IronMind Enterprises, Inc. is an American niche market business based in Nevada City, California, that specializes in "tools of the trade for serious strength athletes." Though many of its products include strength-training equipment and accessories, IronMind also publishes books, DVDs and the quarterly magazine '' MILO: A Journal For Serious Strength Athletes''. IronMind sponsors competitions in weightlifting,

arm wrestling Arm wrestling (also spelled armwrestling) is a sport with two opponents who face each other with their bent elbows placed on a table and hands firmly gripped, who then attempt to force the opponent's hand down to the table top ("pin" them). The s ...

, grip strength and strongman at events such as the

Arnold Sports Festival The IFBB Arnold Sports Festival, also known as the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival, is an annual multi-sport event consisting of professional bodybuilding (''Arnold Classic''), strongman ('' Arnold Strongman Classic''), fitness, figure ...

, the

GNC Grip Gauntlet The GNC Grip Gauntlet (officially the ''GNC Pro Performance 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 h ...

, and North American Strongman.

Psychology and strength sports

IronMind was founded in 1988 by

Randall J. Strossen Dr. Randall J. Strossen is an American strength and physical culture advocate, kinesiologist, equipment manufacturer, historian, journalist, author, teacher and an expert in grip strength training. He is the founder and president of IronMind En ...

, a

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

PhD 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 is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The charact ...

'' magazine about the psychology of

bodybuilding Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses ...

and weightlifting. IronMind's slogan, "Stronger Minds, Stronger Bodies," reflects the company's roots in

sports psychology Sport psychology was defined by the European Federation of Sport in 1996, as the study of the psychological basis, processes, and effects of sport. Otherwise, sport is considered as any physical activity where the individuals engage for competi ...

. 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 (commonly nicknamed "''CoC''") is a brand of torsion-spring grippers (a torsion spring fitted with two handles) designed, manufactured and sold by IronMind Enterprises, Inc., based in Nevada City, California. They are t ...

, 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 A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "hand ...

to nutrition. The company counts scores of major collegiate and professional sports teams among its customers. Its Vulcan Racks are in use at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and at the US Olympic Education Center at

Northern Michigan University Northern Michigan University (Northern Michigan, Northern or NMU) is a public university in Marquette, Michigan. It was established in 1899 by the Michigan Legislature as Northern State Normal School. In 1963, the state designated Northern a uni ...

. The World's Strongest Man (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 (born December 1, 1970) is a Finnish former strongman, powerlifter and actor. He is a two time World's Strongest Man winner, a two time Europe's Strongest Man winner, and is regarded ...

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 and

arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In some ...

make up the rest of IronMind's patrons.

Focus on grip strength

Grip strength 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 The deadlift is a weight training exercise in which a loaded barbell or bar is lifted off the ground to the level of the hips, torso perpendicular to the floor, before being placed back on the ground. It is one of the three powerlifting exercises ...

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 Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term ...

powerlifting Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight single-lift eff ...

and playing music, 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

IronMind is known worldwide for its Captains of Crush line of hand grippers. These grippers, considered the "industry standard" in building grip strength, have become somewhat of a cult phenomenon and have amassed a worldwide following – one British strength enthusiast has written into his will 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) have been certified for closing the No. 4.

Publications

IronMind has published 18 books by established authors such as John McCallum, Ben 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 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. As a photographer 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 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on b ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

Arnold Sports Festival

IronMind has been involved as a sponsor or an organizer of the International Weightlifting Invitational,

and Arm Wrestling events at the

(also known as the Arnold Classic or just "the Arnold" and named after Arnold Schwarzenegger) for several years. In 2005, IronMind worked with the event's co-founder, Jim Lorimer, to bring Shi Zhiyong and Zhang Guozheng – the two gold medalists from China's 2004 Olympic men's weightlifting team – to

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

, 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 ( Republic of Georgia), Le Maosheng (China) and

Velichko Cholakov Velichko Cholakov ( bg, Величко Чолаков, 12 January 1982 20 August 2017) was a Bulgarian weightlifter. Career He competed in the over 105 kg class at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, his first Olympics, winning an Olympi ...

(

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

Footnotes

External links

IronMind NewsCaptains of Crush GrippersArnold Sports FestivalNorth American StrongmanFunctional Hand Strength
from

The Sacramento Bee ''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...

Weight training equipment Publishing companies based in California Companies based in Nevada County, California Publishing companies established in 1988 Book publishing companies based in California 1988 establishments in California