Product Details

• Actors: Scott Sonnon
• Directors: Nikolay Travkin
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Region: All Regions
• Number of discs: 1
• Studio: RMAX.tv Productions
• DVD Release Date: September 1, 2002
• Run Time: 56 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002W1IFW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #44,536 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential video for use with Clubbells, June 14, 2003

By 

Kenneth Robinson (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Clubbell Training For Circular Strength: An Ancient Tool for the Modern Athlete [VHS] (VHS Tape)

First, I would say that Harold Jones' review of this video is agenda driven and dishonest. The production values in Sonnon's video may not up to Hollywood standards, but they're perfectly fine for an exercise instructional video. Also, most of the info about Indian clubs available on the Internet pertain to the light-weight clubs that were once very popular for exercise. These too are useful tools, but they are NOT the same as the much heavier Clubbells. The techniques for exercising with Clubbells and Indian clubs are very different.

Sonnon does a fine job demonstrating the Clubbell techniques. Also, he gives appropriate safety warnings. Where this video falls short is the lack of detailed info about setting up a personal exercise program for the Clubbells. But, this information is available on the Internet. Further, this video will be of no real use unless you have Clubbells to exercise with(or you manage to acquire some HEAVY antique Indian clubs). Clubbells are expensive, only you can determine if they will be a waste of money or a great investment in your quest for achieving a high order of fitness.

Sonnon's Clubbells, just like Pavel Tsatsouline's Russian Kettlebells, are not miracle products. You will have to supply the motivation and the drive to use them to their full advantage. Both Clubbells and Kettlebells are excellent tools. Both Sonnon and Tsatsouline are class acts and each has contributed greatly to presenting advanced, truly functional information on physical culture. It's too bad that some of Pavel's fanatic "comrades" feel the need to be dishonest about those they perceive to be rivals to their guru. I'm sure that Pavel would not approve.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This video will make you a believer., December 2, 2002

By 

Lemon Magic (Omaha, NE USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Clubbell Training For Circular Strength: An Ancient Tool for the Modern Athlete [VHS] (VHS Tape)

After I received RMAX's new Clubbell Training video, I commandeered the TV/VCR so I could watch it through twice. Then I got on the phone and ordered another pair of Clubbells to go with the one I already had. Folks, you have got to see this video before you dismiss the idea of Circular Strength Training, and if you ARE interested in CST, you have got to see this video.

The first reason you need to see it: safety issues. Coach Sonnon details proper 'parking' and 'pickup' protocol, and proper hold intervals for the extended isometric positions. It becomes apparent that most 'homemade substitutes' for the clubbell (sledgehammers, baseball bats, Weaver sticks, etc) aren't really suitable for many of the exercises and routines Coach Sonnon demonstrates. That doesn't mean you can't try to substitute something else (ie, plastic baseball bat filled with sand) for a Clubbell, but it is obvious that the Clubbell is the 'best fit' for what Coach Sonnon is doing on the video especially for the 8 ultimate combination exercises at the end of the video.

The second reason is to learn how coordinate and focus the breath while using the Clubbells. Pay attention to how Coach Sonnon punctuates the lifts with his breath - it's important to the process because it helps you learn to use the breath to reinforce the body's structures to compensate for the leverage disadvantage. If you don't breathe the proper way demonstrated on the video, your progress will stall out early in your training.

Some of the exercises are obvious and intuitive. Some of them are simple and brutal. All of them are harder than Coach Sonnon makes them look. I almost broke my shin the first time I did clubbell swings to shoulder height for reps, and I'm a fairly coordinated person - I wasn't concentrating hard enough and ended up with a huge welt above my left ankle) That drove home the point that Circular Strength Training is potentially hazardous - it is really easy to clobber yourself (and other people) while training. At least it was my shin and not my head. Though some people claim that there is no difference in my case. Anyway...

You must concentrate to get the hip-snap into the ballistic drills because the Clubbell seems forgiving at first - you think you can get away with using arm and shoulder power for the lifts to compensate for a lack of lower body drive. But the habit of depending on shoulder strength instead of hip snap and leg drive will cost you when you venture into high rep territory.

After a 30-40 minute session of practicing swings, pendulums, cleans-to-order, and 'liberty torch' snatches, my wrists and forearms are always "fried". It is tough but exhilarating and I invariably feel like an initiate into a new order of 'knuckledragging dinosaurs'. Swinging the 15 lb beasts seems to revive some dormant caveman/warrior/baseball player instincts that I hardly ever get to indulge.

One caveat - there are no guidelines in the video regarding sets, reps, or intensity, or for setting up a program. Coach Sonnon emphasizes at several points that you should never train to failure (or sometimes, to stop at the last rep before failure), but that's about it. Supposedly the forthcoming book version of Circular Strength Training will contain more concrete details about creating programs and juggling volume, load, and intensity for best results. You can bet that I'll be ordering the book as soon as it becomes available; I also hope to attend a certification seminar in Circular Strength Training to take the practice to 'the next level.'

This is really interesting stuff. Just like all the other RMAX videos, there are years of progressive lessons and material to master on this tape. Any student of old time physical culture, combat sports, racket sports, or throwing sports owes it to themselves to investigate Circular Strength Training.

My favorite quote from the video: "Clubbells offer no mercy to the aspiring strongman or strongwoman. They also offer no pity to the trainee who uses them incorrectly." Absolutely.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Join the Circular Strength Club!, December 1, 2002

By 

Winston Saddlesworth (Beaverton, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Clubbell Training For Circular Strength: An Ancient Tool for the Modern Athlete [VHS] (VHS Tape)

In Clubbell Training for Circular Strength (CT4CS), Master of Sport Scott Sonnon takes viewers through a series of "circular strength" exercises using a Clubbell, a 15-pound device Sonnon himself fashioned and sells through his website (rmax.tv). However, viewers without clubbells can use substitutes like dumbbells with weights on one end, axe handles, batons,broom handles, Indian clubs, bowling pins, sledge hammers of different weights, and/or broad swords if you have one lying around. The point is that you can use many different "circular strength tools" to take advantage of CT4CS, although the video stresses for obvious safety reasons the benefit of a genuine clubbell (of which I have two and am grateful for same).

The exercises themselves are --no surprise-- "circular." They work the major joints and the muscle groups supporting them: fingers, wrists, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, ankles...forearms, biceps,triceps, etc. Your whole body gets a serious workout in short order -- or maybe I should say your body gets seriously "worked over" in 20 minutes or less because of the new "muscles" you may discover in the process of going through CT4CS.

Unlike "linear" strength exercises, such as free weights, powerlifting, and the like, CT4CS emphasizes dynamic ranges of motion found in most sports or combat athletics (martial arts). I.e., your body moves a lot -- just like it would in a sporting or combat event. You don't just stand in one place and heave iron or exercise a single muscle (or muscle group) with a machine.

As a result of the dynamic movement, CT4CS also provides a hearty cardiovascular workout that turns what could be strict resistance or aerobic programs into strength-endurance regimens.

Who could benefit from CT4CS and what might be some of the benefits? Anyone who wanting to develop grip strength, throwing strength, and/or torque in a sport (baseball, football, tennis, and golf, for starters) will feel the difference -- even if it's just prying off an unyielding bottle top or doing emergency home plumbing. Seriously, CT4CS provides strength development exercises for areas of the body "typical" resistance exercises don't touch. Anyone responsible for developing strength training or fitness programs for "combat sports," whether martial arts or wrestling or the like, could find CT4CS a tool differentiating his (or her) offerings.

The exercises derive from regimens used in the former Soviet Union for sports-specific training of their Olympic athletes (think of all those gold medals the "Russians" used to collect) and to train Spesnatz, the Russian Special Forces. The exercises also date back centuries to the days when warriors had to have tremendous "circular" strength to wield broad swords, maces, and other weapons whose impact was determined by the circular strength applied.

Anyone wanting to gain real strength -- functional, sport-specific strength -- will be well served by CT4CS. The instruction is first-rate, with good production values and Scott Sonnon's earthy sense of humor and philosophic asides. Scott's speculations to the contrary, I don't think Nietzsche or Dostoyevsky had Clubbell Training in mind when they offered their takes on the painful insights of various human experiences. But future philosophers of strength might. CT4CS provides new dimensions to the notion of "fitness clubs."