Chip Conrad and Dave Hall with Adex Clubs

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Back To The Beginnings

Using a lighter club to feel the movement

 Forging ahead in any modality of exercise is a great accomplishment. Adding weight to a squat or sprinting in a faster time for a new personal record is exciting. This fosters the initiative to keep on training. Then there are the times when the program fails and the scheduled weight, or time, or number of reps falls drastically short of what was to be expected. Now what?

 If the reason for the failure isn't injury or exhaustion, the cause for failure may be the athlete's technique. Many times, when the focus is on a determined goal, little nuances that were learned to get to that particular point fell by the wayside. Too much emphasis may be placed on the goal of heavier, faster, or more, and the attention to detail is forgotten thus creating a vacuum in the athlete's programming.

 For those who aren't familiar with my training, I use clubs exclusively (which I will detail why in another post) in my personal training program. Some of the exercises are complex movements which require not only strength but a certain degree of skill to execute properly. One of these exercises - the inside mill or just the 'mill' is the club trainer's bench press. Club fanatics always compare mill weight or reps. Since I have been experimenting with the heavier clubs I sometimes fall short of an expected P/R or training goal. My answer to that is go back to the beginning. Lighten that load up for the workout and get in some volume training with a manageable weight. For example, if I completed Monday's mill workout of 10X10 with a 35lb club and Friday's mill workout calls for 5X6 with a 40lb club but my form fails on the first set or maybe the first rep, I'll revert back to a 25lb club for a 10X10 light conditioning set but feel each part of the movement relearning small subtleties that make heavier weights possible. The next mill workout will open with that same 25lb club as a warm up for one set to coordinate the feeling throughout my body before attempting the 40lb club again. Then go on the the 40lb 5X6 workout progressing to ultimately the 10X10 workout with that weight.

 I had learned this type of 'assistance' training way back in the 70's from an old school guy who was built like a bodybuilder but moved weight like a powerlifter. This method was used by the older set of strength trainers, the guys that were before me. Here, on this page I can share some of what they left that may have been forgotten or discarded due to style or ego. Apply it to any of your training, being sure to feel the movement, perform some volume then back to your regular programming. It'll work.

Get A Grip - Club Training

Regular Grip

 Without huge fanfare, club training will undoubtedly increase your grip strength. This is a given, but as with many good things, this sometimes does not come without pain. Hanging on to a club and maintaining control of it is not an easy task especially on the elbow. Here are some tips to help alleviate some of the medial or lateral epicondilitis that can occur from club training.

         

Forefinger Middle Finger Grip

Pinky Ring Finger Grip

 Begin with your hand grip. Grab your club with one hand and swing it into a clean. Notice to see if you have a relaxed grip or if you're squeezing the living hell out of that club. IF you are doing the latter, try lightening the super crushing force you are summoning up to keep that club welded to your hand. Just relax your hand, hold the club firmly, not crushing, but with enough force to just keep it in the hand. You'll feel the handle pressure more on the meat of the palm rather than throughout the fingers and depending on the direction of the swing, the grip force should change from the index and middle finger to the pinky and ring finger. This is very counter intuitive but will save many lost training days not to mention some annoying pain. Practice holding the club as lightly as you can to develop a feel for when the grip needs to be increased or decreased without letting go. This will allow the club to do it's work providing a pulling or traction throughout swinging movements. The club's weight should feel as if it were drawing through the hand, not prying from it.

Ball Grip

 Another area of interest is the knob. To grip or not to grip is a good question. The knob is there to provide a secure stopping point should the grip slip and fail. It is also purposely used in more intricate movements especially forward and reverse wrist rolls and and with experienced club swingers in movements such as a mill or stiff arm swings. The pinky and ring finger may want to gravitate to residing on the knob during mills and other exercises which may feel insecure, but the newly learned, lighter pressure style of holding the club will keep it from flying out of your hands. Also, getting used to a knob causing friction in your palm may prove to be displeasing at first then slowly go unnoticed as more reps are done.

 Behind the head exercises such as shield casts or Gamma casts place the elbow in an unfriendly position IF not executed properly. Remember to let the club's weight pull down the arm while the club is traveling behind the head. If you try and hold the club higher, that force is pulling upward through the elbow's soft tissues and creates tension where the area should be more relaxed. This will lead to very sensitive elbows and again it isn't good form. Let the club pull the hand downward and don't resist by pulling from the elbow. Which brings us to straight elbows whenever the club is extended out in front, overhead, or to the sides. Having a slight bend in the elbow creates unwanted stress on it's ligaments and tendons.

 Swing safely my friends and let me know how you're progressing or ask any questions.

     

The Little Things

 During my first few years of regular weight training, I read articles on heavy lifting and the authors would emphasize on the little things. Most of these concepts fell upon deaf ears with me. There was no time for nuances, training was about moving bigger weights and get stronger - period. Time would prove how wrong that thinking was.


 Fast forward to the present and my love affair with club training. Getting involved with the unconventional fitness scene has netted me some new friends with different ideas. One in particular is Chip Conrad of Bodytribe Fitness. Chip wrote an article that had an impact on me in a way where now the moment of movement is a greater sum than the total reps. It opened up the idea to study the exercise as it is being performed. The little things have now proved to be important.

 Given that the club is a ballistic tool used in multi-planar exercises, little things can make a huge difference. Take the inside mill for example. The mill is probably the first 'flashy' exercise that club enthusiasts want to learn. It is a complex circle whose arc is performed both in front of and behind the body. Needless to say that performing the mill takes a fair amount of skill, and when the club weight is increased, that skill needs to be sharpened.

 The nuance or trick that Chip's article had prompted me to learn was the importance of the position and movement of my elbow. It may not sound like much, but it was the same as someone discovering the perfect foot position for them to squat in. The club weight was able to be increased and form didn't suffer making a good environment for gains.

 A video describing this and other clubwork techniques that will help take your club training to the next level will be available soon. Until then, keep swinging my friends.