Strength training is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle. But so many struggle to enjoy it, and struggle to stick to it, long term. Finding modes of strength training that you enjoy, is really important. One non-conventional form of resistance training is the Indian Club.
What is an Indian Club?
As the name suggests, Indian Clubs are club shaped tools that originated in ancient Indian exercise regimes. It was later adopted by the British military in the early 19th century. They became less popular with the emergence of modern gym equipment, but they can still provide a novel, but potent training stimulus, particularly for the upper body, and have recently been experiencing a resurgence in popularity.
Indian Club Workout
Perform the following Exercises in an EMOM (every minute on the minute) and complete five circuits. Some of these exercises recommend using a pair of Indian clubs of equal weight but can be performed as unilateral exercises if you only have access to one.
Halo Swings (8 reps in each direction)
• Hold a club upright, in front of your chest, with two hands.
• Lift one elbow to begin rotating the heavy end of the club around your head, to ‘draw an imaginary circle’ around your head with the club.
• Once the club gets behind your head, the heavy end will be pointing down. Bring it round to the front again, closing the circle.
• Once you have rotated the club one way, reverse back the other way to even things out.
Abducted Shoulder Rotations (6 reps)
• Hold a pair of clubs at your sides, heads pointing away from your body. Lift your arms out to your side to create a capital T shape with your body and arms, the head should end facing the ceiling
• Without letting your arms drop, rotate your shoulders so that the club slowly faces down to the floor, shrugging your shoulder blades forward and up as you do so.
• When you have hit your end range, slowly rotate your shoulders back the other way until the club is back where it started, facing up. Pull your shoulder blades back and down towards your bum as you do so. Lower them back to the starting position by your sides
Front Swings (20 reps)
• Hold a club facing forwards, in each hand, by your side.
• Perform a dynamic bicep curl-like movement until the weight of the club is behind your head, with your elbows facing forwards.
• Then immediately swing the clubs back out in front and down to your start position.
• Continuously cycle through reps without pauses so that it becomes an upper body swinging action.
Wrist Twist (8 reps per arm)
• Hold a club in one hand at the halfway point of a bicep curl (90-degree bend in the elbow), with the weight vertical.
• Without the elbow or shoulder moving, rotate your wrist as far out and in as you can so that the club goes from vertical to horizontal each way. Be careful not to hyperextend your wrist, especially if using a heavy Indian club. Start with a narrow range of motion while learning this exercise and build up.
• Once you have performed this on one hand for the prescribed reps, repeat on the other hand
Whether you are looking for a fun way to strength train, or just want to vary your upper body training, the Indian Club is a great piece of compact strength equipment. You can incorporate this 20-minute session into your training week as a stand-alone session, or a bolt-on to an existing 12kg Kettlebell or 10kg Dumbbell session if you like to train for a little longer!
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Tags: Equipment > Indian Club ; Exercise Type > Conditioning ; Exercise Type > Strength ; Misc. > Workout
