Hit a new big PR yesterday during my workout – Bending a Grade 8 Bolt.
It sort of happened like my 505 lb. deadlift. Coming into the workout I just had a feeling I could do it. So I warmed up with some lighter bolts and nails then went into it.
Here’s the video.
This has been a goal of mine for over a year, although I haven’t been completely focused in on it.
The Grade 8 bolt is just one step away from Ironmind’s Red Nail, which when you can bend that you are considered world class at bending.
I did a lot of work with the Wrist Developer for a time. Although it mimics the reverse bending style I found it didn’t quite carry over my short bending. There may be some but it is quite a different feel to it.
So in the last two months I switched gears and started bending again.
Since one day in the future I want to certify I realized I’m going to have to start bending in Ironmind’s wraps instead of the leathers I’m familiar with. Let me tell you for me there is a world of difference.
So I started training with the much smaller wraps, that inflict more pain with bending. I worked on some easier and harder 60D nails. I was working up to being able to do a Grade 5 bolt in these wraps but didn’t quite get there…yet.
However, yesterday I decided to go back to the leathers and try my hands at the Grade 8. As you can see I was successful. I had never gotten beyond the kink before.
Check out the un-centered bend of the Grade 5 I did before the Grade 8.
It’s kind of like doing partials which can desensitize you to heavier weights. Only in this case I was using a lighter “weight” but less wraps for the desensitization.
Now I’ll continue to work with both the leathers and cordura wraps, back and forth, as I work my way towards the next goals. These include:
- Bend a Grade 5 Bolt in Ironmind Pads
- Bend a Grade 8 Bolt in Ironmind Pads
- Bend a Red Nail in Leathers
- Bend a Red Nail in Ironmind Pads
- Bend a Red Nail for Certification
If you want to bend steel, tear decks of cards and many other feats of strength I highly suggest you make your way over to here to learn from the best of the best, Dennis Rogers at our upcoming workshop.
Also if you want more tips like these (including the mental tactics I used, for this one I call ’Weakening the Steel’, and know I wouldn’t have been successful without it) then sign up for my new Peak Performance Elite Coaching. The few remaining spots are filling rapidly.
As what always happens with feats like these, once the first one falls, the rest are soon to follow.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
Filed under Feats of Strength, Hand Strength, Oldtime Strongmen by on Oct 14th, 2011. 7 Comments. 
The following is a guest post from Jedd Johnson. If you’re not familiar with Jedd you should be. He’s the co-founder of DieselCrew.com which is one of the best strength site out there. He’s also a CSCS through the NSCA, and recently got his RKC through Dragondoor. Here he’ll be talking about the benefits you can gain from bending nails (something I love to do as well).
Over the years, my favorite facet of strength training has been Grip Strength and I compete in several competitions every year. Grip Competitions involve Crushing, Pinching, Support lifting and other forms of hand and lower arm strength.
One of the coolest parts of the sport of Grip is Nail Bending. Bending nails, spikes, bolts, steel stock, drill rod, and other things is one of the most exciting and obsessive types of strength training you can do.
Up until now, Nail Bending might be one of the last things you would ever think of doing in your program, but there are actually a ton of benefits that you can get from Bending. Check these out…
1. Forearm size
Nothing has built my forearms over the years like Bending
Nail Bending involves a great deal of tension in the hands, wrists and forearms which leads to major forearm muscle development. Often, forearm work at the gym involves movements like wrist curls and other simple variations.
While wrist curls and similar classic forearm exercises bring about results, they pale in comparison to the bulk build by bending. The sustained tension of nail bending causes growth in both the flexor side of the forearm and the extensor side of the forearm, creating an impressive look of balance and control.
In short, your forearms will probably BLOW UP!
2. Mental and Physical Toughness
Bending nails, bolts and other items involves taking a perfectly good nail and twisting it into a shape that makes it completely useless for any of its normal industrial applications. You’re doing something that was never meant to be done, and to do this requires you to focus all of your strength and your mental power into the bend. A lack of commitment from either end of the spectrum will end up in your inability to finish up the bend.
In order to Bend Big Nails, you have to work hard and be mentally strong
When you become proficient in harnessing your mind’s and your body’s power in nail bending, imagine the results you will see in your other lifts or in the sport you play. You’ll be unstoppable compared to everyone else who has never truly tested themselves in the ways you have after taking on the challenge of bending.
3. Make an Impression!
Take Note: Nail bending is NOT some form of trickery or slight of hand like magic is.
However, it DOES bring about much the same reaction from a crowd.
Imagine talking about this new sort of strength training you are doing and when they ask you to show them, you bust out a nail, wrap it in a towel and bend it right before their eyes.
How awesome will that be?!?!
You could use this classic feat of strength of Bending to set yourself from everybody else at school, at the gym, or at your place of work. Instead of just blending in with the rest of the people, you will automatically be set apart from everybody else.
Instead of just somebody in the crowd, you’ll become the Strong Guy/Gal (Yes, ladies bend too!!!), or The Nail Bender.
Every time people see you, even if it’s only occasionally, you’ll be burned in their mind as somebody with a strong grip – nobody to mess with, that is for sure.
4. Get Your Name “Up in Lights”
Nail bending has been growing in popularity exponentially. In fact, you can now get certified for Serious Nail Bending.
The first widely known certification system for Bending was the IronMind Red Nail, a 7-inch long, 5/16-inch thick round piece of steel bar. This bar takes over 450-lbs of strength in order to bend.
Other sites have come on board with certifications of other pieces of steel stock, including Fat Bastard Barbell and Bender’s Battlefield. The numbers of people bending challenge bars steadily increases each day.
5. Fun
Isn’t one of the reasons you train in the first place to have fun? Well, the best thing about nail bending is that it is good pure fun. You are able to test yourself and see improvement in your technique and strength while seeing increases in confidence and mental edge.
You can crank up the music and go for a new personal best.
Over the course of time, all of the nails, bolts, and stock you bend can be saved for posterity. You can see how you progressed over the years.
One day, you’ll be able to tell your grand kids about when you first dominated the 60-penny nail or the grade-5 bolt. And maybe you can even log them onto one of the certification sites and show them the certifications you were able to acquire.
In short, nail bending is one of the most exciting parts of the sport of Grip Strength. For me, the physical and the mental benefits I have seen from nail bending are outstanding, not to mention the friendships I have made with some of the top nail benders in the United States and around the world. I
In fact, I love the challenge of Nail Bending so much I recently put together a DVD showing you everything you need to know in order to get started. This DVD contains info on Bending Techniques, Strength Building, and Hand Health so you can continue to bend and enjoy it for years to come.
This DVD is coming out soon. Look for an email from Logan very soon because he will going to tell you when it is available.
Until then, all the best in your training, and get ready to bend some steel!!!
Jedd Johnson, CSCS, RKC
Red Nail Certified – 2007
The Diesel Crew
Filed under Feats of Strength, Hand Strength, Mental Training by on Nov 29th, 2010. Comment.
Got a great question from Felipe the other day that I wanted to tackle, concerning progressions in nail bending.
First of all congratulations Logan for having such a great website your one of the strong men I follow because you have such great information and knowledge. I will be buying the advanced bridging course some time with in a month from now, your lock out was crazy bro, good stuff. I wanted to ask you a question on bending, I bought the ironmind nails level one and two, white and green and I love them. They got to easy and I ordered the yellow nails, I can’t even bend them at all there to strong. what other nails do you recommend that is harder than the green nail and easier than the yellow nail so I can bridge the gap. How should I address the situation?
Thanks Logan hope to hear from you.
The white, green, yellow, blue and red nails
However, I don’t know what they were thinking with the Bag of Nails. The jump from a white nail to a green nail is small. The same goes for the yellow to the blue. But the jump from the green to the yellow or the blue to red is HUGE.
And to be honest, I don’t think any amount of working on the green nails is really going to help you get to a yellow. You need to look outside of Ironmind to make these jumps.
There is a lot of detail that goes into this and different ways you can approach it. You can buy lengths of steel and cut them to size. Get 1/4” cold rolled steel and cut it to lengths with a pair of bolt cutters. This way you can make your own progression cutting off 1/2” at a time.
Or for where you’re at Felipe, it may be easiest to pickup 40D nails at the hardware store and work with those. But again with these, the jump from a 40D to a 60D (about the equivalent of a blue nail) is big.
For complete details on progressions with bending check out Diesel’s Nail Bending eBook. It is the definitive resource on this subject.
Actually one of my friends is looking at making a brain dead simple progression for bending, where the jumps are tiny all the way through. Going from one nail to the next is easy but there are many progressions to go from the easiest nails to past the Red nail.
Its still in development, but this is something I’d love to see made available, as I too have been stopped in making these big jumps. I know that the more progressive you can make something the easier it is.
Is this something you’d be interested in? (I’m asking everyone, including Felipe) Comment below.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
Filed under Feats of Strength, Hand Strength by on Apr 8th, 2010. 17 Comments.
A little while ago I bent my first ever legitimate 60-penny nail. I did this in the reverse grip meaning my hands were facing opposite directions. Since then I have bent one in the double overhand position which I am working more on.
Bending steel has been something that has interested me for a while. What originally got me into it was reading Spiritual Journey of Joseph L. Greenstein: The Mighty Atom
Once you get into bending you will probably be visiting your local hardware store to buy different lengths and qualities of steel to prepare your own. The Bag of Nails also comes with a hand pad (necessary so that you don’t damage your hands) but I prefer strips of leather instead.
Just saw a red nail get bent for the first time ever. While assisting at the RKC in Minnesota a couple weeks ago, one night we had some fun up in the hospitality suite. We bent steel, tore cards and phonebooks in half. Brett Jones took care of the red nail. It was very impressive. He also gave us some tips on bending and other feats. Very helpful and a great guy.
Why should you consider bending nails? Bending steel requires whole body tension. It will teach you how to use your entire body in one concentrated effort. People may think that it as a grip feat but that is only a piece of the puzzle.
It will also build your mind powers. This feat is really all about mind over matter. You will never bend a piece of steel you don’t believe you can. Wrapping your mind around the feat is as important as building the strength to be able to do it.
For example, the first time I ever bent a yellow nail (which is a hefty step up from the green) is right after my friend told me he had bent one. Now that it was ‘possible’ I finished off my first one. It took me about 15 minutes with a long break in the middle but I did it. This kind of thing happens very often which is a good reason to train with other people at least some of the time.
Another reason bending steel is great is because it is satisfying and fun. Perhaps I am weird like that, but knowing that you can demolish a piece of iron is very gratifying. Besides it is quite amazing to your average person and thus a great party trick.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
Filed under Feats of Strength, Hand Strength by on Sep 20th, 2007. 1 Comment.
