And you thought I was going to tell you to hit the bars, go
dancing and have a night on the town. Wrong again. Having fun can be one thing
and there’s nothing wrong with going out and having a good time but for right
now, health is the focus point here and I’m going to share with you some
history, training, ideas and things to try on to get you up to a higher level
of strength, flexibility and super power in the joints and muscles.
The club wasn't originally known as a group of people or a fitness place to go to or
even the name of some pampas ass rich people’s venue. This club or series of
clubs was the training tool for wrestlers in the middle east for their sport
called Kushti, similar in style to our Greco-Roman but still can use the legs
for take-downs and such. Each morning a typical coach or Guru would have his
athletes get up before dawn, run a couple miles, come back and do warm up
drills, wrestle, eat/drink and get back to training until the day was over. In
the middle of these sessions, the wrestlers would often swing what’s called the
Jori or the Gada/Mace in various weights and proportions. These tools would
help the wrestlers learn to move weight in various movements mostly circular.
When the
British colonized in various Middle Eastern countries such as India learned the
skills of club swinging and other exercises and took them back to the English
colonies in Europe and eventually to the Americas most notably in Northern
America and trained with these very same tools for battle during the American
Revolution and other wars soon after. It became a hit in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries as you had Physical Culturists from one
side of the earth to the next teaching the various movements of the Clubs.
Unless you were an advanced athlete, you had to get a weight heavy enough to
work but the majority of Clubs used were very light in weight no more than
10-20 pounds and even less than that. The less weighted clubs were used to aid
and strengthen flexibility in the arms, shoulders and elbow joints of the upper
body giving you that awkward but effective range of motion if you were an
athlete or just an average guy looking to be in shape.
The most
famous Wrestler of that era in India
was The Great Gama, if you ever read my articles you would know who he is by
now. He is considered by many to be the most feared wrestler of his generation,
not even the legendary grapplers Frank Gotch & George Hackenshmidt wanted
to face this beast of a man. At 5’7 and no more than 270, Gama was at his peak
the best conditioned athlete, although his numbers are exaggerated by any
stretch he like many other students at that time wrestled, swam, did hundreds
of calisthenics such as squats and push-ups and being on a diet that the
majority was vegetarian. At times during his 5000 undefeated winning streak,
Gama would receive a basket of tropical fruits and vegetables as a championship
trophy in his honor as a vegetarian. One of the most famous pictures of the
legendary grappler is of him standing with a massive club on his shoulders.
This club wasn’t used for training but was considered a Trophy for a big time
championship. The club is said to have weighed at 80 lb.
Club
swinging when done properly takes strength training to a whole new level. You
can lift as many weights as you want but if you tried to swing a 30 or 40 lb.
club you’d getting your ass kicked in the first minute. With lighter clubs
however these can help strengthen the joints in your upper body to peak
condition. Clubs have been used by top MMA athletes, Football players, baseball
players, strongmen, gymnasts, wrestlers, war vets as far back as the Civil War.
Some Clubs are made out of natural wood but you can also get them steel made or
with very hard rubber. Two guys I can think of that have really cool versions
of the Club are Ryan Pitts at Strongergrip.com and Scott Sonnon at
Clubbells.tv. Each of them have their own style of swinging and one of them
believe it or is used in Yoga to get that extra edge from doing free-handed postures.
Like with
everything else, it takes skill and practice different movements in precise dynamic
fashion but they’re a lot of fun to do. I can’t wait to get my own set of clubs
that I can play with but for now I’m settling with what is just as fun and even
cooler than the clubs and that’s a couple Thor Hammers that I have. The Thor
Hammer is just as effective as a regular club for swinging but the extra
benefits of hitting it with a tire and the fact that the handle is much thicker
than a regular hammer or club makes it that much more effective for grip
strength, hand/eye coordination, tendon and joint building and the ability to
just hold it for a period makes it a hell of an isometric exercise. Get your
hands on your own sets of clubs or hammers and jack up your strength and
conditioning faster than ever before. Keep it interesting and have fun, that
what it’s all about.
