IronMind
Encyclopedia
IronMind Enterprises, Inc. is a niche market
Niche market
A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing; therefore the market niche defines the specific product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that is intended to impact...

 business based in Nevada City, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, that specializes in “tools of the trade for serious strength athletes.” Though many of its products include strength-training
Strength training
Strength training is the use of resistance to muscular contraction to build the strength, anaerobic endurance, and size of skeletal muscles. There are many different methods of strength training, the most common being the use of gravity or elastic/hydraulic forces to oppose muscle contraction...

 equipment and accessories, IronMind also publishes books, DVDs and the quarterly magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

 MILO: A Journal For Serious Strength Athletes.

IronMind sponsors competitions in weightlifting
Powerlifting
Powerlifting is a strength sport. It resembles the sport of Olympic weightlifting, as both disciplines involve lifting weights in three attempts. Powerlifting evolved from a sport known as 'odd lifts' which followed the same three attempt format but used a wide variety of events akin to Strongman...

, arm wrestling
Arm wrestling
Arm wrestling is a sport with two participants. Each participant places one arm on a surface with their elbows bent and touching the surface, and they grip each other's hand...

, grip strength
Grip strength
Grip strength is the force applied by the hand to pull on or suspend from objects and is a specific part of hand strength. Optimum-sized objects permit the hand to wrap around a cylindrical shape with a diameter from one to three inches. Stair rails are an example of where shape and diameter are...

 and strongman
Strongman (strength athlete)
In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or circus performers of similar ilk who displayed feats of strength such as the bent press , supporting large amounts of...

 at events such as the Arnold Sports Festival
Arnold Classic
The Arnold Classic, renamed Arnold Fitness Weekend, is an annual bodybuilding competition, named after Arnold Schwarzenegger. It takes place in late February or early March in Columbus, Ohio, United States.-History:...

, the GNC Grip Gauntlet
GNC Grip Gauntlet
The GNC Grip Gauntlet is a strength athletics contest that tests the grip strength of competing individuals over three disciplines, each designed to test one of the three recognised facets of hand strength: crushing; pinching; and supporting. It was developed by Wade Gillingham and Randall J...

, and North American Strongman.

Psychology and strength sports

IronMind was founded in 1988 by Randall J. Strossen
Randall J. Strossen
Dr. Randall J. Strossen is the founder and president of IronMind Enterprises, Inc. and the editor-in-chief and publisher of MILO journal. He wrote a monthly column called "IronMind" in IRONMAN magazine for over 12 years, starting in 1988 and has authored several books on strength training...

, a Stanford psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

 Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 with a longstanding interest in weightlifting and related strength sports. That year also marked the beginning of Strossen’s 12-year stint writing a monthly column for Iron Man
Iron Man (magazine)
Iron Man Magazine is a publication which discusses bodybuilding, weightlifting and powerlifting. It was founded in 1936 by two Alliance, Nebraska natives, Peary Rader and his wife, Mabel Rader.-History:...

magazine about the psychology of bodybuilding
Bodybuilding
Bodybuilding is a form of body modification involving intensive muscle hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. In competitive and professional bodybuilding, bodybuilders display their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points based on their...

 and weightlifting.
IronMind’s slogan, “Stronger Minds, Stronger Bodies,” reflects the company’s roots in sports psychology. It is also the subtitle of Strossen’s second book, a partial collection of his columns for Iron Man, published by IronMind in 1994.

Products

Some of IronMind’s notable products include the Captains of Crush Grippers
Captains of Crush Grippers
Captains of Crush Grippers are a brand of torsion-spring grippers designed, manufactured and sold by IronMind Enterprises, Inc., based in Nevada City, California...

, the Rolling Thunder, the Vulcan Racks system, and the book Super Squats: How to Gain 30 Pounds of Muscle in 6 Weeks.

IronMind has been a mail-order company since its inception and publishes an annual product catalog that also provides training tips, a history of strength sports, and information on subjects ranging from hand health to nutrition
Nutrition
Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....

.

The company counts scores of major collegiate
College athletics
College athletics refers primarily to sports and athletic competition organized and funded by institutions of tertiary education . In the United States, college athletics is a two-tiered system. The first tier includes the sports that are sanctioned by one of the collegiate sport governing bodies...

 and professional sports
Professional sports
Professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, are sports in which athletes receive payment for their performance. Professional athleticism has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger audiences, so that sports organizations...

 teams among its customers. Its Vulcan Racks are in use at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and most populous city of El Paso County, Colorado, United States. Colorado Springs is located in South-Central Colorado, in the southern portion of the state. It is situated on Fountain Creek and is located south of the Colorado...

, and at the US Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University
Northern Michigan University
Northern Michigan University is a four-year college public university established in 1899 located in Marquette, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. With a population of nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, Northern Michigan University is the Upper Peninsula's largest...

.

The World's Strongest Man
World's Strongest Man
The World's Strongest Man is a well recognised event in strength athletics and has been described by a number of highly respected authorities in the sport as the premier event in strongman. Organized by TWI, an IMG Media company, it is broadcast around the end of December each year...

 (WSM) contest has used IronMind’s Draft Horse Pulling Harness for its competitions since 2002. In 2006, IronMind manufactured a harness for the WSM's Car Walk event after consulting with two-time WSM winner Jouko Ahola
Jouko Ahola
Jouko Ahola is a Finnish strongman and actor. He won the 1997 and 1999 World's Strongest Man, and finished second in 1998. Ahola won the Europe's Strongest Man contest twice in 1998 and 1999, and finished fourth in 1996. Jouko won the World's Strongest Team in 1997 and 1999, and was second in 1998...

 on the design. It has been used at WSM competitions ever since.

Strength enthusiasts, people training at home and those with hand ailments such a carpal tunnel syndrome
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is an entrapment idiopathic median neuropathy, causing paresthesia, pain, and other symptoms in the distribution of the median nerve due to its compression at the wrist in the carpal tunnel. The pathophysiology is not completely understood but can be considered compression...

 and arthritis
Arthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....

 make up the rest of IronMind’s patrons.

Focus on grip strength

Grip strength
Grip strength
Grip strength is the force applied by the hand to pull on or suspend from objects and is a specific part of hand strength. Optimum-sized objects permit the hand to wrap around a cylindrical shape with a diameter from one to three inches. Stair rails are an example of where shape and diameter are...

 has been a major focus for IronMind since the company introduced its specialized line of grip-strength tools in 1990.

The idea that grip strength comprises three basic components – crushing, pinching and supporting elements (deadlift
Deadlift
The deadlift is a weight training exercise where a loaded barbell is lifted off the ground from a stabilized, bent over position. It is one of the three canonical powerlifting exercises, along with the squat and bench press.-Overview:...

ing, etc.) – was first presented to the world in the 1992 IronMind catalog. IronMind promoted and further developed this idea in later catalogs. It first published a chart in 1995 highlighting how grip strength applies to activities and professions ranging from law enforcement
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

 to powerlifting
Powerlifting
Powerlifting is a strength sport. It resembles the sport of Olympic weightlifting, as both disciplines involve lifting weights in three attempts. Powerlifting evolved from a sport known as 'odd lifts' which followed the same three attempt format but used a wide variety of events akin to Strongman...

 and playing music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

, and expanded on it in subsequent catalogs.

Two books written by grip-strength expert John Brookfield and published by IronMind – Mastery of Hand Strength, Revised Edition (2008) and The Grip Master's Manual (2002) – also expand upon these basic components of grip strength, which are now considered as widely accepted fact.

Captains of Crush Grippers

Main Article: Captains of Crush Grippers
Captains of Crush Grippers
Captains of Crush Grippers are a brand of torsion-spring grippers designed, manufactured and sold by IronMind Enterprises, Inc., based in Nevada City, California...



IronMind is known worldwide for its Captains of Crush line of hand grippers
Grippers
Grippers, sometimes called hand grippers, are primarily used for testing and increasing the strength of the hands; this specific form of grip strength has been called crushing grip, which has been defined as meaning the prime movers are the four fingers, rather than the thumb.There are differences...

. These grippers, considered the “industry standard” in building grip strength, have become somewhat of a cult phenomenon
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...

 and have amassed a worldwide following – one British strength enthusiast has written into his will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...

 that he would like to be buried with his Captains of Crush hand gripper.

In 1991, IronMind began certifying people able to close the company’s benchmark Captains of Crush No. 3 gripper; certification on the Captains of Crush No. 4 was added in 1998 and certification on the Captains of Crush No. 3.5 was added in 2008.

Only five people (Joe Kinney, Nathan Holle, David Morton, Tommy Heslep and Magnus Samuelsson
Magnus Samuelsson
Magnus Samuelsson , is a Swedish strongman and winner of the 1998 World's Strongest Man contest in Morocco...

) have been certified for closing the No. 4.

Publications

IronMind has published 18 books by established authors such as John McCallum
John McCallum (author)
John Dennis McCallum was a sportswriter, as well as a writer on strength training topics. McCallum married television and movie actress Marjie Millar in 1960....

, Ben Weider
Ben Weider
Benjamin "Ben" Weider, was the co-founder of the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness along with brother Joe Weider...

 and David Webster. It has also developed and published books by such first-time authors as John Brookfield, Steve Jeck, Steve Justa, Brad Johnson and Brian Jones, many of whom have become authorities in their fields.

Randall J. Strossen’s first book, Super Squats: How to Gain 30 Pounds of Muscle in 6 Weeks (1989), was also the first product offered by IronMind. It presents the classic 20-rep squat
Squat (exercise)
In strength training, the squat is a compound, full body exercise that trains primarily the muscles of the thighs, hips and buttocks, quads , hamstrings, as well as strengthening the bones, ligaments and insertion of the tendons throughout the lower body...

 routine, a routine best known for helping people bulk up in a short period of time. The book is currently in its eighteenth printing (in English) and has been translated into German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

.

As a photographer
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

 and editor-in-chief for IronMind’s quarterly journal MILO (launched in 1993), Strossen flies over 100,000 miles a year to cover strength-sport events around the world. MILO is the only American bodybuilding or weightlifting magazine to receive media accreditation to cover weightlifting at the 1996
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....

, 2000
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

, 2004
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

 and the 2008 Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...

.

Arnold Sports Festival

IronMind has been involved as a sponsor or an organizer of the International Weightlifting Invitational, GNC Grip Gauntlet
GNC Grip Gauntlet
The GNC Grip Gauntlet is a strength athletics contest that tests the grip strength of competing individuals over three disciplines, each designed to test one of the three recognised facets of hand strength: crushing; pinching; and supporting. It was developed by Wade Gillingham and Randall J...

 and Arm Wrestling events at the Arnold Sports Festival
Arnold Classic
The Arnold Classic, renamed Arnold Fitness Weekend, is an annual bodybuilding competition, named after Arnold Schwarzenegger. It takes place in late February or early March in Columbus, Ohio, United States.-History:...

 (also known as the Arnold Classic or just “the Arnold” and named after Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....

) for several years.

In 2005, IronMind worked with the event’s co-founder, Jim Lorimer, to bring Shi Zhiyong
Shi Zhiyong
Shi Zhiyong is a Chinese weightlifter. He became Olympic Champion during the 2004 Summer Olympics. He lifted a total of 325 kg, equalising the World record at that time....

 and Zhang Guozheng
Zhang Guozheng
TotalZhang Guozheng is a Chinese weightlifter. Zhang is a World champion, Olympic champion and World Record holder.He began his current career of weightlifting when he started Nanping Sport School in March 1983. He then studied at the Beijing Sports University from 1988 to 1998. During college,...

 – the two gold medalists from China’s 2004 Olympic men’s weightlifting team
China at the 2004 Summer Olympics
China competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.The team won 32 gold medals and 63 medals in total ....

 – to Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...

, for the weightlifting exhibition at that year’s festival.

The following year, IronMind continued to help internationalize the Arnold by bringing in three more 2004 Olympic medalists in weightlifting: George Asanidze
George Asanidze
Giorgi Leonidov Asanidze is a Georgian weightlifter who competed in the men's 85 kg at the 2000 Summer Olympics and 2004 Summer Olympics ....

 (Republic of Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

), Le Maosheng
Le Maosheng
Le Maosheng is a Chinese weightlifter who competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics and in the 2004 Summer Olympics.In 2000 he finished fourth in the 62 kg class. Four years later he won the silver medal in the 62 kg class....

 (China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

) and Velichko Cholakov
Velichko Cholakov
TotalTotalVelichko Cholakov is a Bulgarian weightlifter.He competed in the over 105 kg class at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, his first Olympics, winning an Olympic bronze medal...

 (Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

).

Further reading

  • Brookfield, John. 2008. Mastery of Hand Strength, Revised Edition. Nevada City: IronMind Enterprises, Inc. (ISBN 978-0926888-81-4)
  • Brookfield, John. 2002. The Grip Master's Manual. Nevada City: IronMind Enterprises, Inc. (ISBN 0-926888-11-0)
  • Jeck, Steve and Peter Martin. 1996. Of Stones and Strength. Nevada City: IronMind Enterprises, Inc. (ISBN 0-926888-05-6)
  • Johnson, Brad. 2005. Bodyweight Exercises for Extraordinary Strength. Nevada City: IronMind Enterprises, Inc. (ISBN 978-0-926888-78-4)
  • Jones, Brian. 2008. Grappling Basics: A New Twist on Conditioning. Nevada City: Ironmind Enterprises, Inc. (ISBN 978-0926888-79-1)
  • Jones, Brian. 2004. The Complete Sandbag Training Course. Nevada City: Ironmind Enterprises,Inc. (ISBN 978-0926888777)
  • Jones, Brian. 2007. The Conditioning Handbook: Getting in Top Shape. Nevada City: IronMind Enterprises, Inc. (ISBN 978-0-926888-14-2)
  • Justa, Steve. 1998. Rock Iron Steel: The Book of Strength. Nevada City: IronMind Enterprises, Inc. (ISBN 0-926888-07-2)
  • McCallum, John. 1993. The Complete Keys to Progress. Ed. Randall J. Strossen. Nevada City: IronMind Enterprises, Inc. (ISBN 0-926888-01-3)
  • Strossen, Randall J. 1989. Super Squats: How to Gain 30 Pounds of Muscle in 6 Weeks. Nevada City: IronMind Enterprises, Inc. (ISBN 0-926888-00-5)
  • Strossen, Randall J. 1994. IronMind: Stronger Minds, Stronger Bodies. Nevada City: IronMind Enterprises, Inc. (ISBN 0-926888-02-1)
  • Strossen, Randall J., J.B. Kinney, and Nathan Holle. 2009. Captains of Crush Grippers: What They Are and How to Close Them, Second Edition. Nevada City: IronMind Enterprises, Inc. (ISBN 978-0926888-84-5)
  • Webster, David. 1997. Sons of Samson: Volume 2 Profiles. Nevada City: IronMind Enterprises, Inc. (ISBN 0-926888-06-4)
  • Weider, Ben. 2000. Louis Cyr: Amazing Canadian. Nevada City: IronMind Enterprises, Inc. (ISBN 0-926888-09-9)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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