Bar bending or iron bending is a display of physical strength derived from early circus strongman performers, which was used in a sporting context in strength competitions such as the World's Strongest Man.[1] It requires the strongmen to grip long iron rods from their edges, use their arm and grip strength, and bend until the two ends come closer to each other.[2]
Early influence to strongman competitions edit
From eighteenth century through the age of vaudeville strongmen of nineteenth century[3] until around mid twentieth century, traditional strongmen like Thomas Topham, Louis 'Apollon' Uni, Warren Lincoln Travis, Hermann Görner,[4] Joe 'Mighty Atom' Greenstein,[5] Zishe Breitbart, Arthur Saxon, John B. Gagnon and Joe Rollino[6] experimented with different techniques and variations on how to bend the iron in the most impressive ways.[2]
When bar bending was featured at the inaugural World's Strongest Man competition in 1977, with Lou Ferrigno winning the event while Franco Columbu emerging second, it became a fan favourite event.[7] Its popularity led bar bending to be continued for six more years until 1983.[8] One of the most notorious moments of strongman occurred during 1981 World's Strongest Man competition when Bill Kazmaier and Geoff Capes injured themselves[9] while attempting to bend the final iron bar of the event to declare the event winner.[10] Grip strength specialists like Richard Sorin, John Brookfield, David Horne and Greg Matonick continued to experiment with more variations and along with strength advocates like Randall J. Strossen diversified the gamut of bar bending.[11][3] In 2013, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson established a new Guinness World Record by bending 4 × iron rods (each with a 5⁄8 inch (1.6 cm) diameter) in only 30 seconds.[12]
In 2021, the company TSSBCI created short steel bending (bending steel bars less than 8 inches in length) progressions designed for the mass market consumer. The bars they sell are rated at the poundage of force (roughly) required to bend them.
References edit
- ^ "How I Learned to Bend Steel". thedailybeast.com. 2015-08-09. Archived from the original on 2023-07-09. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
- ^ a b Chris Schoeck, Bending Steel (2013) (20 April 2013). "A documentary by Dave Carroll and Ryan Scafuro". Tribeca Film Festival.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b "BENDING SHORT STEEL BARS, BOLTS AND NAILS by David Horne". www.davidhorne-gripmaster.com. 3 October 2006. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
- ^ Goerner the Mighty, Edgar Mueller, Vulcan Publishing, Leeds, 1951
- ^ "Mighty Joe Old". New York Magazine. New York Media, LLC: 68. 3 June 1974. ISSN 0028-7369.
- ^ Fernandez, Manny; Schmidt, Michael S. (January 11, 2010). "At a Mighty 104, Gone While Still Going Strong". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2019-04-25. Retrieved 2010-01-12.
- ^ "1977 World's Strongest Man". Strongman Archives. 17 May 1977. Archived from the original on 3 December 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
- ^ "1983 World's Strongest Man". Strongman Archives. 19 May 1983. Archived from the original on 9 July 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
- ^ "Twelve of the WORST Strongman Injuries - 12:51 Bar bending". Big Loz Official. Archived from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
- ^ "1981 World's Strongest Man". Strongman Archives. 10 May 1981. Archived from the original on 9 July 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
- ^ "2005 World Steel Bending Championships". Randall J. Strossen for IronMind Enterprises, Inc. 18 June 2004. Archived from the original on 9 July 2023. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
- ^ "Hafthor Julius Bjornsson sets World Record bending cast iron". YouTube. Archived from the original on 22 October 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2022.