Note: These cylindrical clubs are not suited for cross crawl exercises. The length makes them slow, so it spoils the timing between the arm and leg movements. And when you perform swings while bending your knees, the clubs can crash onto the floor. But they are brilliant for swinging slowly around your head while standing upright.
The traditional bulbous shape of Indian clubs imparts a jerky motion to the hand while doing heart shaped mills. The hand holding the club accelerates and decelerates while swinging the club. The resultant impulse forces are good for developing strength and flexibility in the joints. But the jerky motion is not conducive to relaxed swinging for stress relief.
I always carry a stick when walking my dogs. A few weeks after starting my club swinging odyssey, I started swinging this stick. I found that it had the nicest, smoothest, motion of any of the clubs in my possession.
I always carry a stick when walking my dogs. A few weeks after starting my club swinging odyssey, I started swinging this stick. I found that it had the nicest, smoothest, motion of any of the clubs in my possession.
Initially I thought it was the low weight of the stick that made it swing so nicely. So I made small Indian clubs with a similar weight. These small clubs did not swing the same as my stick. But they were shorter than my stick. So maybe the length was important. The next thing I did was to make some clubs that had the same length as the stick, with all the weight concentrated in the end, like teardrop clubs. These also did not swing as nicely as my stick. Eventually it dawned on me that maybe the shape of the stick had something to do with the way it swings. So I made a number of clubs to test my theory. All of these clubs have two things in common: they have a predominantly cylindrical shape, and they are long for their weight. There is a uniform weight distribution along the length of the club.
Bingo! All of these clubs had the same relaxed swinging style as my stick. The motion can best be described as slow and stately. Once you put these clubs into motion, they continue on their orbit without further input. The hands just go along for the ride.
Do you want to see me swinging these clubs? Of course you do!
The cylindrical clubs are much longer than traditional bulbous Indian clubs of the same weight. Here is a comparison between a 2 kg cylindrical club, and a 2 kg bulbous club. The cylindrical club has an overall length of 73 cm, while the bulbous club has an overall length of 60 cm.
The nicest club of all had a length of 70 cm, and weighed 1.2 kg. So I decided to make a pair of clubs with these dimensions. I found some driftwood on the beach. I cut it up and brought it home. It appears to be coastal red milkwood (Mimusops Caffra), quite common in my area. The wood is close grained, dense, tough, and water resistant. It has an attractive pink colour. I used this driftwood to make a pair of cylindrical clubs.
The only tools I used were a bow saw, plane, chisel and files. It took me about 30 hours of work to get to this stage. One of the nice aspects of sawing and planing, is that these are repetitive, rhythmic movements, just like swinging Indian clubs. So they are capable of generating neurotransmitters as well. This explains the almost hypnotic, trance-like state I was in while working on these clubs. I resented being called away for dinner! I didn't want to stop!
The clubs weighed 1.8 kg at this stage, and already had the swinging motion that I was after. The clubs were too heavy for swinging comfortably for more than a minute at a time, so I had to remove more wood.
The clubs weighed 1.8 kg at this stage, and already had the swinging motion that I was after. The clubs were too heavy for swinging comfortably for more than a minute at a time, so I had to remove more wood.
The clubs now weigh 1.4 kg, a bit heavier than I expected. They still need to be sanded and varnished.
The clubs remind me of rolling pins. The proprietor of this pizza restaurant has decorated his ceiling with rolling pins!
The clubs remind me of rolling pins. The proprietor of this pizza restaurant has decorated his ceiling with rolling pins!
This is what the clubs look like after sanding and varnishing. When you turn them, the clubs look like they are made out of two different types of wood.
The heartwood looks like knotty pine, while the sapwood looks like a pink mahogany! Here is a close up of the grain near the handle.
The clubs are nice, but they have limitations. I cannot do double inner or outer mills without the clubs colliding with each other. So I decided to make a shorter pair. I hoped to retain the nice swinging behaviour, while making the new clubs more versatile. Here is the link:
Torpedo clubs
Torpedo clubs