Pretty interesting, Ed. There are some videos on the site of some Chinese excercises that are very similar, although the "clubs" are a bit different.
I recently went to another MMA school near where I live (sort of) to check out the class. While it was not my cup of tea, as they emphasized conditioning more than sparring, the instructor was heavily into using what looked like weighted baseball bats for very similar excercise regimens.
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"In case you ever wondered what it's like to be knocked out, it's like waking up from a nightmare only to discover it wasn't a dream." -Forrest Griffin