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.

Unconventional Athletes Article June/July 2015

 The following is an article from UnconventionalAthletes.com

 There are many reasons to add clubwork to your exercise routine. Shoulder re/pre-hab seems to be the first answer that many club swingers cite. Other answers are increased range of motion, or, they   fit right into my kettle bell workout. Still others say that they enjoy the flow type of ‘katas’ that emulate elaborate sword techniques or doing a yoga session using a club. What ever the reason, it’s all good.

 By now, almost everyone in the fitness game knows about the benefits of clubwork. Increased performance in other areas of training or in the arena are sure signs that the clubs are doing their job. Some fitness enthusiasts train solely with clubwork, and while clubs alone won’t get you to enter a bodybuilding contest, they are  a great addition to shape, define, and harden muscles. With the right programming they will aid a powerlifter’s bench and deadlift. an Oly lifter’s speed, and sprinter’s performance. Fighters such as MMA and boxers have been using clubwork for years, after all it was the first battle training tool.

Humble Beginnings

 Beginning clubwork is exciting and frustrating simultaneously. The desire to copy the complex movements that so many YouTube videos show can drive a newbie into a tizzy. The first rule that must be adhered to is learn  the basics. This cannot be reiterated enough. From picking up and putting down the club to the basic swings, practicing correct form reduces injury!

 The front swing and squat are 2 important base movements. How many of you readers just thought what? Clubwork can be used for legs and this is where we’ll begin.

 The front swing. In clubwork, this is crucial to understand as it is for kettlebells. The front swing is important because that’s how the club will be raised to perform other exercises. Set the club on it’s top or muzzle, handle and knob upward. With your upper back flat and a neutral lower back, like a deadlift when the weight is above the knee, straddle the club so that it’s a bit to the rear past the ankles and grab hold of the handle, arms long, elbows locked then thrust the hips forward extending the torso and opening the knees, maintaining arm lock and flat back, forcing the club to travel up and outward bringing the muzzle to eye level. Remember the arms do not lift, they only act as a pendulum of the force generated by the hip thrust forward. The downward portion is the ‘braking’ to keep the club from hiking backward. As the club falls down, lean the torso forward like a hinge and slightly bend the knee, applying the brakes with glute and hamstring activation making sure that the club doesn’t travel any farther than 45˚ past the legs. Do not let the club hit the ground, this can cause injury. This may require practice for some, but the benefits will be there. When completed with most all clubwork exercises, lower the club as described above, but instead of swinging it upward, use the slight momentum to let the club drift forward until it slows and gently place it on the floor just in front of your feet - it is now ‘parked’. Keep in mind that this is a posterior chain exercise so be sure to engage those muscles and not squat - yet.



 The clubwork squat can vary. The easiest way to learn it is by placing the club on your shoulder much like baseball players resting their bats. Using your front swing, swing the club upward with control and catch it upon the shoulder you wish it to ‘rest’ on. Now, perform a regular squat, torso upright, scapulae pressing downward, neutral low back, weight loaded into the mid foot and heel descending the hips below the knee keeping the shins as upright as possible then drive upward through the mid foot and heels to the starting position. Keep the torso upright and stable and maintain that neutral lower back. As the squats become easier, the next step would be to hold the club upright with the elbows married to the ribs. This is the beginning of learning the front extended squat. Ultimately, the goal is extending the arms completely in front of the torso while squatting.

 These basics are a great place to start learning clubwork, practice them to get a solid foundation for future exercises.

Sore Shoulder? Your Body May Love You For It

 Club training is the one of the best ways to rehab or prehab your shoulders. The whole reason that I got into club training and designed the Adex Club was to get rid of an achy shoulder that had me in pain for a decade. Chiropractors couldn't fix it, other doctors and specialists wanted to operate but with no guarantee.

 My condition was a 'slightly' separated A/C joint and mildly torn rotator cuff muscles. Relying on time to make it better did nothing but increase the pain. At that time, training heavy was my thing so I'd tough it out through bench presses and live with the soreness. after all this is what we do, right? Until I had gotten to the point where a push up wasn't possible because of the pain. A single push up! The search to repair my shoulder now included seeking other ways of treatment.

 While searching the internet looking for relief Google directed me to a man swinging a club. He spoke of the healing benefits of club training and demonstrated some exercises with a light weight 5lb club. I didn't have a club but I did have a loadable dumb bell that I set up with 3lbs on one end. I tried hard to copy the man's patterns and began doing this everyday. Within a month, I was able to not only do a push up but 20.

 Fast forward through the development of the Adex Club, competing at Crossfit events, back to the gym for regular training all while holding jobs that require physical strength that include the shoulder. Cell tower climber, pizza man, crane operator/mechanic, ditch digger, truck driver - all these jobs wouldn't have been possible with a nagging shoulder. Incorporating club training into my regular workouts kept me working out and out working.

 The shoulder is an easy joint to injure, and the repair and rehabilitation can run into tens of thousands of dollars. Club training may be the way to either help heal or help prevent future or further injury, plus the upside of club training is that a full body workout can be accomplished with a few different weight clubs or just one Adex Club. I now use club training as my sole training preference, to do legs, upper body, arms, to stay lean and muscular. Give club training a try for your shoulder and discover what else you can do. Your body may love you for it. Also check into some of the conventional exercises found here by Mark deGrasse.

The Fitness - Life Crossover

 Reflecting on a failure can often be a good lesson if one does it properly. To just admit failure without learning why is a negative that will always remain as a bad feeling, but, if an assessment is made, it should turn to a positive.

Assessing Failure Immediately 

 How to assess a failure is a trait that must be learned, and though this should be taught in our school programming, it sadly isn't. Being truthful to oneself is an elementary character trait. Learning to be truthful can sometimes be difficult and is often disregarded due to the negative feelings it can provoke. People who live falsely in the 'positive mind set' tend to disregard failures and sweep them under a rug, while those of greatness embrace and search their failures for the err of their ways.

 Failure is a good thing, if one knows how to use failures to succeed. How many failures must Thomas Edison have had? If he failed, which he most likely did at everything that he made, and didn't analyze why the failure occurred, would he have gone on to invent so many things? The answer would be a resounding 'NO!' Mr. Edison kept trying, and analyzing each failure until he had success.

 This same concept can be applied to training. In a minute instance such as a single rep of a movement that failed, use your mind to decipher each detail and find the broken link - was my form good? Check. Was my rest time sufficient? Check. Is my nutrition on point? Check, and so on until the one little mistake, that one flaw is brought forth and identified, making sure that the next time it won't be that same thing to cause failure.

 Now this simple training analytical tactic can be pole vaulted into other areas such as work,  personality, relationships, efficiency, saving money, etc. Here is a concept that when practiced during physical exercise to proficiency builds the mind and character and that can make the big difference between failing and succeeding at everything. Go out and proudly fail at something today but be sure to give yourself some credit when that flaw is identified.

Clubwork Front Swing exercise

Trainers, teach newbies to learn the kettlebell front swing quickly by having them practice Clubwork front swings. The clubs are easier for the students to swing and reduce the learning curve.

45lb Gamma Cast

Clubwork Inside Mill To Outside Mill Transfer

A simple move to develop coordination. Easy to do, just perform an inside mill as normal and at the bottom of the swing pass the club to the opposite hand to begin performing an outside mill. Try it a few times to get the feel. You can see in the video that my first few swings are 'clunky' but by the 3rd one the smoothness comes out.

Weaker People Can Influence Fitness Trends DadBod

 Recently, an article appeared written by Mackenzie Pearson a 19 year old journalist (sic) regarding the 'Dad Bod'. The dad bod is just that, a doughy version of what once was a slightly muscular young man who's succumbed to the more 'relaxed' lifestyle of Americans. Gone are the days of going to the gym or running an obstacle race and forget about eating right. Enter the new daily routine of relaxing for 5 hours in front of the TV with Dominos ringing the doorbell after putting in a hard day sitting at a desk.

 The author states that women like the dad bod because it doesn't intimidate them, that it's more cuddly, and it never matters what's for dinner. This doesn't compute and further more there isn't enough estrogen to make me fathom these concepts. I think that they're a bunch of crap and notice the subtlety of a much more dangerous beast.

 Enter the sloven woman, the woman who puts leisure above all else. When the fit man encounters one of these during a courting ritual he is immediately red flagged and targeted for ostracization     due to his 'insinuation' that the women must be on his fitness level. Instantly, her brain sees herself a year from that moment immersed into a lifestyle of fitness, meal prepping, and hard work. Not a rational choice for the sloven woman because it goes against her lifestyle. Also the appearance of a man with lower testosterone is less threatening to her demands.

 Maybe it is time for some to do an honest evaluation of their own lifestyle and admit to not wanting to work hard to stay healthy instead of easily creating a buzz phrase that says, "he's more acceptable to me because he won't have any expectations that I'll have to work at." Stop trying to create a socially usable excuse to describe your own lack of drive. Instead of telling men that the dad bod is ok, tell the world why you are a couch potato. Why take from men that which is naturally programmed in their hard wiring - to accept challenges, to be strong, to compete, etc and reduce it to conform to, for lack of a better word, lazy?

My 12 Hr a Days/7 Days a Week DadBod
1997