WELCOME to
FITNESS TRAINING
with
ANTHONY!!!

*BE FIT!!!

*BE STRONG!!!

*BE YOUR BEST!!!

HISTORY
Bodhidharma (also known as Pu Tai Ta Mo in Sanskrit and Daruma Daishi in Japanese) was an Enlightened Buddhist Master who is credited with reviving Buddhism in China and founding martial arts.Bodhidharma began his life as a royal prince in Southern India in the Sardilli family in 482 A.D. In the midst of his education and training to continue in his father's footsteps as king, Bodhidharma encountered the Buddha's teachings. He immediately saw the truth in Lord Buddha's words and decided to give up his esteemed position and inheritance to study with the famous Buddhist teacher Prajnatara. Bodhidharma rapidly progressed in his Buddhist studies, and in time, Prajnatara sent Bodhidharma to China, where Buddhism had begun to die out, to introduce the Sarvastivada sect Buddhist teachings to the Chinese. Bodhidharma arrived in China after a brutal trek over Tibet's Himalayan Mountains surviving both the extreme elements and treacherous bandits.
Upon arrival in China, the Emperor Wu Ti, a devout Buddhist himself, requested an audience with Bodhidharma. During their initial meeting, Wu Ti asked Bodhidharma what merit he had achieved for all of his good deeds. Bodhidharma informed him that he had accrued none whatsoever. Bodhidharma was subsequently unable to convince Wu Ti of the value of the teachings he had brought from India. Bodhidharma then set out for Loyang, crossed the Tse River on a leaf, and climbed Bear's Ear Mountain in the Sung Mountain range where the Shaolin Temple was located. He meditated there in a small cave for nine years.
Bodhidharma, in true Mahayana spirit, was moved to pity when he saw the terrible physical condition of the monks of the Shaolin Temple. The monks had practiced long-term meditation retreats, which made them spiritually strong but physically weak. He also noted that this meditation method caused sleepiness among the monks. Likening them to the young Shakyamuni, who almost died from practicing asceticism, he informed the monks that he would teach their bodies and their minds the Buddha's dharma through a two-part program of meditation and physical training.
Bodhidharma created an exercise program for the monks which involved physical techniques that were efficient, strengthened the body, and eventually, could be used practically in self-defense. When Bodhidharma instituted these practices, his primary concern was to make the monks physically strong enough to withstand both their isolated lifestyle and the deceptively demanding training that meditation requires. It turned out that the techniques served a dual purpose as a very efficient fighting system, which evolved into a marital arts style called Gung Fu. Martial arts training helped the monks to defend themselves against invading warlords and bandits. Bodhidharma taught that martial arts should be used for self-defense, and never to hurt or injure needlessly. In fact, it is one of the oldest Shaolin axioms that "one who engages in combat has already lost the battle."
Bodhidharma, a member of the Indian Kshatriya warrior class and a master of staff fighting, developed a system of 18 dynamic tension exercises. These movements found their way into print in 550 A.D. as the Yi Gin Ching, or Changing Muscle/Tendon Classic. We know this system today as the Lohan (Priest-Scholar) 18 Hand Movements, the basis of Chinese Temple Boxing and the Shaolin Arts.
Some historians dispute the date, but legend states that Bodhidharma settled in the Shaolin Temple of Songshan in Hunan Province in 526 A.D. We do know the first Shaolin Temple of Songshan was built in 377 A.D. for Pan Jaco, "The First Buddha", by the order of Emperor Wei on the Shao Shik Peak of Sonn Mountain in Teng Fon Hsien, Hunan Province. The Temple was for religious training and meditation only. Martial arts training did not begin until the arrival of Bodhidharma in 526 A.D. Bodhidharma died in 539 A.D. at the Shaolin Temple at age 57.
Bodhidharma was an extraordinary being who remains an example and an inspiration to practitioners today. He is the source of many miraculous stories of ferocity and dedication to the Way. One such legend states that Bodhidharma became frustrated once while meditating because he had fallen asleep. He was so upset that he cut off his eyelids to prevent this interruption in meditation from ever happening again. Yet another legend states that Bodhidharma meditated for so long that his arms and legs eventually fell off. This is a reminder of the true dedication and devotion necessary in meditation practice. The Bodhidharma doll was developed as a symbol of this dedication. In Japan and other parts of the world, when someone has a task they wish to complete, they purchase a red Bodhidharma doll that comes without pupils painted on the eyes. At the outset of the task one pupil is colored in, and upon completion, the other pupil is painted. The dolls and the evolution of martial arts and meditation, are a continuous reminder of Bodhidharma's impact on Buddhism and martial arts.

Kalaripayat
THE MOTHER of MARTIAL ARTS!!!

KALARI PAYAT is the exclusive martial arts legacy of Kerala, taken to China by Buddhist monks which became the fabled model for the modern martial arts. Kalari Payattu encompasses an invigorationg Ayurvedic herbal treatment for chronic ailments like arthiritis and spondylosis, and a massaging regimen which repairs physiological damages and makes the body young and supple. The fracture treatment system, developed as a corollary of the rough and tumble world of martial arts, does away with the risk-ridden x-rays and hit-or-miss plaster-cast method.
Kalaripayat literally means 'acquired skill' or art. "Kalari" means school or arena, and "payat" is skill training, exercise or practice. It is the most comprehensive personal combat training shceme anywhere in the world. The training includes exercises to develop sharp reflexes for unarmed combat and techniques of combat using mace, spears, daggers and sword and shield. There is also a unique Kerala weapon- the lethal flexible sword, called the 'Urumi' which can be concealed as a waist belt.
Kalari also includes the 'marma' treatment which identifies the vital nodal points(marmas) in the body (107 of them in all) for suitable pressing and nudging to correct muscular and neurological problems. The massaging may involve standing full length over the patient and applying pressure with the feet. The system is acknowledged superior to any other method of massage.

TREASURES IN THE ATTIC

Club Swinging Reborn

Club swinging is an ancient warrior art once widely taught by American physical educators at the turn-of-the-century. Its rediscovery and growing popularity represent the timeless wisdom yet to be mined from historical traditions. The purpose of this article is to review the origins of club swinging and identify the joint action and muscles used in the double inside-outside cycle.

Clubs are usually made of wood and sometimes resemble bowling pins. We occasionally see them in old movies or photos, hanging in neat rows on the walls of gymnasia, or in the hands of men, women, and children from the distant past. Club swinging was introduced into American physical culture in the early 1860s. It enjoyed immense popularity until America began losing interest in physical training in the 1920's. By the end of the 1930's, the art of club swinging was almost lost. Fifty years later, in the early 1990's, students in the Northern Illinois University Department of Physical Education rediscovered this amazing and beautiful art. It has since spread into the American martial arts community and the United States Army at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Club History

Club swinging has roots in ancient India and Persia. Hoffman (1996) notes that: The Indian club can be traced to one of the most ancient weapons in India, the war club, or gada, a symbol of invincible physical prowess and worldly power. Almost every god and goddess of Hindu belief is depicted holding a gada, including Lord Vishnu, one of the principal Deities. Throughout the Islamic period, Rajput rulers and Muslim sultans favored the gada as the preferred weapon of combat. It was considered a great honor for the warrior to be trained in the use of the battle club. Through the ages, the war club changed in both name and form. Eventually, its use evolved in India as a means of physical exercise. (personal correspondence from N.L. Nigam, Director of Salarjung Museum, Hyderabad, India, to A.J. Hoffman, November 18, 1990)

Posse (1894) called indian clubs the oldest known implement for military gymnastics. The difference between lifting dumbbells and swinging clubs, he explained, is that lifting dumbbells adds weight to the lever (this is the commonly practiced linear lifting). Indian clubs increase the momentum of the pendulum (this is the circular nature of club swinging). In other words, Indian clubs can be described as circular weight training (Thomas, 1995). Lemaire (1889) connected clubs to the Ancient West and to physical training when he wrote: That the club is the most ancient weapon nobody can deny. It is the most natural and handy that can be found; and consequently the first used by man, for we find that Cain slew Abel with a club. The ordinary weapon of the athletic god Hercules was a club; and though he also used a bow and arrow, he is always represented with his club. In ancient times, both in Greece and Rome, the strongest athletes, on public occasions, were fond of brandishing clubs, believing themselves to be representatives of Hercules. We hear of Milo of Crotona leading his compatriots to war armed with a club. A Roman emperor, Commodus, proud of his immense strength, paraded the streets with a club as Hercules. . . . Thus, clubs, in one form or another, have had a conspicuous place in nature, mythology, and history. But what interests us more here is the adaptation of clubs to the development of health and strength.

The restorative nature of club swinging caught the attention of foreign missionaries, travelers, merchants, and British military officers in India during the early 19th Century. Kehoe (1866) reported that one British Army officer wrote: The wonderful club exercise is one of the most effectual kinds of athletic training, known anywhere in common use throughout India. The clubs are of wood, varying in weight according to the strength of the person using them, and in length about two feet and a half, and some six or seven inches in diameter at the base, which is level, so as to admit of their standing firmly when placed on the ground, and thus affording great convenience for using them in the swinging positions. The exercise is in great repute among the native soldiery, police and others whose caste renders them liable to emergencies where great strength of muscle is desirable. The evolutions which the clubs are made to perform, in the hands of one accustomed to their use, are exceedingly graceful, and they vary almost without limit. Beside the great recommendation of simplicity, Indian club practice possesses the essential property of expanding the chest and exercising every muscle in the body concurrently.

The British Army eventually integrated club swinging into its physical training, and it subsequently gained great popularity among English civilians as well. Bishop (1979) notes that interest in clubs increased substantially after Queen Victoria witnessed a demonstration of their use and endorsed them. In 1862, Sim D. Kehoe produced the first clubs in the United States (Hoffman, 1996), and they were eventually adopted by the German Turners and the United States Army. In response to a gift of clubs to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant by Kehoe, Grant wrote: I have the pleasure of acknowledging the receipt of a full set of rosewood Dumb-Bells and Indian Clubs, of your manufacture. They are of the nicest workmanship. Please accept my thanks for your thus remembering me, and particularly my boys, who I know will take great delight as well as receive benefit from using them. (Kehoe, 1866).

The United States Army Manual of Physical Training (1914) notes: The effect of these exercises, when performed with light clubs, is chiefly a neural one, hence they are primary factors in the development of grace, coordination and rhythm. As they tend to supple the muscles and articulations of the shoulders and to the upper and fore arms and wrist, they are indicated in cases where there is a tendency toward what is ordinarily known as MUSCLE BOUND!

Club swinging in late-19th Century America was associated in the civilian sector with the then popular movement that linked physical training to moral and spiritual development. Physical education pioneer Dio Lewis (1882) advocated club swinging and believed it would cultivate patience and endurance, and operate happily upon the longitudinal muscles of the back and shoulders, thus tending to correct the habit of stooping. Bornstein (1889) associated club swinging with strength and health, stating: Indian club exercises have of late years become one of the most universal methods of developing the muscular anatomy of the human body. Schools, colleges and even theological seminaries have adopted their use in their respective institutions with the most beneficial results. For keeping the body in a healthy and vigorous condition there has as yet been nothing invented, which for its simplicity and gracefulness can be favorably compared with the Indian club exercise.

Attacks on club swinging and physical training in general began to increase early in the 20th Century. Cermak (1916) spoke for the defenders of club swinging when he wrote:I have heard, and still hear among the professional men and women unfavorable comments about club exercises, but knowing that there is no other kind of hand apparatus that would admit such a great, almost inexhaustible variety of pleasing exercises as the clubs, believing that the clubs should have a prominent place in educational gymnastics, that by collaboration of mind and muscle in these exercises we can develop the highest degree of coordination. Hoffman (1996) notes that by the 1920's, Americans traded interest in a moral attachment to physical fitness for speakeasies and dance halls. Club swingers were ridiculed, and social pressure eventually put the art to bed.

Benefits of Club Swinging

The shoulder girdle is by far one of the most moveable areas of the body, but it is also one of the most fragile. Ill-fitting furniture, poor posture, and numerous other factors often impair shoulder girdle mobility. This impacts negatively on other joints, including the elbow and wrist. When the ball-and-socket joint of the shoulder is made strong, aligned, and mobile, other joints also benefit. The circular patterns of club swinging represent the foundations upon which all other more complex shoulder girdle movements are derived. There are hundreds of club movements that can be combined in an almost inexhaustible variety of flowing patterns.

Our Greatest Fear is not that we are Inadequate...
Our Greatest Fear is that we are Powerful Beyond Measure.