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This Christmas, join us for 4 exciting Indian clubs workouts every Advent Sunday! It’s our little thank you for your continued support and feedback.

Thierry is combining Indian clubs with kettlebells, bodyweight and even sandbag exercises.
Just follow along and get a great  full body workout in under 30 minutes.

Remember to use the appropriate weight for each exercise, and be ready to substitute exercises if you’re unsure about how to perform them! 

Have the best and merriest Christmas, and scroll below for a 50% discount promo code!

SUBSCRIBE to our channel to get reminders about the coming videos!

Advent workout 2: Interval workout with a single kettlebell and single heavy club

Advent workout 3: Circuit with shena complex, Meel complex and double kettlebell complex

Advent workout 4: Dangal AMRAP circuit with bodyweight, heavy club, kettlebells and sandbag

IMPROVE YOUR INDIAN CLUBS TECHNIQUE

Our tutorials are very detailed, filmed from different angles, slow-mo where necessary, and we break down complex moves into smaller chunks. They are different from what we share on social medias, and also organized in a progressive way, making it easy to assimilate the complexity of Indian clubs.

Take advantage of our special offer this December. From GET STARTED VIDEOS (which are sorted in themes) or COMBINATION SWINGS AND CIRCUITS, there is something for all levels!

The offer does not apply to items on sale.

50% OFF VIDEOS | PROMO CODE: ELF-HAT!
Ron says ho ho ho, swing your pahlavandle!

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Ankle injuries are one of the most common orthopedic causes of an emergency room visit. 

Sometimes after an injury, your body awareness system stops working properly, and you may need to do some specific balance exercises to re-teach your body what it needs to do.

In this blog post, we show you some simple and effective exercises you can do with Indian clubs in the context of rehab, and even prehab. Just make sure to have the go-ahead with your physician before you start!

Ankle rehab

The goals of ankle rehab usually are:

  • Restore normal ankle mobility/ range of motion (ROM) 
  • Improve muscular strength and stability around the ankle
  • Restore normal balance and proprioception to your entire lower extremity

Proprioception is your body’s ability to realize where it is in space. This body awareness is an important component of human movement, as it helps us to move fluidly and easily without having to consciously think about the forces (like gravity) that are acting upon us. 

Indian clubs exercises target the lower body too!

The great thing about Indian clubs is that most of the benefits are reactive or happen on a reflexive level, meaning that you do not have to think about them. The clubs try to pull you off balance, and you automatically correct your posture to avoid loosing it.

The first exercise helps regain ankle range of motion, the second one helps with balance and proprioception.

More balance exercises for your ankle stability

After you have tried those 2 exercises, you can move on to more challenging balance board exercises as shown below. 

No need for fancy equipment to make a simple balance board, be creative as we demonstrate in the video. Use zig zags and elevate the boards slightly instead of leaving them flat. Don’t go crazy though, make it interesting but safe!

If you want state of the art balance board, we have the Strobel and Walter yogaboard in stock. You can get the effect of training on water or snow right in your home fitness training space.

If it sounds like too much of a hassle, or you don’t have room, simply go outdoors and walk on uneven terrain (like sand and hills), barefooted if possible. This will build up strength and mobility too.

CHECK OUT OUR YOGABOARD & PAHLAVANDLE™ SPECIAL OFFER!

Release tight calves to improve  ankle mobility, posture and range of motion

A 2015 study by Škarabot et al compared the effects of self myofascial release (SMR: a fancy term for auto massage) versus static stretching alone. 
The results showed that range of motion at that ankle increased by 9.1% when SMR was performed along with a static stretching routine.
Athletes performing static strecthing alone only reported a 6.2% improvement.

Just about everybody reports tight calves. One of the reasons is that our ankles and feet are rarely challenged through their entire range of motion in our day to day lives. We walk on perfectly flat (and hard) surfaces, and spend way too much time in shoes constricting our feet.

We show you a way to use your Pahlavandle™ as a self massage tool, how to stretch your calves, and ways you can assess your improvement in range of motion.

Better ankle mobility might also help you sit deeper in a squat, so get rolling and swinging!

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Shena push ups are always performed in the Zoorkhaneh before club swinging.

The Shena represents a sword. Legend has it that the warriors did their push ups off their swords to avoid their hands sinking in the soft desert sand. Since the Zoorkhaneh is highly ritualistic and traditionalist, to this day, push ups are performed on a shena, a wooden push up board. 

Ron takes you into the Heroic Sport workshop, and builds one in front of the camera in about 8 minutes!

Even if you’re not a handyman, you should be able to build this simple tool.

BUT PUSH UPS ARE HARD FOR MY WRISTS…

If you usually have sore wrists when doing push ups, the shena might be a good thing for you to experiment with, as it removes some of the stress on the wrists. With the fingers wrapped up around the board instead of stretched out. most people manage fine! 

Shena push ups are performed at a slow and steady tempo, allowing for a dynamic stretch in the top position.Slow tempo, also means they are done for high reps. 

In our Meels 101 video course, we have set a benchmark test for push ups and 4 count swings. Check it out!

WHAT YOU NEED

You’ll need a wooden board of about 120cm, roughly 6cm wide and 2cm thick, or as close as you can find in your hardwarde store.
With your elbows by your sides, lift your hands up, creating a W. Your hands will be just outisde your shoulders. That is the length of your board for YOU!

The tools you need are:
• a handsaw
• a screwdriver (OK, Ron’s cheating, he’s using a cordless)
• 8* 70mm screws with a tapered head
• a bit of sandpaper

If your push up board slides around, use some chair leg pads. Voila!

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Indian clubs transitions are the essence of the art of club swinging. Transitions require great coordination and timing to get right, and provide a fantastic spectacle and sense of achievement at the same time.

We have 2 video downloads purely dedicated to the breakdown of double heart shaped swings, the signature move of Indian clubs, and transitions. We teach you how to change direction, shape or pattern, and go from in sync to out of sync swings. 

Isn’t it time to take your skills to the next level?  Even if you have swung Indian clubs for years and attended workshops, we guarantee you there is something new for you to learn! 

We like to reward our blog readers, so there is a promo code somewhere in this post!

The Indian clubs transitions tutorials 102 and 103 show the essential viewing angles and break down the moves step by step, in a slow pace, for easy learning.

Check out a couple of teasers right here and now, and read on for a review from an experienced club swinger.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD IT TO YOUR PHONE OR COMPUTER

Club swinging 102: heart shaped essentials

Here you can learn all the individual swings, and how to switch directions with a single club.

Swings with 1 club

  • Single Inner Heart Shaped Swing
  • Single Outer Heart Shaped Swing
  • Inner to outer switch
  • Outer to Inner Switch #1
  • Outer to Inner Switch #2
  • Single Club Switch Flow
  • Under Hand Heart Shaped Swing
  • Over hand heart shaped Swing

Swings with 2 clubs

  • Double Inner Swing
  • Double Outer Swing
  • Parallel swing
  • Alternating Inner Heart Shaped Swing
  • Alternating Outer Heart Shaped Swing
  • Windmill
  • Double 8s Heart Shaped Swing, Overhand
  • Double 8s Heart Shaped Swing, Underhand

Total playing time: 47 minutes

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD IT TO YOUR PHONE OR COMPUTER

Club swinging 103: advanced transitions

In this video course, we cover how to change directions in flow for the double heart shaped swings. Once you master this, everything becomes easier!

In sync swings

  • Double Inner to Double Outer Switch
  • Double Outer to Double Inner Switch -Indian Cross
  • Double Outer to Double Inner Switch- Reverse Cross
  • Parallel Switch
  • Double Inner Swing to Parallel and back
  • Double Outer Swing to Parallel and back

Out of sync swings

  • Alternating Inner to Outer Switch
  • Alternating Outer to Inner Switch
  • Alternating Inner Swing to Windmill and back
  • Alternating Outer Swing to Windmill and back
  • How to change the rhythm of a swing

Total playing time: 38 minutes

We can’t say it better

Here’s a testimonial from Mark D. from England. Not everybody posts reviews on our products, but we receive lots of emails!

“In the last few weeks I’ve been actively using the Heroic Sport training material and I’m now in a position to give some feedback.

I’ve been club swinging for about six or seven years having first learnt the military-style from a couple of Mike Simpson’s weekend sessions in Sheffield.  Together with one of his training DVD’s, this was my grounding. 

Over the years, I have built up a good set of wooden clubs spanning the 1.00 to 4.00 kg range, together with a single Sim Kehoe 6.00 kg replica. However, I have become increasingly dissatisfied with my style and skills.

The style I learnt focused more on the individual swings to the neglect of the switches and transitions between them. 

I have since realized these transitions are the essence of the art of club swinging.  At the same time, the military-style – at attention, face forward – has increasingly felt artificial and restricted. 

Internet and YouTube searches reveal that there are many impressive examples of complex choreography and whole-body sequences out there.  However, for me at least, most create more frustration than enlightenment.  They are rarely broken down into the basic building blocks that you first need to master.

This frustration and wish to improve eventually led me to Heroic Sport. For someone wanting to learn Indian clubs, or improve their  ability, especially those looking for more natural whole-body flows, without doubt  – Heroic Sport is the best there is.  

The training materials are well organised and widely illustrated.  Through Thierry’s  expert instruction and useful tips, you are taken from the essential building blocks (grips, breathing, stance, etc) through the main swings to the switches and transitions you need to gracefully move between.  The video is excellent quality and the use of slow motion, special clubs, front and back views, and step by step troubleshooting, works very well. 

I have mainly spent the last few weeks working through the sections on switching direction, changing swings and changing rhythm.  While I have still a lot of practice to look forward to, I can do things now that I could not before! 

Its opened up a whole new dimension of the clubs. “

As promised, here’s a promo code for the 102 and 103 videos. Enter: best205 at checkout, and get 15% off any of the 2 videos.

In the video below, I switch between heart shaped swings by using stopping one club in a static hold, which is a great way to start, and easier for people. But all transitions can be done in flow. Practice, and if you manage to perform the whole routine flawlessly with Indian club  transitions, remember to post it on our Facebook page!

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