Hanuman's Revenge

Hanuman's Revenge

The Indian god Hanuman, who is depicted as a monkey with a club, is often called the god of war, power, strength, courage and faithful, selfless service. For wrestlers, weightlifters, strongmen and any other “hero”, this is your guy, if you are of the Hindu faith.

Now, forget all that. The title just sounds cool and makes a great name for one of my favorite workouts. This is based on real Indian physical culture research and I have put in substitutes for those of you who may not have the perfect equipment for job. I rarely have exactly the right equipment for this routine when I am on the road, but the concept is great.

Workout

Warm-up: Short jog of a mile or so

Stretch: Make sure to really get the hamstrings and forearms

Hindu Push-ups 50 reps: I use that name because it is currently trendy and familiar, but the best video I have ever seen on that exercise is a short documentary about Judo great Masahiko Kimura. You can see it by hitting the link.

Indian Club Swinging: do at least 200 reps, working up to 10 pound meels (large and long clubs), with the concentration on getting in at least 5 perfect sets of 5 reps with the meels in the alternating “Persian Pullover” move. I will also try to get in 30 reps with one of our Gama Clubs.

Nal (Indian Stone Wheel) Squats 1 set of 40 with 20 pounder, 1 set of 30 with 35 pounder, 1 set of 20 with 55 pounder, 1 set of 10 with 90 pounder

Those of you unfamiliar with the Nal, check out this photo.

Nal Wrestler Lunges: 1 set of 10 reps alternating foot forward, each (Forward, Northeast, Northwest), that's 60 reps total

Stone Ball Shouldering 3 sets of 5 with the 140 pounder
Technique Tips.

Hindu Push-ups 20 slow ones

Stretch

Substitutions:
Hindu Push-ups: If you have push-up bars or stone padlocks, do some of these reps with those bars, especially if you are having shoulder problems from years of bench pressing. You can also change up the angle, to help with shoulder problems. Different heights of padlocks, and or bars can help too. Persian wrestlers use a sort of push-up bar for this movement.

Clubs: short dumbbell bars are much better than hammers for this movement, because the hammer head is unbalanced left to right, but those are also fine for some club movements, just a little limiting.

Nal: Use a barbell dude...

Stone ball Shouldering: Sub in deadlifts and some medicine ball work, or power cleans.

When you are done, you will understand why I call this one Hanuman's Revenge!

Live strong,
Roger