Another Teen Captain of Crush

[Hubgeezer]

There are not a lot of Teens to get Certified by IronMind. This one is hot off the presses:

 

https://ironmind.com/news/18-Year-Old-Iain-Thain-Certifies-on-the-Captains-of-Crush-No.-3-Gripper/

[Alawadhi]

Awesome!

[Nuttgens]

Nice work. Strong kid.

[mcalpine1986]

On 3/15/2021 at 8:23 PM, Hopefully said:

Yeah, this guy is very impressive. His musculature in the forearm belly near the wrists is interesting.

You have me curious what you mean? Do you mean ivan cuk the other teen 3 cert? 

[mcalpine1986]

2 minutes ago, Hopefully said:

Yes. 

I see. I thought the same thing, His tendons around the lower forearms seem to protrude a lot in his close. I have noticed a similar thing in a few other big gripper closers over the years. 

[mcalpine1986]

1 minute ago, Hopefully said:

I am pretty sure it is the flexor digitorum superficialis muscle that bulges up near his wrist. I'm not sure I have ever seen it developed to that degree before.

I think you are correct. He is only 18 years old as well. I He mainly trains CCS and Tns rather than mms. I wonder if all the wider set stuff targets and develops this muscle more. I could just be a genetic thing but i have seen it in other big gripper closers for sure.

[mcalpine1986]

7 minutes ago, Hopefully said:

I would say it is mostly genetics. Or rather the size that he has is definitely genetics.

But, since I started specialising in thickbar the past months I have seen significant hypertrophy increases in that area though, so maybe you are right. Perhaps the profundus takes over more when the hand is more closed. My anatomy knowledge is far from good enough to know though ^^

Id say its maybe a bit of both genetics and the training. I asked him on reddit and he also trains very wide pinch. Like 5.5" width so mYbe thats a bit of it as well. 

I know you cant isolate the forearm tendons or muscles but i find certain exercises produce soreness in certain areas more indicating that it would build that area more 

For example I find narrow pinch makes me more sore towards the elbow and wide pinch towards the wrist. 

Maybe wider set grippers do target and build the flexor digitorum superficialis more than mms sets.

[mcalpine1986]

10 minutes ago, Hopefully said:

Yes but unless you have the genetics for it I highly question If it's likely building it up to that degree, but maybe.

And yeah, targeting different regions of a muscle is scientifically proven possible. It makes sense for bodybuilding targeting a muscle with different exercises to build it as much as possible.

Whether that hypertrophy is beneficial then with regards to strength in another exercise that didn't build Up that region in the first place but still uses the same muscle, I do not know. That's really interesting if it's the case.

Agreed and yes the whole thing is interesting. 

Also at 18 years old He is one to watch with regards to grippers. He did a very easy TNS of the 3 after his cert vid. His 3.5 attempts from wide sets are close as well. 

Edited March 18, 2021 by mcalpine1986

[Climber028]

You can definitely separately target the profundus and superficialis through training, there's plenty of climbers who take this into account to prepare for different hold types tho it's not extremely common. As far as grippers, my guess is that the profundus is not as involved near the close. It would be more important for a wide set, a wide pinch or a very narrow pinch and of course things like the tips tester.

People often have pain in the tips of their fingers when doing very narrow pinches, and this is because of a weakness in the profundus that allows the last joint in your finger to hyperextend beyond a normal range. 

As far as hypertrophy, I don't think no that's nearly as important as people claim it is, based on all the strong small guys and weak large guys. It doesn't make zero difference of course, but it's also not the most important factor for strength. 

 

[Climber028]

A very wide set, like credit card or so with normal sized hands puts a lot of pressure on the profundus in the beginning. Obviously this is person dependant because some have hands large enough that this isn't an issue. Isometric work for hypertrophy, they just aren't the most efficient. Remember that everything does at least a non-zero amount of hypertrophy, the most optimal would be bodybuilder type training tho that isn't what you would want if just strength was the goal.