Clubbell Training for Circular Strength

This was originally published in the online magazine Dolfzine in 2003. The 'zine went dead about 6 months ago so I thought I would put up some of the articles I wrote back in 2002-2004. I'm trying to find the pictures that went with the article and if I find them I will insert them.You may see some place-holders where the pictures should have been.

Dave

Clubbell® Training for Circular Strength

Incorporating Clubbell® Training into your workout

 
Clubbells®, or Indian Clubs as they are known in other parts of the world, have been in use for 100’s of years. The wrestlers of the Middle East, including Turkey and India, have used them to develop incredible strength in the hands, arms and upper body. In the old days the clubs were made of wood and varied in size from fairly small and light weight (under 5 lbs) to massive in size and weight, reaching 70 to 80 lbs each.

Recently, interest in Indian Clubs has surged with the introduction of Clubbells® by Scott Sonnon. Sonnon created his Clubbells® primarily for himself but after his clients used them he began manufacturing them for the public. He spent quite a while toying with different materials and methods before the current design came about. Manufactured by Torque Athletic, the unique weighting and the ability to adjust the users grip on the handle to allow for greater or lesser leverage makes Sonnon’s Clubbells a standout amongst fitness equipment. The Clubbells® are steel-coated with poly-urethane rubber and the handle is covered with a rubber-like substance to keep them from slipping out of the user’s hand. In addition, at the end of the handle are a knob and loop of string, both of which are safety features to help prevent the Clubbells® from flying out of the user’s hand. For a full history of Indian Clubs and how he developed his Clubbells® , please see Clubbell Training for Circular Strength book and video written by Scott Sonnon and published by Rmax.tv. The book has a thorough and well-documented section detailing the history on Indian Clubs and their various incarnations throughout history.

Benefits of Clubbells and who uses them

Benefits of Clubbell® swinging include increased forearm, wrist, hand and grip strength, improved range of motion in the shoulders, and a total upper body workout. If you incorporate squatting or lunging movements into Clubbell® swinging, you work the lower body as well.

Athletes from any sport can benefit from adding CB work into their daily training routine. From tennis or baseball players who utilize the rotator cuff as the primary muscle group, to basketball and soccer players, martial artists and many others can gain tremendous benefits by using Clubbells to enhance performance. If you are interested in challenging your body and mind with a new paradigm in training then Clubbell® training is worth checking out.

The major difference in Clubbell Training versus traditional weight training or kettlebells is the ability to work the body in more than one plane. Traditional weights and kettlebells work the shoulders in one or two planes, from front to rear or from low to high, as in a bicep curl, bench press, squat etc. Kettlebells work the same range of motion as barbells and dumbbells but have a different feel because of the offset center of gravity and work the lower body differently by utilizing the hip snap to move the weight. Clubbells® on the other hand, allow you to work the entire range of motion of the shoulder joint, including moving the arm around the body. They allow the shoulder to move through its natural range of movement and help to increase that range, sometimes significantly, all the while helping to strengthen the muscles, tendons and ligaments that make up the four joints that make up the shoulder area.

Clubbells can also be used to rehabilitate shoulder injuries. Well-known Brazilian Jiujutsu World Champion Steve Maxwell uses a pair of 5 lb Clubbells as part of his daily workout routine to help repair injuries to his shoulders and maintain joint strength and flexibility.  People suffering from loss of ROM due to injury can regain that ROM using light-weight Clubbells® and following a rehab protocol of doing medium to high repetitions in order to build endurance. Even if your ROM is restricted due to inactivity, Clubbell® usage can help regain the full ROM through the increased synovial fluid production in the shoulder joints.

Choosing the Right Clubbells®

Clubbells® come in 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 45 lb weights with each weight engineered to provide a uniform balance. The 5 lbs CBs are useful for those of slight build or who have underdeveloped or injury-compromised strength; typically children and women new to weight training fall into this category. The 10 lb CBs are good for the average person just beginning a weight training program. Longer and larger than the 5 lb version, they present increased difficulty to control. The 15 lb Clubbells® are good for most athletic people, especially for men who have been resistance-training for awhile. The 20’s and up are for all you mutants out there that make toys of heavy kettlebells. The 45 lb CB, also known as “The Bruiser”, is only for the monsters out there. It is a massive beast, approximately  30” long and 5” in diameter at the base with about ¾ of an inch handle.

Clubbell Basics

Safety First!!!! Coach Sonnon and we as well emphasize safety first and always. Flying Clubbells® will wreak havoc on pets, children, houses etc. Use the safety straps and make sure you have adequate clearance in ALL directions: front, back, both sides and overhead. Make sure the pets and the kids aren’t around and that there are no obstacles nearby. An area of 6 feet in each direction including 6 feet above your head should be adequate unless you are very tall.

Approach the Clubbells® and if they are lying down stand them up one at a time. Your body position should be such that your butt is back, you are folded at the hips, your head is up and chest is out. This is very close to the KB swing stance but the knees aren’t bent as much as with kettlebells.

To grip the Clubbell®, slip the hand through the safety strap, grasp the handle with the web of the hand pointing down and wrap each finger around the handle, pinky first. The thumb goes over the fingers. When using the CB your grip tension will vary from being tight to loose to tight. If you try to crush the handle throughout an exercise you will wind up with tendonitis from overuse.

To get a feel for the weight and your grip strength always start by performing three forearm swings, as they are called in the book. The forearm is a short movement involving the legs in an up and down rhythm which allows the Clubbells® to move forward and backward. The movement comes not from the arms so much as from the body movement. The forearm swing is done prior to almost every Clubbells® exercise. To perform it, stand up enough so that the Clubbells® will just clear the floor. The arms are straight, elbows locked and shoulders down. When the Clubbells® move forward the forearms rotate inward, when the Clubbells® move backward the forearms turn outward.

The Swing

The first and most basic movement with the Clubbell® is the swing. The swing is performed with one or two Clubbells®, gripped as described above. After doing the three forearm swings, drive your pelvis forward and snap the hips, contract the glutes, hamstrings and quads and transfer the power of your body into your arms to propel the Clubbells® upward. Keep the shoulders down and the elbows locked. This movement is not done with the shoulders and arms but with the hips. The arms merely act as bands to transfer the power of the body though to the wrists and into the Clubbells®. The gripping muscles will get a great workout from doing these, but the shoulders should feel good. The movement should be smooth at all times. To prevent injury never jerk the Clubbells®.  Also, don’t lean back at the top of the swing. Your body should be vertical when the Clubbells® reach their peak. The height of the Clubbells® at the top of the swing depends on how much snap you put into your hips. However you should not bring the bells straight overhead, but rather to about 10 to 15 degrees from vertical. Your vision should be focused on a point in the distance, a spot on the wall for example, then as the Clubbells® come to shoulder height, your vision should follow them to the apex. As they go down the vision should switch back to that fixed point in the distance.

While performing the swing the grip protocol should be tight at the start, relaxed slightly throughout the movement, and tight at the peak of the swing. Relax the grip slightly on the way back down and crush the handle at the bottom of the movement.

On the downward portion of the swing, again keep the shoulders down and the elbows locked Let the legs absorb the force of the Clubbells® by folding at the hips and bending the knees. The Clubbells® will be behind you at this point so drive forward with the hips again and move the Clubbells® up with the hip snap. When your grip starts to give out, end the set. Strive for 15 to 20 reps per set and 3 to 5 sets.

The Clean to Order

The next move is the Clean to Order. The Order is the position of the Clubbells® where they are at rest vertically in front of your body with the bottom pointed up, your elbow bent to 90 degrees and resting against your lower ribs. Your grip holds the Clubbells® in place; you must squeeze the handle hard to keep it steady and under control. Coach Sonnon calls this “stopping it on a dime”. You should not hold a static position for more than 3 to 5 seconds. Going beyond that time tremendously increases the risk of muscle, tendon, and ligament damage.

ToOrder

“Ahh”, you are probably wondering, “How do I get the Clubbell into the Order position?”… By using the Clean movement. As with the swing, approach the Clubbells® and assume the correct grip and stance and do three forearm swings then, after the third one, drive with the hips and flip the hands up and the elbows down. The clean is a pulling movement. Don’t swing the Clubbells® out in front of you but instead rip the Clubbells® off the floor or from the hang position. As you pull up drop your elbows and rotate your forearms outward so the elbows point down and the bottom of the Clubbells® are pointing to the ceiling. As you catch the Clubbells® in the Order position, absorb the shock with your legs by flexing the knees as you bring the elbows in to the ribs stopping the movement of the Clubbells®. Dipping the knees will work your legs and allow you to do increased reps by not over-taxing the hands, wrists and forearms. Remember to breathe as you are doing the movement; exhale on the pull, inhale on the “catch” in the order position, exhale as you come back up and return the Clubbells® to the starting position.

Caution! - Until you get the feel for them the Clubbells® may waiver a bit as you are catching them so make sure you keep them under control.

With one or two Clubbells®, work up to sets of 15 to 20. Listen to your body. If you feel your grip giving out then stop the set! You are not trying to go to failure. In fact, with this type of exercise going to failure is detrimental to obtaining positive results and can also be dangerous to yourself and your surroundings, particularly during the learning phase,. The number of sets should be between 3 and 5, depending on your current strength levels. Rest between sets should be long enough that you feel you can do another full set without loss of form and grip.

The Snatch

The Clubbell snatch is similar to the kettlebell snatch, starting off like the Clubbell® Clean. Approach the Clubbells® as before. As with the Clean, you rip them off the floor, but unlike the Clean the end position of the Clubbells® will be with arms fully extended, close to the top position in the swing. As you rip the Clubbells® off the floor pull high with both arms until they are overhead with the elbows locked. Make sure you don’t shorten the pulling motion and press the Clubbells® into the locked out position; that is a Torch Press and will be discussed later.

Let’s take a moment to discuss the shoulder position while overhead and locked out. In the snatch and various pressing and circular movements, mention is made of packing the shoulder joint. What this means is that the shoulder should be down inside the socket and not extended. Don’t reach with your shoulders. When using the Clubbells® and with kettlebells as well, if the shoulders aren’t packed tight you risk serious injury. This is because the extended shoulder is much weaker as it relies solely on the tendons and ligaments to hold it in place. A packed shoulder uses the structure of the body to support the joint. 

That said, KEEP THE SHOULDERS PACKED at the top position of the snatch. Hold this position for three to five seconds then rotate the forearms inward as the Clubbells® come down so the fat end of the Clubbells® points downward. Let them go behind you slightly at the bottom and bend the knees to absorb the shock and drive them back up using the hip snap as you did with the swing. Remember to rip them up don’t just swing them.

The grip protocol is crush-grip while starting the pull, slightly relaxed as they rise and crush-grip at the top. Now if you REALLY want to trash your forearms and hands, perform a leverage move. At the top position, instead of holding it for three to five seconds, flex your wrist inward so that the head of the Clubbell® comes toward you, then leverage it back so your wrist is straight again, then bring them down for another rep. Doing the leverage press will probably decrease your rep count because of the enormous amount of forearm and wrist strength this movement takes!

The Torch Press

The Torch press is a Clean to Order (CTO) followed by a press to bring the Clubbells® to the same point as in a Snatch. From the CTO position, literally press the Clubbells® up using the legs and hip snap for drive. When you do the CTO you should be using a knee dip to absorb the shock. Use it to drive the Clubbells® to the overhead position. Keep the shoulders packed and the grip tight throughout the press. As with the Snatch you can do the leverage movement with the wrists at the top position. To bring the Clubbells® down, reverse the pressing movement by actively pulling them back to the CTO position then put them down as with the CTO. The difference between the Snatch and the Torch Press is subtle and you may not notice the difference if you watch an experienced Knuckledragger perform them. When done smoothly, the Torch Press passes through the CTO position without stopping and rises up to the locked-out position.  

The Pendulum

The Pendulum is a hybrid movement. It combines the movement of a chest high/shoulder high swing with a Clean to Order. You start the Pendulum as you do with a swing but, instead of bringing the arms overhead, bend your elbows when your hands get to upper chest/shoulder height. Then bring the elbows into the CTO position with the elbows resting against your lower ribs or just under them. Bend the knees for shock absorption and brace with the abs to protect the back. Stop the momentum of the Clubbells®. To complete the rep use the hip snap to launch the Clubbells® out in front of you. Straighten your arms and allow the Clubbells® to reverse the arc so they go down smoothly to either side and past you. Again dip the knees to absorb the shock and to generate the power needed for the next rep.

At the beginning of this article we mentioned Clubbells® really work the legs, but by now you may be wondering how that is possible since, if you have been following the directions and doing the various exercises, you probably haven’t felt much in your legs. Well that is about to change! The Pendulum combined with a deep squat will fry your entire lower body; glutes, hamstrings, quads and even your feet will feel the effects. Adding the front squat to the Pendulum is merely a matter of squatting when catching the Clubbells® in the CTO position instead of just dipping the knees. Then from the bottom position you rise and snap the hips to propel the Clubbells® out away from you. Lock out the elbows and let the CBs return to the bottom position in a smooth manner. As they go past and behind your legs, dip the knees and drive forward to propel the Clubbells® back out in front. Try 20 reps of these and then tell me you don’t feel your legs!!!

With these few Clubbell® exercises you can craft a pretty good workout, but since Clubbells® are about Circular Strength you should incorporate circular movements. So far we have only discussed working in one plane which is the same as most other weight lifting movement. The primary benefit of Circular Strength Training (CTS) and Clubbells® is the ability to work the shoulder in other directions. These include circular movements around the body, in front of the body and casts and presses to the sides. In the future issues we will be discussing some of the other basic Clubbell movements and creating a more difficult workout routine around them. After we have covered the basics we will start to combine several different movements into a combination routine that will work your body in new and interesting ways.

Workouts

 In the beginning it is best to get a feel for your Clubbells®. So rather than give you a killer routine, I’m going to give you a basic routine designed to allow you to learn the exercises described above. Don’t worry; you’ll still get a good workout, it will just be different.

Ready? First let’s practice the Swing. If you are using 1 Clubbell® do the same work on both sides.

3 Sets 10 Reps and rest 1 minute between sets

In between sets do wrist rotations and shake your fingers like you are shaking water off them. This will help loosen the hands, fingers and forearms

In between exercises stretch, walk around or do some BodyFlow exercises and rest for about 3 to 5 minutes or longer if necessary. This will give your poor hands and forearms time to regain some feeling!

Next up we’ll work the Clean To Order. Remember to rip the Clubbells® up and dip the knees when catching them.

3 sets 10 reps rest 1 minute between sets

Shake out those arms, hands and fingers between sets and rest 3 to 5 minutes before working on the Torch Press.

2 sets 10 reps 1 to 1 ½ minutes between sets.

Why only 2 sets? I’m glad you asked. You have already worked gripping muscles pretty hard practicing the CTO and now you are working those same muscles plus having to press the Clubbells® and hold them overhead. Your grip should be toast by now.

Remember we are learning the exercises at this stage. DON’T GO TO FAILURE!!! For some of you this may be more than you can handle. If so, then reduce the rep to 7 or 8 per set or just stop and pick up again later or even the next day. Go by how you feel not by what this workout says. In a future article we will discuss the Rate of Perceived Exertion or how the same work can feel easier or harder on any given day.

Again, allow 3 to 5 minutes of rest between exercises, more if you feel you need it. Now, if you are still able to pick up the Clubbells® and hold on to them we will do the Snatch. If you don’t feel confidant that your grip will hold out practice the snatch on a different day substituting it for the Torch Press.

3 sets 10 reps 1 minute rest between sets and 3 to 5 minutes after finishing the sets

By now you can see that the hands and forearms get a ton of work and so far the shoulder have only received a little and the legs pretty much none, so lets fix that by doing the Pendulums with a front squat or the Swipe as Coach Sonnon calls them. Again the Pendulum is a swing to the Order position and sinking into a front squat as the Clubbells® come in to that Order position. From the bottom drive up and thrust the Clubbells® out n front of you and allow them to swing back behind you. Drive forward from the hips and repeat.

2 sets of 10 with 1 to minutes rest between sets.

By now you should be fairly tired and doing the Swipe will finish you off. Listen to your body and if you start to loose control of the Clubbells® in the front squat position it is time to terminate the set.

Normally you would perform these exercises in a progression from most difficult to easiest, but while you are still learning the moves, learn the easy ones first then when you feel comfortable with them move on to the more advanced, more strenuous exercises. Typically the Snatch or Torch Press would be first, then the Swipe (Pendulum + Front Squat), Clean To Order, and finally the Swing.

Here’s a slightly more advanced workout for after you have mastered the basics. Do this as a circuit and repeat 3 times. Rest 5 minutes between circuits.

I put the easier swing between the Torch Press and the Snatch to work the shoulders with a different movement which will help recovery before the Snatch. Also since the Swing is less stressful to the grip it allows you a little more recovery time for the gripping muscles.

I hope you enjoy these workouts. Next time we’ll add some more exercises that move the Clubbells® across the body instead of beside it give you some more routines to practice with. In addition we’ll see two moves that bring the Clubbells® around the body and introduce the Cast movements.

Enjoy!

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