Any person with a commitment to fitness and strength can bend a nail, it just takes three things:
- Specific Training
- Practice
- Time
Specific Training:
It doesn't matter if you have a 400lb bench if you have weak wrists and weak hands. When you clamp down on a nail, the amount of torque you can apply is limited by how much energy can be transferred through the wrist and hand. Each time I watch a big guy try to bend a nail, they all do the same thing: they try to bend it, but their wrists start to bend with it until their wrists are bent to the extreme of their natural range of motion. You would think the strong guy would stop, but he keeps contorting his weak wrists until he gives up in pain from straining his wrists. Finally, he stops, out of breath and red in the face, rubs his wrists, and gives the nail back. He then mentions that he benched 450 yesterday, and subtly flexes his 18" arm...
To bend a nail, you need specific strength. This is the strength specifically used to transfer strength from the chest through the wrist and hand, on to the nail. Of all hand and wrist exercises on the market, nothing beats the Sledgehammer. I'm not talking about any fancy grip tool, but a simple sledgehammer from Lowes, the Home Depot or Ace. They sell 6, 8, 10, 12, 16 and 20lb sledges, and more. I would suggest starting with an 8lb sledge (about 20 bucks). Grab the hammer as low as you can (closer to the head makes it easier), hold the sledge in front of you with your elbow at your side, and lower the weight to parallel with a twist of the wrist so that your palm is facing downward. Instantly, you will notice the incredible torque and stress on the tendons in your wrist. If it's easy, slide your hand away from the head, if it's hard, slide your hand closer to the head.
Torque: The key to these exercises is torque. Torque is a force found by multiplying weight of the object (sledge head) by the length of the lever arm, measured in inch-pounds (ip). A 10lb sledge at 30 inches is 300 ip. To make a point, a 16lb sledge only takes a handle length of 19 inches to apply 300 ip of force. Still, a hypothetical 300lb sledge only needs a 1" handle, and a hypothetical one-pound sledge would need a 300" handle to both equal 300 inch-pounds. Also, you can see how sliding your hand away from the head doesn't effect weight in anyway, but the torque increases by every mm of movement. Also note that as the sledge travels from the vertical position to the horizontal position, the experienced ip's increase up to the full weight times handle length max. If you don't get the sledge parallel, you aren't experiencing the full torque. In any sledge feat, it doesn't matter if your arm is parallel to the ground, only that the sledge is.
This twisting side-to-side movement is the main bending motion for the classical style of bending "Slim Style", with a double overhand grip on the nail. You can also try all different twists and lifts with the hammer, holding the handle at different lengths and angles. All will build hand and wrist strength specific to nail bending.
Other forms are holding the hammer with your arm straight down at your side, with the head by your foot, and keeping your arm still, raising the hammer to the front or rear. Both build strength specific to the traditional hand-over-hand form of bending. Another favorite is tossing the hammer from hand to hand. This really teaches the hand and wrist to contract powerfully against a force.
Another style of bending is "spike style", a style traditionally used for bending 80D, 100D nails, and spikes, usualy reserved for large men with large hands. With this form, the bar is held with a double under-hand grip and is bent upwards. From all of these styles, each one fits each person differently. We all have different body mechanics and ideal leverages. Try each style, and one or two will feel right for your body. On average, the traditional, hand-over-hand style has been used by nail benders since nails were first bent. This technique allows people to bend the harder nails with less effort, and this "traditional style" is commonly used by some of the better benders of today. Then again, John Brookfield bent the RED nail with a slim-style bend, and the Holle brothers (Welsh super-strong benders and hand strength trainers) all bend with a high slim-style bend..
Now that we have strengthened our wrists so we can apply the force from our upper body, we need to ensure we have a tight grip on the nail. That strong chest with strong wrists is useless if the nail is going to slip around with a weak grip. Grip strength can be increased through any of the classical hand-strengthening techniques; block weights, grippers, pinching, thick-bar, V-bar, ect. Any exercise you do for the hand will have some cross-over to bending. I've found grippers are great for tendon strength, but that tight vice-like grip is more important.
For me, doing a V-bar lift with 3/8" steel works great. It teaches your body how to clamp down tightly on a thin object. What works even better is buying a 7" by 3/8" eye-bolt. Grasp the bolt like you would a nail, and then clip the eye-bolt on to a loading pin. Then, you can rotate your hand in any direction. This builds the vice-like grip, but more importantly, it toughens the tissues where you would commonly bend a nail. In the technique I use for bending, my left thumb is the major fulcrum, so I practice with the eye-bolt to toughen my hand in that position and to toughen/de-sensitize that part of my hand. I've also used this exercise to re-habilitate a nasty bending injury on my right fore-finger.
Another key training tool is block weights. Block weights strengthen the entire hand and make it much more solid and firm. You'll never, ever, regret adding block weight training to your work outs.
As a final piece of specific training, you need a strong upper body. You don't have to weight-train, but it helps A LOT. You just can't finish crushing a nail into a "U" after the 90-degree bend, with out a strong chest and arms. Specifically, I've found dips and reverse grip bent-over-rows to be great exercises for developing bending strength. Also, a final ideal way of developing this total body bending strength, is the bending and straightening of 3' by 1/2" hot rolled steel (HRS). Bend a bar around your neck, strong-man-style, but then use just your hands and upper body to partially straighten and re-crush the bar. After a set of three, you will see how unique this exercise is, as it hits all of your stabilizers, main movers, hands and wrists in a very unique way. Another great lift is stone lifting or brick-lifting. Both teach your body to crush inwards, developing the tendon strength needed for bending. A last one I do is isometrics with a 4' wooden rod. Grasp and squeeze inward using any angle imaginable while watching TV or warming down. Try it for 30 minutes and notice how the body feels the next day.
Practice:
As John Brookfield said, the best way to get better at bending nails, is bending nails. There is no extra lifting, extra bending or fancy hand-strength tools that will improve nail bending as much as bending a nail. Bending does a number of things. First, it teaches you technique. You will learn the correct form of how to bend by bending. It will teach you the weaknesses of the steel and how you can best apply your strength to the nail. You'll learn what works and what doesn't work, and will develop the feel and rhythm of how a nail bends. Second, bending develops strength in your upper body, hands, and wrists. No weight routine will hit these muscles as directly as bending. Finally, bending will toughen your hands. Undoubtedly, one of the limiting factors of bending is pain. Either where the nail is pressed into the palm, or where the nail is bent over a finger or thumb, there is quite a lot of pressure. Bending will slowly de-sensitize the nerves in your hand and fingers. Also, each time you bend, there is minor (or extreme) damage to your hand's soft tissues. Each time this happens, you will repair the damage, resulting in tougher more resilient hands. So, after each bending session when you notice the pain and bruises in your hand, don't be worried, it's just a sign that you'll be tougher the next time you bend.
Note: Bending isn't a sadistic activity, if done correctly. 99% of benders bend with a wash-cloth around the nail to protect the hands. It is highly advised to use a cloth to pad your hands. It makes the bend a bit awkward, but the lessened pain and lowered risk of damage is well worth it. Not only can you pad your hands, but you should pad your hands unless you'd like bone-bruises, tendon damage and deep-tissue injuries. (please pad your hands) On the other hand, many strong men have conditioned their hands to bend 60D nails. John Brookfield bent a 50 lb box of 60D nails, consecutively! Bare handed!!! But he's been bending for some 30 years, and his hands have become what he works against: steel.
To Practice bending nails, you need to slowly increase the poundage and volume of your bends. To do this, you need a graduated system. What seems to be the hands-down best technique is 3' lengths of Hot Rolled Steel from Lowes, Home Depot or a Welding supplier. You can also buy the Bag-o-Nails from IronMind.com. Start with 3/16" HRS, and cut it down to 7" lengths. This is about 110 lbs, and you will use it to understand the form and feel of bending.
Note: The poundage of a nail is found by hanging a nail by its ends with a weight hanging directly in the middle of the nail. The poundage of a nail is the weight it takes to not just start bending the nail, but to completely bend it past 20-degrees or so. Some steel will bend a few degrees with a lighter weight, but after about 10-degrees, the nail will completely bend with that weight.
Once you've bent a few 7" segments, start to cut the 3/16" steel down by or 1/4" segments until you can bend a 5" segment. This is the rough equivalent of an IronMind GREEN nail at 160 lbs. To cut steel, you have two options. One is a hack saw, but it takes a lot of time, and in your boredom of sawing through HRS, you may cut yourself. I have the scars to prove this point. The other technique is a set of bolt cutters. They are simple, quick, and only about 10 buck more to buy. It's worth every penny.
After you have mastered 3/16" steel, it's time to move on to 1/4" HRS. Start with a 7" segment at 210 lbs, and slowly work your way down to a 6" segment of 260 lbs. These are the equivalent of IronMind YELLOW and BLUE nails respectively. If you can do this, and your hands can take it, work your way down a 5" piece. When you can accomplish this admirable feat, it's time to move on to 5/16" HRS. If you make it this far, you won't need my advice anymore...
Another part of bending is Cold Rolled Steel. CRS is much different and much harder than HRS as it is denser and completely un-flexible; completely a different experience all together. Besides steel, you can practice with nails. Ideally, I'd recommend the 30lb bucket of 6" spiral nails or "timber ties". They weigh in around 180 and are fun to bend as a warm-up or for volume. The other mark-of-a-man is bending 60-penny nails. They very in strength from around 240 to 310 lbs. After that, there are 80D and 100D nails, but you may wish to wait on bending them.
With practice, there are a few ways to train. One way is to bend once a week. Take one day a week to warm up, bend big, and then PR. This intense work out leaves you the entire week to recover. Another way is to bend every other day with less intensity. The more volume will build the toughness of your hands greatly. Finally, my favorite way of bending is to bend 4 on 3 off, or 5 on 2 off. This technique allowed me to really toughen my hands and perfect my form. When your body gets sore and fatigued, it forces you to use the ultimate leverage and form to accomplish the task. Bending all day long, all week long is difficult and painful, but for me, it's had great results.
Over all, practice makes perfect, and every nail you bend of any weight will make you a better bender. Below are two example work outs that I follow. The first is while being well-rested on a PR day. The second is a volume day where I'm trying to smoke my self, toughen my hands, and perfect form. In both cases the time between bends is "as needed". Sometimes its 45 seconds, sometimes its 5 minutes. It depends on how I feel.
Example #1: Warm Up: GREEN nail x 1, 6" Spiral nail x1.
Work Out: BLUE nail x 1, 60D nail x 1
Max: 5/16" HRS max length PR x 1
Cool down: 6" Spiral nail x 1
Example #2: Warm Up: 20D nail x 3
Work Out: 6" Spiral nail x 6
Max: 60D nail x 3
Cool down: 20D nail x 2
Ok, those were work outs I used to do, here are the ones I use now.
Example #1: Warm Up: Timber Tie x 1
Work Out: 60D's until failure
Example #2: Warm Up: Timber Tie x 1, 60D x 2, wait 10 minutes.
Work Out: Grade 5, cut to max length x 1
Time:
The final piece of nail bending, is time. Nobody is going to gain super-human bending strength over night. 6 weeks can do wonders, but the big bends are out of the picture. The hand has limitless strength, but it takes time. Unlike the main muscles of the body that deflate with age, the hands will keep getting stronger every day you train them. In fact, world record hand-strength feats are being done by men in their 60's and 70's! When you sit down to explore hand strength training and nail bending, don't think about your abilities next month, but instead have the discipline to think of your strength next year. More so, think of your hands 10 years from now, or if you are obsessed like myself, think of your hands 40 years from now. Your potential is truly limitless.
It seems that too many young benders start off on a mission to bend the RED in as little time as possible, but in the process, the push their bodies beyond their capabilities and end up injured. You must really look at Time, and how to progress. If you are a 25 year old bender, your main focus should be what you are bending when you are 35. With that attitude and mentality, you're bending strength will reach world-class levels. If you set your self a 6 month goal to bend the RED, you will end up injured. That's a fact.
Well, that's my little lesson on nail bending. Train the specific parts of the bend, from upper body lifts, to sledge work for the wrists, to general hand strength training. Then, bend hard and bend often to toughen the hands and learn technique. Finally, be patient with your training and you will achieve great things. Train hard and train smart.
-Eric
Bending Photo Sequence
Important Tips for the Newbie!
Nail Weights
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