Club Swinging for Physical Exercise and Recreation

Club Swinging for Physical Exercise and Recreation: A Book of Information about All Forms of Indian Club Swinging Used in Gymnasiums and by Individuals
By William Jackson Schatz
Contents Introduction I-Elementary Club Swinging
--Heart-Shaped Circles
--Hand Circles
--Arm and Shoulder Circles
--Combinations of Hand and Arm Circles II-Advanced Club Swinging
--Shoulder Circles
--Parallel Circles
--Follow Circles
--Follow Circles (continued)
--Follow Circles (continued) III-Advanced Club Swinging, with the Snakes
--The Outward Snake
--Outward Half Snakes
--Perpendicular Snake Outward
--The Forward Hip Snake
--Forward Hip Spiral
--Traveling Snake
--The Inward Shoulder Snake
--The Reverse Perpendicular Snake
--Inward, or Reverse Hip Snake
--Parallel Movements
--Reverse Spiral and the Follows IV-Exercises for Class Work
--Circles
--Pendulums
--Pendulums (concluded)
--Combinations V-General Information
--Facings, Music, Torch Swinging, Exhibitions VI-Club Swinging for General and Corrective Exercises
Introduction After a quarter of a century's experience teaching gymnastics I feel more strongly drawn than ever to the use of the clubs as a helpful and pleasing form of exercise. True, there are some objections to them from the so-called hygienic standpoint, but these objections are out-weighed by the factors in their favor. The arguments against the club movements may just as rightly be made against many of the movements given with the wands and bells, but as it is possible and probable that the exercises which bring the arms too much in front of the body are at once counteracted by circles that raise the shoulders and draw back the scapulae, I doubt much if any harm comes pleasing form of exercise. The time will never come I hope when the element of pleasure in exercise will be overlooked. There is more that is pleasurable in club swinging, especially accompanied by good music, than in many movements with other pieces of light apparatus and I have noticed that pupils call for the clubs more frequently than for bells or wands. Only the most expert performer will approximate the mastery of the clubs; the combinations are so numerous and difficult that one must be a specialist to even stand on the threshold of complete knowledge of the thousand and one movements. A limited use of the gray matter will enable one to learn many movements without a teacher, especially if he has a book like this at his elbow. The simple circles made with wrist or arm either in front of or back of the body above the head, at the shoulders or... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Windham Press is committed to bringing the lost cultural heritage of ages past into the 21st century through high-quality reproductions of original, classic printed works at affordable prices. This book has been carefully crafted to utilize the original images of antique books rather than error-prone OCR text. This also preserves the work of the original typesetters of these classics, unknown craftsmen who laid out the text, often by hand, of each and every page you will read. Their subtle art involving judgment and interaction with the text is in many ways superior and more human than the mechanical methods utilized today, and gave each book a unique, hand-crafted feel in its text that connected the reader organically to the art of bindery and book-making. We think these benefits are worth the occasional imperfection resulting from the age of these books at the time of scanning, and their vintage feel provides a connection to the past that goes beyond the mere words of the text.