Talking about the days when he was into ferociously-intense grip training - the very thing that enabled him to be the first person certified on the No. 4 Captains of Crush® Gripper - Joe Kinney told IronMind®, "I think my body knew it had to get stronger; it knew that it had to adapt."


Joe Kinney, the first man to officially close a No. 4 Captains of Crush® Gripper is an example of how a good attitude coupled with some really hard work can take you to places you might never have dreamed possible - along with Randall Strossen and Nathan Holle, Joe Kinney wrote the book Captains of Crush® Grippers: What They Are and How To Close Them. IronMind® | Photo courtesy of Joe Kinney.

Explaining the body's purpose in adapting, Kinney said, "This is to protect itself. It has to adapt or it will be destroyed."

In his quest to find a better way of doing things, Joe Kinney has always been very thoughtful, analytical and innovative about his training, so it carried some special weight when he sang the praises of his IMTUGs. "They're a pleasure to use - it's hard to put them down," he said.

Guys who remember Joe Kinney for his rear-end-to-the-ground outdoor squats will be happy to know that while some joint problems have kept him from lifting lately, his open mind and no-quit attitude gave him a way to work out.

Noticing a friend's tremendous upper-body gains from training on a Bowflex machine, Kinney was thinking about alternatives to weights, although ones with a smaller price tag. Enter a set of Fabled Cables, which Kinney simply calls "those rubber bands" and he's extremely happy to be back in training again, doing what he's always done, "trying to outsmart my body . . . to get stronger."