Sticky Indian clubs, Persian Meels, Clubbells, Gada/Maces & Bulgarian Bags

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Strengthen your shoulders, increase mobility and avoid injury – Rotator cuff exercises using a steel mace.

The shoulder is a dynamic and incredibly complex joint that we need to maintain strong, mobile and stable. We must balance the expansive network of shoulder complex muscles adequately to minimize the risk of injury. We need variability in exercises through multiple planes of motion to allow our shoulders to function like well-oiled machines no matter what position we are in.

Considering the shoulders are involved in almost every pushing, pulling, lifting and throwing movements, in both the gym and daily life, our shoulder joints often take a beating. The shoulder has the largest range of motion of any joint, which is why it is the most commonly dislocated joint, and it can be easily injured without proper strength, mobility, and stabilization.

At SET FOR SET we specialize in the steel mace, and it’s not just a great tool for sports performance, the steel mace is great for rehabilitation and prehabilitation as well. It is an especially effective tool for maintaining a healthy rotator cuff, which is the focus of this article.

Anatomy of the Rotator Cuff

“The rotator cuff is made up of four muscles whose tendons come together to form a covering around the head of the humerus (upper arm bone) and top of the shoulder. Together with the joint capsule, ligaments and labrum, the rotator cuff muscles are important dynamic stabilizers and movers of the shoulder joint.”

Here’s a quick breakdown of each rotator cuff muscle:
Supraspinatus: Performs abduction of the arm, and pulls the head of the humerus medially towards the glenoid cavity - Susceptible to impingement.

Infraspinatus: Externally rotates the humerus and stabilizes the shoulder joint. The most common exercise for beginners is standing external rotation with a band.

Subscapularis: The only rotator cuff muscle that performs internal rotation of the shoulder. It is a powerful defense to the front of the shoulder-joint, preventing displacement of the head of the humerus.

Teres minor: Externally rotates the humerus when your arm is raised to the side

Understanding the rotator cuff

To assist in stabilizing the joint, the rotator cuff pulls the shoulder blade (scapula) and the arm bone (humerus) towards each other and keeps them in position. If the rotator cuff isn’t functioning like it should, the humerus could slide too far forward or upward. This can cause strain on the front of the shoulder or an impingement on the top of the shoulder, both of which can wind up tearing the rotator cuff further.

Note:
The internal rotators (pec and lat) are much bigger and more powerful which is oftentimes what leads to an imbalance if the external rotators are left untrained.

Although the rotator cuff is essential to stabilizing the shoulder joint and ensuring proper shoulder function, tons of people still neglect training this critical muscle group. Most people often only train for shoulder strength.

The rotator cuff necessitates flexibility and stability training as well to function optimally. It’s not all about strength.

The steel mace can be used in numerous ways to effectively target all of the rotator cuff muscles, to ensure optimal function, and to help prevent shoulder injuries… as you will see further below.

The infamous rotator cuff tear - One of the most common shoulder injuries.

What Causes Rotator Cuff Tears?
There are numerous kinds of tears. Many factors can cause these tears. However, a weak rotator cuff doesn’t necessarily correlate to a torn rotator cuff.

The major contributing factor of Rotator Cuff Tears:

• Poor posture
• Bad form when exercising or doing physical activities.
• Overuse in positions functioning in high demand.
• Poor Coordination.
• Inability to stabilize the joint/muscle imbalance.

Preventing Rotator Cuff Injuries:

“Rotator cuff injuries do not often happen when the arm is just flailing about. The damage usually happens when the arm and shoulder are in a loaded position. For this reason, we need to strengthen the muscles in a loaded position. Banded exercises are good and necessary, however, it doesn’t train your body to use the rotator cuff they way it was intended to be used [which is under load]. It’s important to train the rotator cuff loaded so it can be strengthened in a loaded position, which is what it almost always is in during physical activities.” – Michael Risher sports performance trainer and chiropractic student at Palmer West Chiropractic College.

Michael believes that a steel mace is a great tool for preventing shoulder injuries. The steel mace can help you go beyond the basics of rotator cuff training, so that you can keep your rotator cuff strong, mobile and injury free.

The Steel Mace – the best shoulder rehab and prehab tool.

The steel mace offers ultimate range of motion and variability of weight distribution due to its long lever, uneven weight distribution, and simply, the unique way the steel mace is used. Steel mace training focuses heavily on different kinds of swings and rotations, and the ability to work in multiple planes of motion means the steel mace, aka macebell, offers a lot of benefits you won’t find elsewhere.

You can strengthen and stretch the stabilizing muscles of the rotator cuff very effectively through various ranges of motion and body & stance positioning using the steel mace.

Rotator cuff exercises with the steel mace cause a beneficial separation of the joint, which helps lubricate the joint and boost its overall health. Think of exercises for your joints like a more frequently needed oil change - Keep your joints functioning optimally with frequent stretching and mobility routines.

Mace benefits:
Upper back and scapula
Rotational torque
Mobilizing the scapula
Improving posture
Developing strength in more ranges of motion

Not to mention, steel maces increase rotational force/strength in multi-planes, two qualities that traditional weightlifting often lacks.

A light mace is perfect for a warm-up for the shoulder girdle and rotator cuff.

In regards to the weight, the great thing about the mace is you can increase the difficulty of the exercise simply by positioning your grip differently. This means you can make it harder as you get stronger using the same mace.

Starting with a light mace and working your way up in weight over time is a great way to improve the stability and range of motion of your shoulders safely and effectively.

Rotator Cuff Exercises Using The Steel Mace:

Michael uses the following rotator cuff exercises for rehabilitating and prehabilitating himself and his clients. Here are five moves in multi-planes that you could include in your upper body warm up routine or as a workout in itself to improve shoulder mobility, reduce injuries and to make sure your shoulders can operate optimally in any position.

Mace Rotator Cuff Notes:

• Hold the mace at a controllable length. The forearm can be your limiting factor (training forearm strength, which the mace does amazingly, will in turn help improve your shoulder strength).
• Controlled movement the entire time. This should not be a fast movement as increased torque on the shoulder could cause slight damage.
• Mace should be held in both directions as the center of gravity changes and the motor control is different.

It is necessary to prevent grooving of your movement patterns, where you are only strong in the positions you train. It’s important to train in all different planes so your shoulders can be strong in all positions. By doing so, you will have well-rounded strength and decreased risk for injury when you train in unconventional angles.

Optimum Performance
Warming up before partaking in an intense activity is a must. If you don’t properly condition your shoulders, they can become inflamed quite quickly.

Stretching and mobilizing your shoulders and arms should be included in your training program.

Bulletproofing your shoulders
Bulletproofing your rotator cuff doesn’t require a lot of weight. It is best to use lower resistance with more repetitions. Low resistance exercises will gradually strengthen the smaller muscles that make up your rotator cuff without the risk of injury.

Remember, the four rotator cuff muscles are relatively small, so keep the movements slow and controlled.

Conclusion:
We are big advocates of incorporating ranges of motion outside of your normal training. Variability is a necessary condition for optimal function. If you always train using the same exercises and movement patterns, you’ll overdevelop certain areas and underuse others. With that being said, developing strength and stability in other planes of motion using a steel mace is an excellent way to reduce injuries and to stay #alwaysready.
https://www.setforset.com/blogs/news/5-exercises-to-bulletproof-your-shoulders-using-a-steel-mace

 

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How to recover from rotator cuff injuries & injury proof your shoulders!
It seems like most people I meet these days, who do regular strength training of some description, complain of shoulder pain and mention Rotator Cuff Injuries (RCI); or "weightlifter's"/"CrossFitter's" shoulder as it is also called these days!

Science says that the occurrence of RCIs (Rotator Cuff Injuries) in the general public is estimated to be approximately one in every three shoulder referrals. And unsurprisingly the occurrence and chances of repeat cases increase with age, in particular when you're over 50 and particularly if you have a history of RCIs.

So I've done some research, and I don't mean just Googling, to find out more about the prevalence and risk factors associated with RCIs in strength trainers, weightlifters and CrossFitters and how best to treat it.

Including some really good scientific references at the end too!

Just to be clear the rotator cuff muscles are imperative in ensuring shoulder stability, and when working optimally enables pain free ROM. So what does a RCI feel like? Painful in overhead movements, specially when weight bearing i.e. carrying a weight overhead.Essentially these science guys (listed in the footnotes), who are much better in writing research papers than I am, identified that placing the shoulder in an abducted, extended and externally rotated position, specially when weight bearing, increases the risks associated with RCIs of the shoulder. The main pain producing exercises have been identified as:

1. Wide grip bench press
2. incline and supine flys
3. Bent arm pullovers
4. Latissimus pull-downs
5. Behind the neck military presses
6. Power cleans
7. Kipping type gymnastics exercises in CrossFit

It is clear that most people's favorite exercise, the wide grip bench press, is the main culprit and pain producing exercise.

Another mob reported from a survey they conducted on CrossFit athletes (these findings have been attacked by people in CrossFit circles as being unscientific and erroneous) that 73.5% of the study subjects, those who practice CrossFit on a regular basis (about 5 hours per week for the last 18 months), have sustained an injury during CrossFit training. Shoulder injuries predominating the injury profiles. Again no surprise that men got injured more often.

So what does science say about the best way of rehabilitating, or altogether avoiding, RCIs? It seems that the best way of minimizing the risk for RCI associated injuries and the optimum approach to recovery and rehabilitation, using nonsurgical methods, is using low weight, high repetition exercises that help increase the ROM, mobility and stability of the rotator cuffs in specifics and shoulders in general.

Furthermore it is suggested in the literature that exercises that increase coordination, endurance and circulation while allowing for a normal humeroscapular rhythm are the most effective form of rehabilitation. And I would like to add that it is not only a much safer, and preventative approach to strength training, but this modality is also much more beneficial since exercising this way helps develop additional physical skills like coordination, proprioception and endurance.

Enter the Meel the only tool (to my knowledge) that provides all the above mentioned benefits, and yet so much more, all at once through very simple and basic swings that anybody can learn to do for 5-10 minutes every other day or a couple of times a week.

It is no coincidence that world class elite wrestlers, martial artists and power athletes (both Iranian, Indian and Japanese) train with the Meel (or clubs); and again it is no coincidence that they favor lighter Meels over heavy ones. In fact it is very rare for Zurkhaneh Pahlavans to regularly train with heavy Meels, the most commonly used weights are between 4-10 kg sets, i.e. 2-5 kg each Meel.

When it comes to Meels do not obsess over big and heavy Meels, mastery is more important. As you can see from the photo of Jahan Pahlavan Takhti, he is holding what appears to be a maximum 6kg set of Meels.

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And this man (may his spirit be in bliss and his memory eternal) is, if not THE greatest wrestler then at the very least, one of the greatest wrestlers who ever lived. And I have heard that Bozorg (grand) Pahlavan Razaz would swing light Meels in thousands of repetitions.

Not only does the Meel improve and increase the strength, mobility and stability of the shoulder but due to the shape and weight distribution and wooden material enables a much softer, more fluid (less jerky) and rhythmical swinging which can be done as an art form and as a spiritual physical practice...and it injury proofs your shoulders too.

So wait no more, invest in your health, get a pair of Meel and learn how to use them properly; and ensure a lifetime of painless mobility and stability of your shoulders. Because strength is a lifestyle, not only something you're into when you're 20 something.

Be tireless!

Kashi

References:

1. Yamamoto A, Takagishi K, Osawa T, Yanagawa T, Nakajima D, Shitara H, et al. Prevalence and risk factors of a rotator cuff tear in the general population. J Shoulder Elb Surg [Internet]. Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees; 2010;19(1):116–20.
2. Haupt H. Upper extremity injuries associated with strength training. Clin Sports Med [Internet]. 2001;20(3):481–90.
3. Gross ML, Brenner SL, Esformes I, Sonzogni JJ. Anterior shoulder instability in weight lifters. Am J Sports Med. 21(4):599–603.
4. Fees M, Decker T, Snyder-Mackler L, Axe MJ. Upper extremity weight-training modifications for the injured athlete. A clinical perspective. Am J Sports Med. 1998;26(5):732–42. '
5. Hak, P., Hodzovic, E. and Hickey B. The nature and prevalence of injury during CrossFit training. J Strength Cond Res. 2013;1.
6. Weisenthal BM, Beck C a., Maloney MD, DeHaven KE, Giordano BD. Injury Rate and Patterns Among CrossFit Athletes. Orthop J Sport Med [Internet]. 2014;2(4):1–7.
7. Osterås H, Torstensen TA. The dose-response effect of medical exercise therapy on impairment in patients with unilateral longstanding subacromial pain. Open Orthop J. 2010;4:1–6.

https://www.persianyoga.com/blog/ho...injuries-injury-proof-your-shoulders#comments

 

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Gotch

 

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Foto's gemaakt rond 1905 in Amritsar (ben daar zelf ook nog in 2004 geweest). Wat een afmetingen hebben die Jori clubs, zelfs verzwaard met metaal. Wat een kracht hebben deze mannen gehad en dat op latere leeftijd nog steeds. Jammer dat het alleen foto's zijn en we ze niet meer in actie kunnen zien.

 

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Zijn er hier leden die ook trainen met deze tools?

MACE STRENGTH TRAINING – 46 POUND BAT SWINGING

Mace strength training. Now there’s a tool that make your wrists go to school! I made a mace out of wood, plastic and concrete. It ended up weighing 46 pounds (21 kg)! The pole is 2.3 inches thick (6 cm) and it’s 4.9 feet in length (150 cm). It’s a gigantic bat of death.

46 pounds doesn’t sound like much, if we were talking about dumbbells. But we aren’t. When you lift this thing off the ground, your wrists and elbows, together with your core, will feel as though you’ve been plugged into a power outlet. Pressing it upward in a vertical fashion will be easy, but as soon as you turn it a few degrees to the left or right, you’ll feel the tension building up rapidly. The closer together your hands are at the end of the pole, the more horrifying it gets. Imagine doing a fulcrum press with this baby!

An exercise I recommend is gravediggers. It’s just like digging with a shovel, but due to its weight and diameter it’s a lot more demanding. The downside is you cannot add weight. You’ll have to get a heavier club or one with a longer pole. The more economical solution would be a fat barbell with weight on one side, but to be honest, it’s just not the same thing as swinging a big bat around!

If you’re strong enough, you can also swing the bat behind your back, back to an upward position. The starting point would be to hold the mace vertically above your head. Then let it fall to the left or right, behind your back. By the time it has passed your spine, pull it up again, by pulling your elbows down.

This will make the bat fly upward again. However, I don’t recommend you do this with a monster bat at first. Try it first with an ordinary sledgehammer and work up from there. When the hammer gets too light, you can buy or make a decent mace.

Benefits of mace training
Training with a mace will work your upper body, balance and some flexibility, particularly in the shoulders and wrists. You can develop brute force and power with them, but I’d say the main reason to train with them is conditioning and injury prevention/rehabilitation. I remember having many small injuries in my hands and wrists when I first started to bend steel. Swinging with maces and clubs once or twice a week made frequent injuries disappear.

 

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Strength Training for the Eons
I was first introduced to the traditional Indian gada (aka the mace) by my friend Karl Gotch a few years ago. As gracefully as Karl swung it, I was equally clumsy. I nearly knocked myself unconscious with it the first time I swung it. It was the toughest and most awkward exercise implement I had ever held. It was then and there that I challenged to master this bad boy.

This killer training implement was preferred by legendary wrestlers for centuries, from the Pehlwans of India to 'God of Wrestling' Karl Gotch. Historically, the mace has had both strong spiritual and combative connotations in folklore. Robert L. O'Connell, on page 119 of his book Ride of the Second Horseman: The Birth and Death of War points to the mace as the first weapon made specifically for use against other human beings (as opposed to a modified hunting weapon). In the Hindu religion, the mace of Vishnu is named "Kaumodaki" and represents the elemental force from which all other powers (both physical and mental) are derived.

Anyone that owns a genuine Macebell will find it fitting that mace-work is associated with the Indian god of strength, Hanuman. Hanuman is traditionally depicted in the form of monkey brandishing a mace, and this Mace is generally understood to symbolize bravery. Hanuman serves to remind the faithful that there is limitless power within each individual. In folklore, Hanuman focused all his energy into the worship of Lord Rama. This devotion freed him from all physical fatigue.

The mace is recognized as the main tool of the Pehlwans (the Hindu wrestlers of India). Competition trophies (symbolizing significant achievement) are made in the shape of gold and silver maces.

I have recently taken it upon myself to re-introduce mace-work to the West (with the wonderful help of Torque Athletic) with the development of the Macebell.

This brutal kettlebell/indian club hybrid actually originated in ancient Persia where they were known as "Meels". These "Meels" were utilized by the Pahlavan (ancient Persian grapplers and strongmen) to increase their strength, endurance, and health. The lighter version generally weighed in the range of ten to fifteen pounds and were used in high rep sets to build stamina while the heavier class weighed from anywhere between twenty-five to sixty pounds and were used to build great strength.

According to longtime Pahlavani researcher Farzad Nekoogar, Meels first made their way to India as late as the thirteenth century by Persian grapplers fleeing the Mongols. Indian mace swinging is derivative of ancient war club practice. Nearly every depiction of the gods and goddesses in Hindu religious art finds the deity brandishing a war mace of some kind.

Probably the most famous and feared embodiment of the Mace Swinging athlete was a man known as The Lion of the Punjab, "The Great Gama" Baksh. He was born into a famous family of grapplers from the northwestern part of India.

To give you the scope of his commanding physical presence, Gama had thirty inch thighs and a fifty-six inch chest. At only six years old, Gama's father died and this event, in many ways, drove him to excel in grappling. Gama's first feat of physicality came at a national physical culture competition held sometime around 1888. Despite the fact that Gama was a mere ten years old, permission was granted for him to compete when the powers that be learned that he was the son of the great wrestler Aziz Baksh.

As Joseph Alter, Ph.D. tells the story of Gama's abilities (see his article entitled GAMA THE WORLD CHAMPION: WRESTLING AND PHYSICAL CULTURE IN COLONIAL INDIA in the October 1995 edition of the journal Iron Game History for more);

"the main contest in the competition was to see who could do the highest number of repetitions of free squats called "bethaks". Indian wrestlers regularly do hundreds if not thousands every day, and even at ten years old Gama's daily routine included five hundred. Over four hundred wrestlers from around the country had gathered for the contest. after a number of hours had passed, only fifteen wrestlers were left exercising. At this point Jaswant Singh ended the contest saying that the ten year old boy was clearly the winner in such a field of stalwart national champions. Later, upon being asked how many (bethaks) he had done, Gama replied that he could not remember, but probably several thousand. In any event he was bed-ridden for a week.

1928: World Champion wrestler Stanislaus Zybysco with Gama before their match. Despite being 50 years old and outweighed by 50 lbs, Gama prevailed decidedly in an amazing 42 seconds.

Starting at the age of ten, Gama's daily exercise routine included not only five hundred bethaks, but five hundred dands (jack-knifing push-ups) as well. He is said to have regularly done three thousand bethaks and fifteen hundred dands and run one mile every day with a 120 pound stone ring around his neck.

In 1908, two years before he went to London to compete for the world championship belt, Gama's regimen was increased to five thousand bethaks and three thousand dands. Every morning he would also work out by wrestling with forty compatriot wrestlers in the royal court. Added to this, he began weight-lifting with a one hundred pound grind stone and a santola (wooden bar-bell made from a tree trunk).

His phenomenal diet and regimen of exercise was meant to develop a kind of pervasive subtle energy rather than just the kinetic power of particular muscle groups. Even at the age of fifty, Gama was still doing 6000 bethaks and 4000 dands every day, and wrestling with eighty compatriots in the royal court."

Clearly Gama's regimen encompassed much more than just the Mace but nonetheless they were a big part of every Indian wrestler's training.

During the nineteenth century, while stationed in India, the British army, utilized Indian-club exercises as part of its own military PT (physical training) regimen. In 1861, an American fitness enthusiast and businessman by the name of Sim D. Kehoe observed the art of Indian-club swinging while visiting England. Soon thereafter he began to produce and sell clubs on the American market in 1862.

Indian Clubs were used in the Olympic Games in 1904 in St. Louis under the auspices of "Rhythmic Gymnastics" and remained an Olympic sport until 1932. These days it seems like everything old is new again and certainly mace swinging should be no exception.

Today there is a resurgence of interest in Indian Clubs among modern physical culturists, especially combat athletes. The non-linear motions work the shoulder girdle and core like nothing else. The grip also benefits from mace-work. If you are interested in changing up your routine and challenging yourself with the Macebell, it is a brutal strength training implement that will earn your respect.

Please be sure to play this video to see Catch Wrestling legend Karl Gotch swing the mace with MMA pioneers Minoru Suzuki and Masakatsu Funaki:

Please also enjoy this clip of heavyweight MMA champion Josh Barnett rocking his 10 kg Macebell:

 

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Hahaha grappig. Hoe zouden wij het afbrengen bij zo'n training?

 

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3 nieuwe gada's gemaakt, 5kg en 15kg.

 

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Die nail jori @3:50. Wat een horror dingen zijn dat. Moet je voorstellen dat je dingen tegen je aankomen met die snelheid over je rug.

Die trainingen van die mannen zijn niet misselijk trouwens.

 

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Voor iedereen die goedkoop een club wilt maken en de gewichten wilt aanpassen. Ook ideaal voor op vakantie, je neemt de Pahlavandle mee en koopt op locatie twee flessen en vult ze met bijvoorbeeld water. Ze passen op elke plastic fles.

https://www.heroicsport.com/collections/products/products/pahlavandle

 

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Leuke opzet, van klein naar groot.

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[chulodogo]

Mooi Topic! Ik train jaren zo, ook hojo undo. met chi ishi Ik wil ooit nog mooie houten club aanschaffen