Clubbell Training for Circular Strength
By Scott Sonnon

Very rarely does a book come along that educates, inspires and changes the way you think about training. While some people might write this off as just a book about Clubbells, it is actually a very complete book that will benefit anyone interested in serious training, regardless of whether they use Clubbells or not. One of the exciting parts of this book is to read about Scott Sonnon's personal philosophy, on a variety of subjects including strength and what it means to be a warrior. The philosophical chapters were one of the high points of this book. Even better, though, are the chapters on the training process. There is also a very extensive section on the history of circular strength, which is very inspiring. He tells a lot of stories of the old-time strongmen and their feats of strength. I found this book to be as uplifting as I found it educational, a true masterpiece.

I should note that this book does not replace the video as an instructional aid to learning the circular strength movements. This book adds subtle details to what you might miss from watching the video, however it is still necessary to see them done. One of the great parts about the instructional portion of the book is that is covers breathing as an essential component of each exercise. Scott's method of "performance breathing" is an unlikely, but highly effective method of optimizing both health and performance at the same time. Each exercise goes into great detail, starting with how you pick up the bell to how you put it down and everything in between. All of the necessary safety points are covered, plus many performance-enhancing tips for each exercise.

One of the real strengths of this book is the section on program design. It lays out all of the basic principles of training in a very simple and straightforward manner. There are also a number of sample routines given for beginners, intermediate and advanced users. The part that really shines is section on specific physical preparation. He takes a wide variety of sports and designs a program tailored to complement the specific neural patterns of that sport through complex training. If you have never heard of complex training before, you will be in for a real treat. It is an advanced form of training where exercises and specific skills are alternated. The exercise is used to stimulate a specific neural pathway, which will lead bleed into the complemented skill. I wrote about my experience with complex training for tennis in issue 3. Be sure to check out that article for more information on the process. Suffice it to say that this section is pure genius.

In conclusion, I really cannot recommend this book highly enough. Clubbell training is great for those of you who are interested in circular strength, but this book should appeal to everyone. There is a lot of information in here that has never been presented elsewhere.

Basic Training Sports Conditioning
by Charlie Newkerk, CSCS

This new video set by Charlie Newkerk would make a great companion to Coach Davies' book, Renegade Training for Football. It is clear that the Renegade approach has had an influence on Mr. Newkerk, as well as kettlebell training. Many readers of Coach Davies book will enjoy getting to see these drills in action. Ultimately, the scope of this video is incredible, but is also perhaps its one downfall as well.
The first video demonstrates a wide variety of different agility drills. One of the cool things is that Charlie demonstrates a lot of his exercises on home made equipment, so I think people will enjoy seeing some of the possible devices that can be made out of PVC pipe and other cheap materials. These agility drills can and should be done by everyone. While very beneficial to athletes, I think they can be of benefit to anyone that would like to move through life with a little bit more grace, balance and dexterity. The drills are demonstrated at a pretty slow pace, which is nice because my old trainer used to show them to me at such a blistering pace that it was hard to tell what he was actually doing. The agility ladders were always a favorite of mine and they're well represented in these tapes. Most of the variations that I have seen are in here. Additionally, he has some X-drills, which I had never seen but can't wait to employ. There are also some cone drills in here. If you watch the news around spring training time, you will almost surely see some footage of athletes doing these cone drills. They are simple, very beneficial and take very little time to set up and get going. Overall, this agility tape is the strong point of the video.
The second video in the series covers strength and conditioning. There are a huge variety of exercises demonstrated on this video. It covers many of the fundamental barbell exercises including the powerlifts, the Olympic lifts and others. Many bodyweight exercises are demonstrated, including Hindu squats and pushups and a variety of ab drills. There are also some kettlebell and dumbbell lifts demonstrated on this tape. The only thing lacking in this tape is actual instruction. Mr. Newkerk basically goes from one exercise to the next, often showing different angles, but rarely giving instruction on the finer points of the lift. For example, in the bench press, he performs a few reps to show how it is done, but then just moves onto the next lift. I just do not think this will add to the knowledge of an athlete, who even with only a cursory exposure to weight training will be familiar with the bench press. There were also a few minor technique errors in some of the lifts. In the Turkish Get-up, the arm was clearly not perpendicular to the ground, meaning that the weight was being held up by the shoulder muscles. This would almost certainly result in a missed lift, or worse, if a heavier weight were being employed. Like I said before, the breadth of this tape was ambitious, but to really do it justice this video set would be about four or five videos instead of two. As an introductory tape, I think it was pretty good, but for mastery of the various technical lifts presented you will need to look at other resources.
This video series does have some low points, but the high points are very high. In fairness to Mr. Newkerk, this is his basic video, so perhaps he will flesh out some of the details in later tapes. I really hope he does this because he has good presentation skills and made these tapes with very high production values.