That was a very interesting article, Gunny, thanks. The Indians(Gandhi type, not American) were very well known for what were often called simply "Indian clubs," which were brought back to Britain from India and then became quite popular in the Western world, but have since faded from popularity here. They were very popular for wrestlers in India, who have been among the best the world has produced.
Here's a link from a museum that discusses them a bit, including their popularity as folk art.
Indian club history
Here's a fun excerpt from the short article:
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"Muscular Christi-anity," a religious movement established in England during the last half of the nineteenth century and embraced by many Americans, equated morality and godliness with exercise. To be a good Christian, one needed to be physically fit.
Kehoe's Indian clubs, described as "missives of Muscular Christianity," became one of the most popular forms of exercise and sport, linking spiritual health and physical vigor.
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Here's a link to the old timey stongman type book by the referred by Mr. Kehoe:
old-timey clubbell instruction/book
Here's a really great link about Indian wrestling and training:
Indian wrestling and training
And a quote from it about club training:
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oris and Gadas
Joris and gadas are heavy clubs which wrestlers swing in order to strengthen their shoulders and arms. At Ragunath Maharaj Akhara, Akhara Morchal Bir and other gymnasia, jori swinging is both a competitive sport and a form of exercise.
Joris are always swung in pairs (see plate 3). Those used for exercise usually weigh between fifteen and twenty-five kilograms each. They are carved of heavy wood and are weighted with bands of metal. In order to make the joris more difficult to swing, blades and nails are sometimes hammered into them.
At the beginning of the exercise, the joris are held in an inverted position. Each jori is swung alternately behind the back in a long arch. At the end of the arch each jori is lifted or flipped back onto the shoulder as the opposite jori begins its pendulum swing. Timing is an important part of this exercise. The balanced weight of one jori must facilitate the movement of the other. Jori swinging exercises the arms, shoulders, chest, thighs, and lower back. Wrestlers tend to swing fairly lightweight joris because they say that the heavier clubs cause the upper body to become rigid.
In contrast to the intricately carved silver and gold symbolic gadas (macelike clubs) depicted in art and used as wrestling trophies, gadas used for everyday exercise are rather plain. An exercise gada is a heavy, round stone, weighing anywhere from ten to sixty kilograms, affixed to the end of a meter-long bamboo staff (see plate 4). The gada is swung in the same way as a jori except that only one gada is swung at a time. A gada may be swung with either hand or both hands at once.
The swing begins with the gada balanced on one shoulder. It is then lifted and shrugged off of the shoulder and swung in a long pendulum arch behind the back until it is flipped and lifted back onto the opposite shoulder. The gada is held erect for a split second before it is swung back in the opposite direction and onto the other shoulder.
Gada and jori exercises are counted in terms of the number of hath (hands) that one is able to do. One gada “hand” is counted as the movement from one shoulder to the other. One jori “hand” is counted as the combined swing of both right and left clubs. Unlike dands and bethaks, which number in the thousands, wrestlers tend to swing gadas and joris for sets of relatively few repetitions. Those who swing joris and gadas on a regular basis place a higher premium on the amount of weight lifted than on sheer number of hands swung.
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If you've seen the increasing popularity of odd-object lifting, "dinosaur training," and strongman contests lately, it does look like some of the old and pretty good ways of training are making a big comeback, which is pretty cool. Good for the soul to keep an open mind. And sometimes good for the body too.
I had never heard of chisi, but I love the simple practicality of them. Some concrete and a coffee can. There's a little glory in getting something so useful so cheaply and easily. Raising those nigiri-game jars to shoulder level looks like it would take very strong wrists and shoulders. Especially if you even considered for an instant putting anything inside the jars!
The first style I studied for some years was jiu-jitsu, and we used the iron slippers and handweights too. When I later took up gung fu, we used wrist rollers extensively, just a jug of water or a weight plate on a rope wrapped around a dowel, home made. I see manufactured versions going for over 60 bucks, and that's without any weight! We also used the bamboo or iron rings to a certain extent, and bicycle inner tubes. And of course the simple jump rope. It's pretty cool how cheaply you can get by and still have incredibly useful equipment that really takes you to your limits.
Thanks again for the interesting link!