Indian club swinging for better, stronger shoulders?

[dshen]

Has anyone in these forums tried Indian club swinging? I just got introduced to them and it seems like they would help strength the shoulders to help be more resilient while swimming.

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, here is a website all about Indian clubs.

Would love to hear about anyone's experiences with them if they have been using them. thanks!

[CoachBillG]

Hi,

Yes, Indian Clubs or Club bells are primarily used for the shoulder.

I have never tried Indian Clubs as I am pretty immersed in my kettlebell training. Dragon Door www.dragondoor.com who operates the RKC (Russian Kettlebell Challenge) has numerous DVD's, books and workshops by Dr. Ed Thomas. They are used mainly for rehabilitation and increasing mobility & stability, especially in the shoulder. They also improve tension / relaxation of the muscles, increasing their efficiency as well as coordination.

Kettlebell swings (one and two arm), overhead presses (utilizing the lats), Turkish Get Ups, windmills and Russian armbars are also great exercises that increase the durability and mobility of the shoulder region.

In addition to being a TI Coach, I am also an RKC Instructor.

I hope this helps :-)

If you have any questions, please ask!

Best,
Bill

[dshen]

i too have started kettlebells for training in addition to indian clubs and have spent a ton of money at dragondoor.com!

i have found that at starting out, i have to really lower the weights and reps used for all exercises so that it doesn't adversely affect my swimming. do you have any tips on adjusting the KB training to enhance simultaneous swimming training? i am making my way through the book easy strength from dragondoor.com which talks about strength training adjustment while training for other sports. but i haven't seen any specific discussion for swimming - more so for other sports.

thanks Dshen

[arunks]

This has almost been a forgotten practice even in India except for the traditional wrestlers(Pahalwan).Has an interesting history to the it.Click here to know how to make your own gada and use it.
I too work on the shoulder flexibility.Would love to try these exercises.

[dougalt]

I swang Indian Clubs during exhibitions while on gymnastics teams in the 50's at Freehold Regional H.S. in New Jersey and in the 60's at Springfield College (Masschusetts). The Coach/Organizors of the exhibitions thought the clubs routines demonstrated something important. None of the gymnasts felt that swinging clubs was any benefit to the rest of our gymnastics - we regarded it as a time-waster that kept us away from perfecting our routines on the parallel bars, rings, etc. Working out on the gymnastics apparatus provided all the strength and flexibility training for our shoulders that we could handle.

The clubs routines DID provide a substantial element of drama to the exhibitions, however - the audience was usually in a state of wary suspense, wondering if one of the clubs swingers was going to miss his grip and release the twirling club into the audience by mistake.
As we gymnasts got better at club swinging (i.e.: less mistakes and less flying clubs), the Coach/Organizor upped the ante a bit by painting the clubs with glow-in-the-dark paint and having the house lights turned off at the beginning of the indian clubs number, so we would be swinging in the pitch dark!

Would any of this be helpful to one's swimming stroke? I doubt it.

Just keep working the TI drills and techniques....