In his writings and lectures, Dr. Ed Thomas reinforces the importance of progression, variety and precision in all physical training including club swinging. He suggests that even strong, athletic and fit individuals first practice with a one-pound club. For joint integrity, mobility and efficiency, no more than three pounds will ever be needed. Thomas has studied many forms of club swinging for over fifty-five years, and he is a highly respected professor of movement and exercise science. The skills on his video are captivating, but watching him swing clubs in real life is difficult to describe and quite amazing. Unfortunately, he tends to be somewhat reclusive, guarded and cryptic with his knowledge. A student once asked him how many repetitions of each movement a club swinger should be able to do. Dr. Thomas replied, “One perfect repetition should be your goal, and you will train a lifetime in search of it.” For those determined to practice with heavy clubs, Dr. Thomas recommends careful self-analysis and attention to the mechanical principles governing the shoulder girdle, elbow, wrist and other areas of the body used during club swinging. “Natures laws are immutable,” He frequently writes. “Ignore them, and you will surely suffer the consequences.”
I have suffered from weak lung function and various health inadequacies most of my life due to an injury when I was young. In concert with many other contributing activities for the goal of normalizing my health, the club swinging as described by Dr. Thomas has been a profound addition. My first experience was simply learning how to hold and move the clubs (no swinging yet) and it made me so sore I had to recover for several days before being able to try it again... and that was with 1 lb. clubs against my 6'2" frame! Dr. Thomas's uncompromising focus on form and balance is what has allowed me to develop these weakened tissues and awaken my chest and exercise capacity. I now swing 2 lb. clubs along with the 1 lb. clubs for warming up and balancing my form. The attention to the detail of form and balance is truly what allows for increasing richness and creativity in the activity. I hope to find more video content from Dr. Thomas in the future, and I hope he doesn't believe it would be a waste to contribute that to the unknown students in the field such as myself.
ReplyDeleteI have also been able to prescribe this to a few of my patients with either shoulder injuries or weak chest function, and have gained some clinical success from even moderate usage of the 1 lb. clubs.
Thanks for bringing this to my awareness... it's one of the best exercises I know!
-David Brochstein
http://dbacu.com