History Disappearing

“Well, that's history.”

What a great comment. It is a comment we hear all the time. It is also a statement that has been banging around in the back of my head for the last eight months. I heard someone say it when we wrapped up at the end of last year's Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic.

Here is the truth.

It is only history for the people who were there. That is, unless someone makes a record of it for those who were NOT there.

Why is this a big deal?

Have you ever tried to find out what an old Vaudeville strongman did in his act?

I am not talking about a stage poster with a list of the feats of strength that guy may be famous for, but something equivalent to a theater script. Even newspaper reporters would not write down everything a strongman would do in his act, feat by feat, with time indications.

There is a good reason for this. It would be incredibly boring to read. Only someone who studies these things would be interested. We have something better today. It is called film or video. A good deal of video footage is now on the internet as well, but the internet is a double edged sword.

Did you know that you can practically document the cultural revolution of the 1960's ona minute by minute basis, but right now you can't find record of many of the speeches made in the last Presidential race? It's true. They went straight to a web site. Now many of those web sites are down? They are gone and some of the newspapers don't even exist today.

Think about it. The Vaudeville strongmen of the 1890's didn't have film footage. Movies hadn't been invented yet. They have an excuse.

My video library is a reference tool that I refer to again and again, just like my collection of books, photos and posters.

How about you?

Live strong,
Roger LaPointe

War Department Physical Training Interest Factor

READ THIS:

“Physical training instruction should be made as interesting as possible, so that it will react as an exhilarant and awaken the enthusiasm of the men. This enthusiasm will not result, however, if the mind is not employed as well as the body.”

That quote is from page 13 of the US War Department's Basic Field Manual - Physical Training, of March 6, 1941.



This basic concept is part of the foundation of Atomic Athletic. Let's face it, if your goal is merely the stimulation of muscle fiber, then you should get a manual labor job. You will get plenty of stimulation and make some money as well. Of course, you will have very limited success in real result producing strength and conditioning work. Your “bodybuilding” results, such as they may be, will also be limited. Of course, any skill based work, like snatches or cleans, will be non-existent.

Employ the Mind as well as the Body!

With this concept foremost, check out the NEW PRODUCTS section on the web site, here is the link:

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/category.aspx?categoryID=705

We put up a bunch of great new items during the Thanksgiving Holiday. 

Also make sure to watch our new video BLOG, we will be posting these regularly.  They are short single concept vids. 

Live strong,

Roger

300 Pound Throw

300 Pound Throw

That headline is NOT a misprint! The 300 pound weight throw was the heaviest of the ultra heavy throwing contest that took place at Bowling Green State University last weekend.

This is a new, rather unorthodox division of the Field events. They competed in the following throws, all for distance: 35 Pound, 56 Pound, 98 Pound, 200 Pound and 300 Pound. There are both Senior and Masters age divisions for records.

Below, you see BGSU Women's Throwing Coach, Justin Carvalho, spinning with the 98 Pound Weight Throw.

This second photo is Jim Wetenhall with the 300 Pound Weight Throw.

If you were there, you would have also witnessed mighty Jim Wetenhall's new National Record Throw of 1.82 meters. Jim is a local guy, from Sylvania, OH and somewhat of a legend in the area. In one of the above photos you can see his huge back on the stands, with his "Toledo Fire and Rescue" sweat shirt.

There were a lot of Masters age throwers there, many of whom had questions about shoulder flexibility. Between the Monkey's Fist and Indian clubs I certainly had some interest. Most of them do the various Olympic lifts, and the associated assistance lifts, but I was suprised that very few still do the snatch. Here is the interesting part, all of them felt it was an important lift for throwers and they wanted to do it, they just couldn't. In the next few months, I believe there will be a lot of Indian clubs going into these serious throwers garage gyms. I will probably be writing more about this.

Live strong
Roger

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

Mighty Cool Garage Gyms

Mighty Cool Garage Gyms

Yeah, this photo is not of an actual garage, but it is an awesome home gym that a guy made in his attic, long before the internet was ever conceived of.

Attic Gym 1928
“Chester Sorenson, of Eugene, Ore., and his son, whom he is starting out right. How would you like to work out in this private gym.” Strength Magazine, 1928, p. 54

The Indian club exercise routines were clearly not foreign to Mr. Sorenson, as he has a nice pair of Indian Clubs hanging from the wall in the foreground. I have several antique pair of Indian clubs with a similar shape. My guess is that these are about 3 pounders, if they are typical hardwood, solid Indian clubs. However, beyond the above caption, I know nothing about Mr. Sorenson or his son.

His selection of other equipment is sparse, but clearly includes globe type kettlebells and barbells, which could be from the Milo Barbell Company. The Milo Barbell Company was purchased by Bob Hoffman to form the York Barbell Company. There is clearly an adjustable barbell as well. He may have also have some solid dumbbells, but it is impossible to tell for sure. There is certainly something else in his wall mounted "gun rack" style barbell rack.

I hope you enjoy this classic photo. If you are wanting to improve your "Garage Gym", you will want to get yourself a copy of our Garage Gym Guide.

Live strong,
Roger LaPointe
President, Atomic Athletic

Cool Custom Jobs

Cool Custom Jobs

Some guys like customized guitars. Some guys want a custom motorcycle. How about a unique set of Indian Clubs?

I have been doing custom gym equipment work for years, but we are really just getting into the Custom Indian Club concept. If you go back to the first fitness craze, which really revolved around club swinging in the 1860's, you would see a lot of customized Indian clubs. It is a great way to express your personality.

The first was a pair done for me. They are 10 pounders in the British shape, but I call them my American Patriot Clubs. I imagine that Teddy Roosevelt may have had some just like these.

The second pair features some awesome natural wood grains.

They are striped 30 pounders that use cherry and spalted maple. I had no idea how cool this would look, but I think I am going to get a pair done with spalted maple. Jeff Milne is the lucky guy with these giant chunks of lumber. I didn't know what spalted maple was until I read about it on this guitar site, so hit this link, and scroll down about ¾ of the screen.

If you have been hesitating about getting into Indian Club Swinging, go to our Indian Club Category on the Atomic Athletic web site to learn more. My bum shoulder has never felt better.

Oh yeah, club swinging is also fun!

Live strong,
Roger LaPointe

Persian Pullover

Persian Pullover

Try the Persian Pullover with your Indian Clubs. Here is what it looks like.

This will surely get your entire upper body: for strength, endurance and flexibility. In fact, the flexitility aspect is what got me hooked on Indian clubs. Due to an accident, some years ago, I have had a problem with my right shoulder that had me looking at surgery. Today, it feels almost totally normal. The only change, you got it, Indian club training. I do some every workout, even if I am working heavy Olympic weightlifting. Some workouts are entirely with Indian clubs today.

Here is a link to our big Club Training Info Package:
http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=CLUB1