We got started with a complete Grip and Bending program last February, and his progress immediately started exploding.

In less than a month, he was bending steel equivalent in size to the red nail in leather wraps here and there. Once he started dominating them, we then began the transition away from leather and towards IronMind cordura wraps, which make the feat much harder.

This journey to slaying the Red Nail did not come easy. Along the way, Rick experienced a couple of injuries. One of them, he was ripping a giant phone book with insufficient warm-up and jacked something in his forearm.

A few months later, he messed up a shoulder doing double digit repetitions in the Muscle-up.

These turned out to be significant injuries that required professional assistance in order to overcome. Some people, when they get injured, throw in the towel and they give up on their goals and dreams, but not Rick.

Rick contacted a very good chiropractor in his area and got the treatments he needed to bring his body back to 100%.

When his body needed the recovery time to battle the injuries, he deloaded, not allowing himself to get distracted by the injury but rather to give his limbs the time they needed to come back.

Rick came back stronger than before after both injuries and now he is still doing elite-level bodyweight feats like double-digit Muscle-ups, Human Flags, Dragon Flags, and now Bending Red Nails in authentic fashion, all while in his early 40’s.

It’s been my pleasure working with Rick over the course of the last year and I can’t wait to see what else he accomplishes. We just sat down for a re-alignment of goals via Skype last week, and he tells me that now he has his eyes set on the Inch Dumbbell.

I take no credit at all for Rick’s accomplishment. He is the one that fought the battles. He is the one that got stopped along the way, threw half bent Red Nails through dry wall. And he is the one that took the energy and refocused it where it needed to go, while also accomplishing some other awesome bodyweight and grip strength feats along the way.

Please feel free to leave a comment below for Rick. It’s been awesome being his coach through this journey and becoming good friends with him along the lines as well.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

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P.S. Want to bend the Red Nail one day? You can start out like Rick did with my renowned ebook on nail bending, so creatively named, The Nail Bending eBook. Click the image below.

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The Strength of Steel and Bending Stock

Over the years, lots of people have asked me questions about the strength of steel and bending stock. Because steel bending can be so obsessive, and the need to constantly bend more stuff can overtake an individual so intensely, it can be easy to understand why so many people are hungry for this knowledge.

Common Questions about Bending Stock Strength

Here are some of the types of questions I get most often:

“How Strong is my Steel?”
People will be bending a certain nail, bolt or piece of stock and want to know if it is a good bend or not. This is understandable, because people like to know where they stand.

“What nail/bolt/stock should I go to next if I am bending THIS and want to bend THAT?”
Most people want to ultimately be able to bend a certain bar, whether it is the Red Nail or some other high level bend like the Bastard from Fat Bastard Barbell or the Battle Bar from Benders Battlefield. Along the road to this goal it’s nice to know which bends to attempt along the way.

“How far am I from the Red Nail if I am bending this or that…”
Sometimes people are seeing progress by cutting what they can bend down to shorter lengths, or they have been moving up to harder graded bolts or slightly thicker stock, but they still want to know how far away they are from their goal.

And there are many, many more questions I receive about the strength of bending stock.

Comparing Strengths of Various Pieces of Bending Stock

There is a system that is used to rate the strength level of bars. This has proven to be quite useful in getting an idea of where different bars lie in relationship to one another, and it even works well for a variety of different stock, including Round Steel, Graded Bolts, Drill Rod, and even square and hex steel.

This system was innovated by Eric Milfeld and later Mike Krahling. These are just the guys that I am most aware of in the United States who are doing it. There may indeed be many more who are doing this.

This process involves special attachments that are put onto the bending stock being rated, followed by using the steel to pull against weight until it bends to the desired angle. Once the stock bends to that angle, it is assigned its strength level.

This process is often labeled “calibration,” although there has also been debate about whether that is the proper term. Perhaps a better term to describe it would be simply “rating the stock.”

Regardless of what you call this process, it has proven to be a fairly reliable method for a solid comparison tool, as well as something to base your progressions and purchases upon.

In the video below, Mike Krahling demonstrates the process of rating the strength of a steel bar.

Now, what you see here is just one bar being rated, but over the years, many bars have been rated and also logged for comparison at the AZ Grip website. You can see the strength comparison chart here: Steel Bending Progressions.

Now, there are limits to this process, and that needs to be understood from the beginning.

For instance, steel varies and it can vary quite a bit. Just because you bought a Red Nail back in 2004 does not mean that a Red Nail that you buy right now will rate out at the exact same number. New stock might have been selected to be used at some point. (Of course, the Red Nail is still a Beast to bend, so no disrespect to IronMind.)

Variance of Steel Strength

As I point out in this post, Strength Variations of Steel, it is possible to see strength variance within the same piece of steel. Remember that steel is created in long lengths and then cut down in order to bend in shorter lengths. There can be quite a bit of variation within one of those virgin bars pulled out at the factory. So in that regard, you have to understand that just because you buy a 7-inch by 5/16-inch length of Cold Rolled Steel, it does not guarantee that you are ready to certify on the Red Nail, even though the Red Nail, too, is 7 X 5/16 CRS.

Variance in Steel Strength & Differences by Length

Also, you have to remember that you must take the readings of bars of different lengths very carefully. For instance, if you look at that chart, it lists the Red Nail, 7 X 5/16 in length and diameter, at 420-lbs in order to bend. Also, that chart lists a Linear “S” Grade 5 Bolt 6 X 1/4 in length and diameter at 425. An assumption that has often been made is that if one can bend that Linear “S” Grade 5 Bolt, then they surely must be able to bend the Red Nail, which is rated at 5-lbs lighter.

Unfortunately, this assumption is completely wrong, because the Grade 5 bolt is only 6 inches long, meaning there is less leverage available to produce a bend using the testing device. In reality, if the Grade 5 in question were 7-inches long, it would feel like bending a coat-hanger.

Comparing Different Bars

So, as you utilize the chart, make sure that you remember that comparisons should be made between different pieces of stock of the same length only. Also remember that the way the calibrating set-up bends the bar is not completely the same as the way the bar bends when you bend it, so just because a piece of stock rates higher than another piece of stock using the device, does not necessarily mean it will feel harder to bend when you try it.

Solid Resource

Even with this handful of limitations, the “Steel Progression Chart” is a very good resource for you in your bending training. It has been an extremely helpful tool for both new benders looking for ways to progress in their bending, as well as seasoned veterans who are looking for stepping stones to their ultimate bending goal.

In fact, I reference this chart quite often with my coaching clients who are looking for progressions in their steel bending programs. And now, it is a tool you can place in your toolbox to reference whenever you need it.

All the best in your bending,

Jedd

When it comes to bending, there are some questions that seem to get asked over and over…

• What is the typical bender like?
• How does somebody get involved in Nail Bending?
• Why would someone want to bend nails in the first place?

Recently, Carl Donati Jr put together a guest post that answers many of these questions. If Bending Nails is something you’ve heard about, thought about doing, or wanted to pursue, have a look at what he says about his beginnings with Nail Bending, how he’s progressed, and what he has done to be at the level he is right now: A recently certified Red Nail Bender…

The Journey Into Nail Bending

Carl Donati Jr, Bending the Red Nail

I am writing this article to both generate interest in and provide a “push” to those that may be on the fringe of taking on steel bending. I hope to contribute something that may help in some small way. This information is aimed primarily at the beginner or intermediate. As I am writing this, I will be making my official certification attempt at bending the IronMind Red Nail in less than a week. I have come a long way in my bending skill, but still have a lot to learn and a long road ahead.

I have trained with weights consistently since I was eleven years old. I have come full-circle from a decade (+) long affair with bodybuilding to my current path as a competitive powerlifter. When I began competing as a powerlifter in my early thirties, I quickly found out my wrist strength was not up-to-par, as I obtained a moderate wrist strain when doing heavy doubles on bench one day. At this point, I began looking at ways to build up my wrist strength in a way that this type of injury would not happen again and derail my training as it had.

I did the typical stuff you’d expect in a commercial gym (wrist curls with a dumbbell and barbell, reverse wrist curls, fat bar holds … etc.), but didn’t really find what I was looking for until I came across information on the Captains of Crush Hand Grippers and later the IronMind catalog. I started to train with the grippers, doing OK over the first year. I think I was able to close the # 2 at this time. (My progress stalled but incremental gains here have me working toward the #2.5). I began to explore the IronMind catalog and incorporated several things into my training, including the Hub Pinch, the Rolling Thunder, and the Wrist Lever. About two years ago, I purchased the Bag-of-Nails. The rest is history, as I became hooked that first night!

As I think back to the day the Bag-of-Nails arrived, I remember excitedly looking through all of the contents and visualizing what I was going to do that night with the stock (nails). I looked at the white and green nails and thought, “Ok, these are definitely possible.” I looked at the yellow and blue and thought that it would take a lot of training to get to that level. When I held up and examined the Red Nail, I really did not think it was possible to bend this behemoth!

I bent double underhand with my pinkies touching using single IronMind Pads (IMP’s) for the entire first year. My first month consisted of folding the wraps into a square and putting the nails into the pads, then folding them over. It was only after doing some research that I began to roll the wrap around the nail and secured it with a rubber band. In retrospect, what I have learned and would do differently those first few months would be to seek out someone who is experienced and observe and train with them. If this is not possible, I would join the Gripboard and read/view videos, then submit my own bends for critique.

Double Underhand Bending Technique

Getting back to the double underhand (DU) style… I focused on technique and took small steps for that first half-year. It wasn’t until the last quarter of my first year I finally bent the yellow DU (Double Underhand). My progress from the yellow to the blue was very quick, unlike that first eight months. At this time, I was unaware of the Fat Bastard Barbell Company (FBBC) and their steel stock. If I would have incorporated their steel into my training, my initial progress would have been a lot smoother. The FBBC has a wide selection of steel and bolts to help facilitate your road to the Red (if that is what your goal is) in jumping between the IronMind stock and chasing other certifications such as Bender’s Battlefield, FBBC, or the Gripboard. Local hardware stores are another great location to purchase bolts and nails. For a great list of online steel/bolt suppliers and ranking of bending stock difficulty, read the appropriate sections in the Diesel Crew Bending e-Book.

After my first year, I became aware of the Diesel Crew blog and read some of the bending articles. The tips were helping me immensely and I decided to buy the Bending e-Book. After reading the e-book, I began to experiment with the Double Overhand (DO) style. The contents in Jedd Johnson’s book, along with advice I was receiving on the Gripboard enabled me to make excellent progress in the DO style of bending.

Double Overhand Bending Technique

I continued to bend DU and DO, with good progress in both techniques. It was soon thereafter I bent my first graded bolt and then a harder grade 8 bolt. At this point, I focused more on the DO style and began working my wrists with the 8-pound sledgehammer and Rolling Thunder. I also worked on my shoulder flexibility with stretches and bar hangs.

Sledge Hammer Levering

I feel that the most important accessory in my own training that helped me keep my wrists healthy and improved my all-around wrist and hand strength were the sledge levers. In doing these, I typically do 3 sets of front and rear levers for 6 – 8 reps. The levers are done in between bends. I am not very proficient in the Rolling Thunder but do this 2 times per week for ten second holds and singles.

Looking back through my training logs, one interesting point to make is that many of my PR bends were done in between sets of heavy squats and deadlifts. I did not do a strictly dedicated bending workout until I started bending the 5/16” diameter stuff. I have compared my intensity on heavy S/DL days with specific bends to that of the same stock on non-lifting days and the former wins by far. Personally, I am in a better mindset on my heavy days to explode into the steel, though have been bridging the gap in recent months.

This takes me to the pre-bend psych-up. I have worked on focused deep breathing exercises and visualization techniques. Prior to the bend, I consciously track each breath in and out until I am in a relaxed, but focused state. At this point, I briefly rehearse what I will be doing with the outcome being the destruction of the steel.

Reverse Style Bending

As mentioned above, I started to bend double underhand and then switched to double overhand. Several months back, I began to experiment with the reverse grip. To me, this style of bending (hands low with thumbs touching) feels better and more natural then DU. And reverse bending is a lot of fun! At the current time, I am getting better at reverse grip, where I am now bending grade 5’s to almost 40 degrees. I hope to continue my progress with this style and will continue to work to improve it as much as I can. As my bending progresses, I will continue to work all three styles of bending: double overhand, double underhand, and reverse style.

IronMind Pads

Lastly, I would like to touch briefly on the types of wraps I used and continue to bend with. As mentioned previously, I bent exclusively with the IronMind pads (IMP’s) for the entire first year. Although these pads were tough on the hands – I had many blisters and cuts those first few months – I think by doing this, my hands became conditioned to the point now where the calluses protect against almost any problem. When I jumped up to the 5/16” bolts and CRS (Cold-Rolled Steel), I bent using the IMP’s with a small piece of leather wrapped around it for a total diameter of about 1.2.” Upon taking the bolt/bar down to 2″, I would cut a small piece off from the leather and work with until I was proficient… and so on until I was bending using just the IronMind wraps.

I hope I was able to provide you with some tips that help with your bending or enable you to reach another level of stock. To me, bending has permeated many other parts of my life (powerlifting, work, motivation, etc.) in a positive way. It has taught me how to focus intensely on one specific thing and transfer my energy in an explosive manner. A great aspect of steel bending is the many short-term goals you end up setting and achieving, and the mental effect of that success on your psyche. Many days, I find myself rushing home to start bending or skipping my off days because I just can’t wait.

If you are thinking about getting started, don’t waste any more time and just do it! Going all the way back to one of my original reasons to start bending – to help prevent wrist strains for the bench press – I haven’t had a problem with my benching since I started to bend steel.

Carl Donati, JR – Certified Red Nail Bender

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Carl, thanks so much for submitting your guest post and congratulations on your recent certification on the Red Nail. Also thanks for the props on the Nail Bending eBook. I am glad it has been helpful to you in your Journey in Steel Bending.

P.S. If you’d like to get started with Nail Bending safely, there is no better resource that the Nail Bending eBook

Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball | How to Bend Nails | How to Tear Cards | Feats of Grip Strength Explained | How to Build Your Own Equipment | How to Lift Atlas Stones | The Sh*t You’ve Never Seen | Sled Dragging for Athletes | The Road to the Record DVD