Clubbell

Tags: notes, 2023, tools, fitness, short

A clubbell is a steel club used for weight lifting purposes, with a strong emphasis on mobility and coordination. Unlike traditional free weights like the barbell or the dumbbell, it's not primarily focused on strength or hypertrophy, and it's not designed to work specific muscles.

Clubbell workouts develop the whole body through functional and natural movements, and allow for a greater variety of moves that can be combined to form a complex choreography. It's much easier on joints and tendons, and a lot of fun. You can use a single club with one hand or both, or even two clubs at the same time. So far, after struggling for months with tendonitis because of too much traditional weight lifting, I'm having a blast with clubbells.

In comparison to traditional free weights, clubbells are a lot lighter, but also a lot harder to handle because of their displaced center of mass. A 10 kg dumbbell may be an easy lift for most people, but a 10 kg clubbell will teach you humility.

Clubbells are the most recent iteration of ancient fitness tools (and weapons) that are millenia old. They're mainly inspired by Indian clubs, which are much lighter and made of wood. One should also mention meels, or Persian clubs, with a more cylindrical shape and a way bigger size. Steel maces (or macebells) fit a similar purpose, though the workouts and their effects are different.

While clubbells are often called steel clubs, they are often mistaken with Indian clubs.