With group classes off the table until further notice, martial arts practitioners are switching en masse to home- and self-training. A handy tip for Bartitsu practitioners is to use an Indian clubs as a substitute for the Vigny cane, whose 3.5 foot length poses a risk to indoor furnishings and ceilings. A relatively light (1.5 – 2 lb) Indian club suitably mimics the balance and handling of the asymmetrically-weighted Vigny walking stick for drilling purposes.
While we’re at it, here’s a good basic Indian club warm-up routine from The Art of Manliness:
As a side-note, there’s also a Bartitsu connection between Indian clubs and the radical suffragette movement. Edith Garrud, who became the jujitsu instructress for the secret Bodyguard Society of the Women’s Social and Political Union, had trained with former Bartitsu Club instructors Yukio Tani and Sadakazu Uyenishi. As well as unarmed self-defence, Garrud also taught the members of the Bodyguard how to use Indian clubs as concealed weapons against the truncheons of the London police:
Suffrajitsu: Mrs. Pankhurst’s Amazons.