We hate ab rollers. I’m forever tripping over the stupid things at the gym! People leave them on those nice big mats where I like to roll around and attract funny looks. And besides, who needs a contraption like that when there are Clubbells around?

The Clubbell turns almost any exercise into an ab exercise. Trying to wield a Clubbell properly without a strong core is like trying to shoot a cannon from a canoe…

But there are also ways to use the Clubbell that specifically target the abdominal musculature. And my Tic-Toc Abs exercise is one of them. It’ll contribute to your six pack while teaching you efficient and functional transfer of energy through the core.

This is another one of those clips that I dredged up from the files of my online coaching programs. Give it a try and let us know in the comments if you “feel the burn.” 

I was going through some of my old video clips and found this Mini-Clubbell warm-up routine I learned from Scott Sonnon. I was using it a lot when ramping up for my Trial by Fire records. And I filmed this tutorial for an online student of mine last year.

It’s a perfect routine for greasing up the shoulders in preparation for heavier club swinging or even for other forms of intense training.

If you like excessively detailed explanations, you might enjoy this video…

It’s a bit dark and gritty, but hopefully you’ll find it useful. Let me know in the comments…

What exercise tool most vividly provokes images of strength and power?  Throughout the ages, what have men used most often to express or develop strength?  From our caveman forebears all the way to the modern warrior, the tool of choice has been the club.

Whether for the hunt or for defending turf, the image of the club wielding caveman is almost archetypal.  It immediately calls up impressions of strength and vitality.  But the story does not stop there.

Perhaps the most well known modern expression of club swinging comes to us from the physical cultures of the Indian peninsula.  But even this well know tradition grew from cultural exchanges with the middle east during the time of Mongol invasion and empire.  This pre-existing Iranian club swinging tradition used a tool which they called the meel to develop their strength for combat and wrestling.

Once again through conquest and Empire building, the art of club training was discovered by British soldiers in India in the 19th century.  They admired the usefulness of the club so much for its effects on physical strength and coordination that it was adopted into general use by much of the military and was brought home to Britain in the guise of what we now know as the Indian Club.

By the beginning of the 20th Century, Indian Clubs lined the walls of gymnasia throughout North America and Europe.  They were an integral part of the physical culture of the era, but fell out of vogue along with other tools of vital strength; only to be replaced ultimately by Ab Rollers and Chest Press machines.

In a risk averse and sterile physical culture, where machines are designed to take all the guesswork out of exercise and keep you “safe,”  there is no room for the methods of the old-time strongman.

Climbing ropes, leverage bars, gymnastics rings, pommel horses, kettlebells and of course Indian Clubs were no longer welcome.  Puffy, muscle-bound physiques replaced the rugged, dense and useful muscularity of previous generations of physical culturists.

But thankfully a new groundswell of interest in the old ways is already surging.  Although only slowly breaching the cracks of the mainstream fitness industry, traditional training methods have secured solid footing in alternative training facilities and home gyms throughout the West.

Systems like Circular Strength Training have done wonders in bringing these methods and tools to light. And perhaps the most fascinating resurgence of a traditional tool for modern use is Scott Sonnon’s Clubbell.

By applying all the methods of modern construction and design, Coach Sonnon truly managed to bring an ancient tool into the modern era.  Although these big black clubs still look decidedly primal, features like a slip resistant grip and urethane coated club head make for an obviously high-tech tool.