Steel Bending is a very fun and rewarding strength practice. The purpose of this article is to help new benders get started safely by avoiding some of the risks of Nail Bending. Below are the three main risks associated with Nail Bending and how to avoid them.
Cumulative Trauma
Cumulative Trauma is a "silent killer." Often benders don't think about how much trauma is going on in their joints and connective tissues. It can lead to joint pain, inflammation and pain in the tendons, and lateral and medial epicondylitis in the lower arms.
Preventive action is necessary for new benders when it comes to cumulative trauma from bending. Ramping up over the course of several weeks allows the athlete to not only gradually strengthen up the hands, wrists and lower arms, but to also gage his personal recovery abilities.
Force / Tension
Bending steel requires higher levels of force and tension in the muscles than is required in other lifting and training modalities, especially in the elbows, lower arms, wrists, etc.
One of the hardest parts of the bend is the kink, the initial angling of the steel at the beginning of the bend, requiring high tension isometrically for several seconds in order to just get the kink started.
To prevent injury from this heightened force, it is important to look for ways you can perform soft tissue work elsewhere in your training week in order to negate the stresses that are taking place in your lower arms. This can include careful stretching following your bending workouts as well as extra stretching throughout the week. On top of this, tools such as The Stick can be used to maintain soft tissue quality as well as an extra trip to the masseuse.
Recovery
Many beginners start out bending far too soon (because they are not conditioned) and they end up bending over and over again without enough time between bending sessions. It is important to monitor the bending volume. This is of course easier said than done because of how addicting bending can be.
The bender must take notice of cues going on in the body, like taking notice of how well they are able to warm up, how the weights feel in the hands, or just simply how you feel that day.
These are some of the most common ways that new benders get hurt. As you can see, a lot of these risks are preventable. It is just a matter of identifying each hazard and knowing how to prevent it. By doing so, more people can begin bending safely and enjoy it for years to come.
The author of this article competes in Grip and Nail Bending competitions. For more information, my Nail Bending DVD is your number one resource. It has all of the main techniques used in bending as well as ways to strengthen your hands and keep yourself injury free: http://thegripauthority.com/nail-bending-dvd.htm
