Women And The Steel Slayer List

[bencrush]

My wife Carrie has been on a real roll the past few weeks and just in the last week alone has knocked out a few really good bends with pads that would definitely qualify for the Steel Slayer list.

She bent a 13/64"X7" Drill Rod (O-1) that was calibrated at 180lbs (bought from a Bender's Battlefield certified calibrator, Mike Krahling) in about 30 seconds the other day. And that was really out of the blue since she doesn't actually train bending at all. I just happened to be reverse bending the other day and wrapped up another bar and asked her if she's take a shot at it. She has good shoulder flexibility and quite good DO form for someone who's probably bent a total now of about 10 bars ever.

Yesterday I reverse bent a 1/4"X7" Drill Rod (O-1) that was calibrated at 215lbs and then left it at 2 and 7/8" for a while so it could cool off. I asked her to see if she could crush it down and she did get it to 2" without a ton of trouble, using the 4"X11" pads - which are a hair less than 1" in diameter when wrapped around a 1/4" bar.

Today I cut a 1/4"X7" CRS-National and ground the edges off. Wrapped it up tight in the Steel Slayer pads and had her give it a shot. No warmup, as is usual for the small number of bends she's done. About 40 seconds later the 1/4"X7" CRS was at 1 and 5/8"! I'm really proud of her for smashing through that bend! I kept telling her that I didn't even bend that (DO) without quite a struggle while I was still dialing in my DO form in 2006.

While trying to talk her into certifying on some of these bends (here and on the Benders Battlefield) she hinted that I may have to do some kind of trade in exchange for her "training" this stuff, since it really doesn't interest her enough to give it much thought. I asked what a trade might consist of...she said maybe I'd have to do some knitting and in exchange she'd do a few bends here and there, haha! Comical, but I'll call her bluff and knit a damn gripper coozie if that's what it takes to get her hooked on bending. At least one of us is able to bend pain free now.

Not bending related, but almost more impressive than her bending today was the fact that she MMS smashed the #1 righty and then held it for a 2-count! First time closing the #1 but she's been very close for the past week or so. She has actually been training grippers with the V-gripper and the occasional 2 or 3 attempts on the #1 itself during the week. I'd say she's done a total of 12 gripper workouts this year and the #1 has fallen in her lap. Now she's actually very excited since she finally believes me that a #1 close is a pretty big deal (hate to say the dreaded "for a woman" line...) with that little training.

[Tim71]

Wow tell her good job! Man I wished my wife would get into that but I've given up hope. I do good to keep my sons interested for any length of time.

Nice on the gripper close as well. I've never had a female close my trainer so a #1 is pretty darn good if you ask me. I've had plenty of guys who couldn't close my #1 including a prison guard who I thought was pretty stout.

Tim

[bencrush]

Thanks Tim! I'll tell her for you. I will never ask her again if she wants to certify on any list here since there is no interest it seems from anyone else.

[Sher]

That's great to see her getting into grip. A #1 close is really good - she should be stoked about it! I've been able to close/hold my trainer for a while now, but the #1 still eludes me.

Just saw your post, Ben. Why do you need interest from others for her to certify on a list? [Just didn't understand what you meant...?]

[bencrush]

That's great to see her getting into grip. A #1 close is really good - she should be stoked about it! I've been able to close/hold my trainer for a while now, but the #1 still eludes me.

Just saw your post, Ben. Why do you need interest from others for her to certify on a list? [Just didn't understand what you meant...?]

Thanks Sherrie! My post wasn't worded right. My wife couldn't care less what others think of her bending and gripper stuff. I only wanted to get her motivated to do more and thought that if there was a good depth of female records it might do the trick. I was wrong on that count though.

[odin]

My wife Carrie has been on a real roll the past few weeks and just in the last week alone has knocked out a few really good bends with pads that would definitely qualify for the Steel Slayer list.

She bent a 13/64"X7" Drill Rod (O-1) that was calibrated at 180lbs (bought from a Bender's Battlefield certified calibrator, Mike Krahling) in about 30 seconds the other day. And that was really out of the blue since she doesn't actually train bending at all. I just happened to be reverse bending the other day and wrapped up another bar and asked her if she's take a shot at it. She has good shoulder flexibility and quite good DO form for someone who's probably bent a total now of about 10 bars ever.

Yesterday I reverse bent a 1/4"X7" Drill Rod (O-1) that was calibrated at 215lbs and then left it at 2 and 7/8" for a while so it could cool off. I asked her to see if she could crush it down and she did get it to 2" without a ton of trouble, using the 4"X11" pads - which are a hair less than 1" in diameter when wrapped around a 1/4" bar.

Today I cut a 1/4"X7" CRS-National and ground the edges off. Wrapped it up tight in the Steel Slayer pads and had her give it a shot. No warmup, as is usual for the small number of bends she's done. About 40 seconds later the 1/4"X7" CRS was at 1 and 5/8"! I'm really proud of her for smashing through that bend! I kept telling her that I didn't even bend that (DO) without quite a struggle while I was still dialing in my DO form in 2006.

While trying to talk her into certifying on some of these bends (here and on the Benders Battlefield) she hinted that I may have to do some kind of trade in exchange for her "training" this stuff, since it really doesn't interest her enough to give it much thought. I asked what a trade might consist of...she said maybe I'd have to do some knitting and in exchange she'd do a few bends here and there, haha! Comical, but I'll call her bluff and knit a damn gripper coozie if that's what it takes to get her hooked on bending. At least one of us is able to bend pain free now.

Not bending related, but almost more impressive than her bending today was the fact that she MMS smashed the #1 righty and then held it for a 2-count! First time closing the #1 but she's been very close for the past week or so. She has actually been training grippers with the V-gripper and the occasional 2 or 3 attempts on the #1 itself during the week. I'd say she's done a total of 12 gripper workouts this year and the #1 has fallen in her lap. Now she's actually very excited since she finally believes me that a #1 close is a pretty big deal (hate to say the dreaded "for a woman" line...) with that little training.

Congrats to Carrie Ben! I'm sure you've let her know that you can hand a #1 to many random guys and the vast majority won't close it. She could always bring a gripper to work to humiliate egotistical co-workers, maybe that would be motivating?

"gripper coozie"

[Sher]

That's great to see her getting into grip. A #1 close is really good - she should be stoked about it! I've been able to close/hold my trainer for a while now, but the #1 still eludes me.

Just saw your post, Ben. Why do you need interest from others for her to certify on a list? [Just didn't understand what you meant...?]

Thanks Sherrie! My post wasn't worded right. My wife couldn't care less what others think of her bending and gripper stuff. I only wanted to get her motivated to do more and thought that if there was a good depth of female records it might do the trick. I was wrong on that count though.

Ah. No, there's not been more than a couple of women on any kind of grip list that I've seen. I'm personally not into bending or I'd be up for a competition! (I say that not knowing at all how I'd do...!) Hopefully, she'll find motivation through successively tougher bends and your own enthusiasm for it.