Flex Clubs
Benefits:
Features:
Each piece is crafted to precise quality standards and is stained for a smooth finish.
Dr. Ed Thomas, kinesiologist and nationally recognized authority on health and fitness, demonstrates novice club swinging routines with slow and precise movements.
"Club swinging was discovered centuries ago, but the art is not widely known today. The Flex Clubs can help increase range of motion in your shoulders, elbows and wrists. They also build a base of efficient shoulder girdle movement. Range of motion and efficiency are further enhanced as you gain precision. Together, these three elements of training will benefit even the most highly skilled and conditioned athlete."
State Health and Physical Education Consultant
Iowa Department of Education
Club swinging originated in India, developed by soldiers as a method of improving strength, agility, balance and physical ability. During the annexation of India, British officers witnessed the warriors' graceful motions and noted, "besides the great recommendation of simplicity, the Indian club practice possesses the essential property of expanding the chest and exercising every muscle of the body."1
In 1914, the U.S. Army Manual of Physical Training noted, "The effect of these exercises, when performed with light clubs, is chiefly a neural one, hence they are primary factors in the development of grace, coordination and rhythm... they tend [to] supple the muscles and [to articulate] the shoulders and...the upper and fore arms and wrist..."2
The shoulder girdle is one of the most moveable, but most fragile, areas of the body. Shoulder strength should be complemented by flexibility, and swinging with FLEX Clubs can improve both.
Although a lost art for a number of decades, club swinging has reemerged thanks to students at Northern Illinois University and a physical training program of the U.S. Army at Fort Benning, GA.
1 Warman, E.B. (1921). Indian Club exercises. Spalding "Red Cover" Series of Athletic Handbooks, No. 22R. New York: American Sports Publishing Co.
2 War Department: Office of the Chief of Staff. (1914). Manual of physical training for use in the United States Army. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.