The almighty IronMind Red Nail. we all know the name and yet a mere few have stepped up to the plate and crushed this piece of cold rolled steel to within the two inch mark that the bending community views as the gold standard. Why is this feat tough and why do many who have been training for some time fail at destroying this feat? In my mind, any feat is attainable with the right training and the right investigation into that specific process. that being said, let’s go over some factors that people might look over when bending nails and achieving their goals:

Crushing grip is an extremely important aspect of grip strength; when we grab onto a bar or pick up a cylindrical (small in diameter) object, our crushing grip is (in my opinion) taxed the most and without a strong crush grip. That being said, bending is not something you can accomplish by simply having a strong crush grip because of how much pressure is put on the wrists and the upper body. Ulnar and radial deviations are important as well as wrist rotational exercises to increase strength and stability in those areas that might be lacking because of a focus in other categories I.e. crush/ pinch. Another aspect people neglect is actual upper body strengthening. I like to accomplish this with exercises such as kettle bell crushes for time, cable flies to simulate the compression associated with bending, pec deck machine flies and anything else that will help me get used to applying those maximal compressive forces to my large nail bends like the Red Nail or any other 5/8 cold or hot rolled steel.

Bending is a simple process. if you get the set up correct and understand the fundamentals, your skills and strength will just keep increasing! Understand that when a bend is started, the person initiating the bend is compressing the two ends of steel and not trying to actually bend it. If you attempt to bend the steel down like most individual assume is correct, the wrists’ posture will break and the elbows will drop removing all possibilities of a bend. the bending community refers to this as “chicken winging.” Maybe the name of this feat should be referred to as compressing and not bending, might be a simple way to remove an assumption that has plagued many novice strongmen.

MORE INFORMATION: The author has produced a great deal of nail bending information over the years including a beginner’s guide to feats of strength nail bending. The most important thing when starting bending is proper technique and preventive measures so be sure to learn how to bend steel technique safely.