Indian Club Swinging at the 1904 Summer Olympics

Indian Club Swinging at the 1904 Summer Olympics

When you think of the Summer Olympics, the events that most immediately come to mind probably include track and field, weightlifting, swimming, and other popular forms of competition... but Olympic history is full of several unusual sports that garnered much less attention, and which existed as a competitive event for only a brief period.

You may be surprised to learn that at the 1904 Summer Olympics (held in St. Louis, Missouri) indian club swinging made its first (but not only) appearance as an Olympic contest.

Classified as a gymnastics event, the original competition featured only three athletes -- all from the United States: Edward Hennig of Cleveland, Ohio took home the Gold Medal, narrowly edging his countryman Emil Voigt by a score of 13-9. Ralph Wilson took Bronze with a score of "5."

Indian Club Swinging was again on the docket for the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, but that was its last moment in the spotlight, at least on the Olympic stage. We sure won't be seeing any late-night coverage of club swinging from Beijing this year.

Although no longer a competitive sport, club swinging still remains a great way to build upper body strength and stamina even a hundred years later.

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Hand Balancing Made Easy by E. M. Orlick

Hand Balancing Made Easy by E.M. Orlick

Professor E.M. Orlick was an outstanding strongman, physical culturist and gymnast who came from a long line of circus performers. Over the years Orlick wrote hundreds of training articles on a variety of topics and was also the editor or "Mr. America" magazine for a number of years as well as the assistant editor of a Boxing/Wrestling magazine. While he was certainly proficient at a number of strength feats but hand balancing was his forte, and he wrote several training courses on the subject. Orlick's training courses include: "Walking and Jumping on Your Hands," "How To Do The One Hand Handstand" and "Hand Balancing Made Easy."

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The One-Hand Balance

The One-Hand Balance

"The experience gained in learning a one-hand balance can play a very important part in your gymnastics program, both in practice and in competition. For the feeling and coordination necessary to balance on one hand will increase your gymnastic ability on all other apparatus. In competition, a one-hand balance can be used to advantage in your free calisthenics or parallel bar routine. In free calisthenics, a one-hand balance on the floor is rated high in difficulty and will bring you points if you hold it for at least three counts, holding your other hand to your side and using good form."

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The Iron Cross

The Iron Cross

Much of the origins of strength training and physical culture come from gymnastics. The Iron Cross as performed on gymnastic rings, is one of the most impressive gymnastic feats. It takes a great deal of strength and plenty of skill to perform The Iron Cross properly.

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Early Bodybuilder Bobby Pandour

Bobby Pandour

Bobby Pandour was an early physique superstar and Vaudeville performer during the 1900s. Pandour never trained with heavy weights but built his incredible physique with gymnastics, muscle control work, hand balancing and high-rep training with a pair of 10-pound dumbbells. At his peak Pandour weighed only 160 pounds at a height of 5'6". It was reported that he had a 42-inch chest, 23-inch thighs and 17-inch arms.

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Kettlebell Training with Sig Klein

Sig Klein

It was through Sig Klein's Kettlebell course that I first learned how to train with kettlebells -- and that was over a decade and a half ago -- a long time before "kettlebell" became a household word. I think Sig had the right idea -- he was very proficient in a number of different strength "disciplines" - weight lifting, kettlebell lifting, gymnastics, hand balancing, and all along with an incredible physique to match his great strength.

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Staff Sgt. Moss

Staff Sgt. Alfred Moss

Staff Sgt. Alfred Moss was an early bodybuilder, circa 1900, although his tattoos often disqualified him from several contests despite his obvious muscularity. Sergeant Moss was considered the Strongest man in the British Army, once jerking a 56-pound blockweight 100 times in 2 minutes 52 seconds. He went on to write several training courses covering the parallel bar, vaulting horse, indian clubs, rings, tumbling and other gymnastic subjects.

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Classic Gymnasium from 1888

Classic Gymnasium from 1888
Check out this wood engraving of a classic gymnasium: It was the YMCA at Longacre, London. This particular gymnasium was opened by the Prince of Wales on June 16, 1888.

Notice the variety of physical training going on: Indian Clubs, Tumbling, Parallel Bars, High Bar, Pommel Horse, Wall Pulleys, Climbing Ladders, Gymnastic Rings, Climbing Ropes and a rack of Barbells along the wall.

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Abbye "Pudgy" Stockton

Pudgy Stockton

If there ever were a "bar belle" it was Abbye "Pudgy" Stockton. (She aquired the nickname "Pudgy" as a child and it stuck.) "Pudgy" weighed 115 pounds at a height of 5'2" and, as you can see, was quite the physical specimen -- especially impressive at a time when weightlifting for either gender was frowned upon. She and husband Les Stockton were well known at the first "Muscle Beach" at Santa Monica, California where they primarily worked on acrobatics and gymnastic feats for the crowds.

Aside from being a frequent contributor to Strength and Health Magazine, Pudgy also helped organize the very first weight lifting contect for women through the AAU. In that contest, Stockton pressed 100 pounds, snatched 105 pounds, and clean and jerked 135 pounds.

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Combat Conditioning by Matt Furey

Combat Conditioning by Matt Furey
Sure, a lot of people "coulda" done it, but Matt Furey is the one who actually did it -- he wrote Combat Conditioning,THE book on bodyweight calisthenics, and brought this intensely productive and useful form of training back to the public eye after it had all but become extinct.

The strength of this program is its simplicity -- 50 simple, yet effective bodyweight exercises incorporating elements of Ancient Indian Physical Culture, Wrestling, Gymnastics, Old Gym Class Favorites and more than a few "Special" exercises passed down from "The God of Wrestling", Karl Gotch.

If you think bodyweight training is "too easy to be effective," all I have to say is try it... And please keep in mind that almost all of the oldtime strength writers, including Alan Calvert, George Jowett, Earle E. Liederman and Joe Bonomo included bodyweight training in their respective training programs.

On the left you'll see the first edition of Combat Conditioning published in 2000, and on the right, the revised and expanded edition, published in 2004.

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