brought up to position by rotating wrist circles. All the circles dethe wrist. This is the inside bent- scribed above should be learned by arm circle. The outside circle is name, so that their combinations just the reverse, the club moving can be readily performed when out from the shoulder (Fig. 1) and named. dropping, being then brought up behind the head by the wrist movement, and then coming to position. Wrist Circles. These are executed with the arm in any position, as extended straight in front (Fig. 4), or toward one side, straight downward close to the body, or bent at the side. The club is held vertically Combinations. The inside straightarm circle and the inside bent arm circle behind the back are performed alternately (Fig. 5), passing di Indian Clubs.-Fig. 4. Indian Clubs.-Fig. 5. rectly from one to the other, without bringing the club back to the starting position till the two swings have been made several times. The arm circle is made first, and when it is completed, as the club is held straight up at arm's length, it is dropped over the head into the inside bent-arm circle. On the completion of this, the arm is straightin position at first, and then allowed ened again vertically, and the club to fall forward or backward. Its moves on in another straight-arm impetus, aided by an effort of the circle. In the same way the outwrist, brings it upright again, thus side straight-arm and bent-arm completing the circle. The learner circles can be combined (Fig. 6). should try to perform each wrist In combining the inside straightcircle several times without stop-arm with the outside bent-arm, ping. He should avoid the temptation to bend the elbow a little, and strive to hold the arm perfectly stiff. The distinction between inside and outside circles is the same as that given above, and besides this, every circle can be made on either side of the arm, so that for nearly every position of the arm there are four or vice versa, the change from one to the other is best made at the extreme right and left points of the swing, passing the arm instead of the club over the head. Thus, neither circle is quite completed, and the club is not brought to a vertical position, till it is returned to the starting point. In like manner, bent-arm and wrist circles and the corresponding outside movestraight arm and wrist circles may ment, the circles are in the same be combined, or all three kinds direction and the clubs move parallel together. The wrist circle may be introduced at any point of the Indian Clubs.-Fig. 6. swing, but the best place is when the arm is farthest from the body, as this gives plenty of room. Combinations with both Clubs. Any of the simple or combined swings described can be performed with both clubs at once, or each club may execute a different circle. It is evident that if the two clubs describe the same circles at the same time, the clubs will move in the opposite direction, and will cross (Fig. 7), Indian Clubs.-Fig. 8. to each other (Fig. 8). Instead of executing the same circle simultaneously, however, one arm may perform one kind of circle while the other is executing another (Fig. 9). Indian Clubs.-Fig. 9. Thus, where the movement consists of a straight-arm and bent-arm circle, the right hand may execute the former while the left is doing the latter, and vice versa. With this method there is never danger of the clubs striking, for when they cross one is in front of the swinger and one behind. In another way of swinging, one club follows the other, but half a circle behind, so so that it requires skill to avoid that the clubs are not executing striking them together. On the the same part of a circle at any other hand, when one club executes moment. These are called Folan inside movement, and the other low" or "Windmill" movements. Indian Clubs.-Fig. 7. 7. Wrist circles forward or inside. backward or out 8. side. Follow these with the simplest combinations, and each day try something new. The left hand should by this time be as proficient as the right. with the left, one doing the straightarm while the other executes the bent-arm outside circle. The right begins with the inside straight, and the left with the outside bent. 6. No. 5 reversed; that is, No. 2 with the right, and No. 1 with the left. 7. No. 5 in parallel motion, that is, both hands doing the straight and both the bent-arm circles at the same time. Both hands begin with the straight-arm motion, the right with the inside and the left with the outside circle. The clubs should be kept at the same distance during the whole movement, so that they move in exactly parallel lines. 8. No. 6 in parallel motion. The 9. No. 3 in cross motion, both hands starting on the inside straightarm. The clubs cross, twice in front and twice behind and it will doubtless be found difficult at first to prevent them from striking. proper way is to swing them in slightly different planes, and when each hand becomes accustomed to its own path, the movement can be 1. Combination of inside straight- executed almost mechanically witharm and bent arm circles as already out danger of the clubs interfering. described. It should be performed very slowly 2. Combination of outside straight-at first, and the clubs kept far apart arm and bent-arm circles. in crossing. The following list of combinations may be a good order in which to learn new movements: 3. Double swing both clubs. Both 10. No. 4 in cross motion, both clubs are held in the starting posi-clubs starting on the outside straighttion, and then the right hand begins arm circles. the inside straight-arm, while the II. No. 5 in "follow" or "windleft at the same time begins the mill" motion. The right starts inside bent-arm circles. These two with the inside straight-arm, and circles are finished at the same just as it has half completed the instant, when the right takes up the circle, the left starts with the outbent-arm, and the left the straight-side straight-arm. Thus the right arm movement. The learner will probably find the use of the two clubs difficult at first, and the movements must be gone through with slowly until they become very famil-pointing up while the other is down, iar when the speed is increased. 4. Double swing. No. 2 with both hands, one arm doing the straight, and the other the bent-arm outside circle, as above. 5. No. 1 with the right, and No. 2 club keeps half a circle ahead of the left, and when the movement is correctly done, they should always extend in opposite directions, one and one to the right while the other is to the left. Some swingers bring the clubs nearer together than this, making the movement more like one in parallel motion. 12. No. 6 in windmill motion. In this the left hand leads off with the inside straight-arm circle, the right following with the outside. The left keeps half a circle ahead. 13. Wrist Circles. These may be introduced earlier if desired. All the simple wrist circles should be practised with the arms in various positions, first with one hand and then with both. Wrist circles may be substituted for the bent arm circles in all the exercises given above. They may be introduced while the arm is extended to right or left, or with the arm bent so that the hand is close at the shoulder. When the learner has proceeded thus far, he will be able to devise his own combinations. All the combination movements described above have been to the right and left, the plane of motion being always parallel to the line. toed by the swinger. Combinations of straight-arm circles forward and backward at the side (Nos. 3 and 4 of simple movements) may be readily combined with wrist circles at the side (Fig. 10) and make very outside the arm with both hands, and then one hand executes a forward bent-arm, while the other performs a forward straight-arm circle. At the same time the swinger turns half way around, always toward the hand which is doing the straightarm circle, so that he finishes facing in the opposite direction, the arm describing the bent-arm circle having passed over his head as he turns. Several more wrist circles are then executed, and the gymnast turns back again in the same manner. An exercise for a heavy club (Fig. 11) is to raise the club from the Indian Clubs.-Fig. 10. effective movements for exercise. Descriptions of a few special swings will now be given. Stop Swings. In these each club is brought down with a slap on opposite arm, from whichonk bounds, reversing the circle. with Indian Clubs.-Fig. 11. starting position, drop it over the head, and let it hang behind the shoulder. Then throw it over as if to strike, describing a forward straight-arm circle, and ending with the club extended horizontally behind the back. The club must then be carried back to the starting-point before repeating. A similar exercise with two clubs is to throw them over the shoulders, return to starting position, make bent-arm circles at the sides, and then a forward straight-arm to the horizontal position behind the back, as before. The clubs are then returned to the starting position. In these exercises, as clubs may be exactly alike, or the right hand may execute one of the circle while the left is part the others, the motion of the Turning Swing. This begings doing the other. one or more forward wist 331 CIRC Feats of Club Swinging. On Feb. 18, 1886, at Bath, Me., Edward Brown swung a pair of Indian clubs, weighing 8 pounds, 1 ounces each, continuously for 6 hours, 20 min utes. On Jan. 7, 1885, at New Haven, Conn., W. W. Dudley swung 100 separate combinations each 4 times, in 23 minutes, 36 seconds. Indian clubs are said to have been brought to England from Persia by an officer in the British army, but their origin is not known with certainty. History. Systematic exercise has long been practised. In ancient Greece it formed part of the education of every boy, and was continued during manhood. The Greek games, which were largely exhibitions of skill in gymnastics, are described in C.P.P. Gymnastics were employed also, as with us, as a cure for disease, and finally they were taken charge of by government officers. Public gymnasiums were erected first in Sparta and then in Athens, where some of them became celebrated as the places in which great philosophers lectured to their pupils. Among the exercises taught were dancing, leaping, pitching the discus or QUOIT, throwing the javelin and bar, riding, swimming, rowing, swinging, climbing, and archery. Gymnasiums in imitation of the Greeks were built also at Rome, but gymnastics never became popular there. In the middle ages gymnastics was represented by knightly exercise, such as the tournament, and among the lower classes by wrestling, running, and archery, but systematic training of the muscles was but little practised. In the 17th century it began again to be popular. The illustration shows a form of vaulting-horse in use at this period. In the 18th century there was a great gymnastic revival in Germany, and in 1810, when Prussia was under the rule of Napoleon, a teacher named Jahn, with others, established throughout the country gymnastic schools, whose pupils did good work in the expulsion of the French in 1813. These schools were copied in nearly every country in Europe. From them sprang the Ancient Vaulting-horse. associations called Turnvereine (gymnastic societies), which were soon afterward suppressed by the Prussian government, which feared that they would spread liberal ideas. In 1848 they were reorganized, and now many of them exist in this country, where they have been formed by German emigrants. These societies have done much to make gymnastics popular in the United States, and they were aided by the interest the colleges have taken in the subject. The finest gymnasiums in the United States are owned by the athletic societies, and the whole history of gymnastics is very closely connected with that of ATHLETICS. The two words are often used to mean almost the same thing. The only exercises described under Athletics in this book are those which commonly form part of the outdoor or "field" meetings of athletic societies, while in this article we have described those usually practised in a gymnasium, or at home, for the sake of health. |