New to this and im more of a visual learner so i was looking for video of someone pinching a fig tree, ive searched the forum but the links that were listed are no longer valid.  does anyone have a personal video or know of a link that i can take a look at?  im nervous to "mess" somthing up.  ill take some pics of what my plants look like now, most of the branches look like there are 5 leaves with the 6th one coming in.  how big should the 5th/6th leaf get before pinching. thanks.

thanks dave
i saw that one but it doesnt really show him taking off the bud or pinching it.  i see that hes taken off the tip in the vid off the fig tree but it looks like there is only two leaves on the pinched part.  do i have to wait till the leaves are that large?  ill take some pics of the tree when i get home, this way i can show what im talking about so that i can learn.  thanks again.

Hi Joshua,

How much to pinch is up to you. You can just pinch the terminal bug (like in this hdtv pic) in which the plant will likely create 1-3 new branch buds from within the wound where you pinched the bud. http://hgtvhome.sndimg.com/content/dam/images/hgtv/fullset/2010/10/27/15/RX-DK-HTG31604_pinch-shoots_s4x3.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.1280.960.jpeg  Just pinch it off with your index finger and thumbnail or a sterile knife. No big art to it. 

If you just pinch the bud, you may not get much branching lower down the branch/trunk. It seems the deeper you pinch prune, the further down the trunk/branch you stimulate growth. So if you want to be aggressive, you can pinch off more sections just above a node (or a half inch above the node to allow for a little die back). If you have a healthy, growing plant and conditions aren't too stressful, the plant should heal quickly and begin to put out compensating growth. Happy figs are very resilient.

Joshua,

Don't overthink it. Pinching is really easy and hard to mess-up. Just count 5, 6 or 7 leaves on a branch then pinch the bud. Done. If you pinch too soon it will not hurt, if you pinch too late, it will not hurt. You really can't go wrong.

What is the point of pinching? 

from the research that ive done it supports better growth mostly, it gives better larger fruit as well.  Im no expert and im sure someone with a better idea or definition will tell you better.  also search pinching on the forum there are many posts.