Old School Indian Club Swinging

[Alessandro Mainente]

i had just come back from a RKC workshop of 2 days...lots of interesting things about mobiility test througth RKC-Russian Movements Screen, strength kettlebel training for explosive gluteus strength, improving legs flexibility for splits & an introduction ti indian club..

with a great introduction to movements 1,2,3 i saw the great utility to increase shoulder mobility, active and dynamic boths, coordination in boths directions..

i think them can be very useful but the movements are very very difficult to learn from a pattern point of view..

just for movement 1 we spent 2 hours of theory..

using indian clubs related to other movements as turkish get up the mobility can improve drastically!!

[Cole Dano]

i had just come back from a RKC workshop of 2 days...lots of interesting things about mobiility test througth RKC-Russian Movements Screen, strength kettlebel training for explosive gluteus strength, improving legs flexibility for splits & an introduction ti indian club..

with a great introduction to movements 1,2,3 i saw the great utility to increase shoulder mobility, active and dynamic boths, coordination in boths directions..

i think them can be very useful but the movements are very very difficult to learn from a pattern point of view..

just for movement 1 we spent 2 hours of theory..

using indian clubs related to other movements as turkish get up the mobility can improve drastically!!

Yes it can take some time to get the movements. It took me a good six months to get them all with the variations, but at that time there was very little to learn from and I was/am the only person doing them here.

RKC is great from everything I've seen, but keep in mind they are very technique oriented, and are producing trainers for the modern world of totally detrained people.

They also limit the clubs to the most difficult movement, there are many simple circles that anyone can do first time. As I've been teaching club swinging I've found starting with the simpler swings and gradually building to the 'heart shaped' swing to be effective.

[Nic Branson]

As an RKC I can tell you that at least the other ones I know personally, Brett Jones and Gray among others, don't start with those advanced techniques. You have to teach to the capabilities and needs of your client. The weekends being short are very full of technique. Each RKC is expected to practice and learn the basic patterns, to be able to break them down and teach them effectively.

[Cole Dano]

To that I'll add the best resource out there to learn from is the Cook and Jones DVD/Book 'Club Swinging Essentials' featuring Ed Thomas. By far the best breakdown of the movements into understandable bits. (Though I personally think the kneeling position is overkill)

The second great resource is Mike Simpson's DVD set and book 'Indian Club Swinging' which is not a through on break down, but shows many more movements and styles.

The final resource are Richard 'Army' McGuire's DVD's.

They all have their strong points, but I suppose for a beginner if I had to I'd rank them in that order.

And lest I forget, there are Paul Wolkowinski's fantastic YouTube clips.