The Steel Mace has become a staple in my own training and we implement the use of it on a daily basis with all the haumana at Ku Body Club in Kailua.
I’ve always believed that strength equipment are tools and one must learn how to first use a tool before implementing it into the bigger picture. As I continue my steel mace practice and implementation of it in our sessions, I realized there a couple ways you can use this tool in the grand scheme of the exercise.
Of course there are other ways you can use the steel mace in your program but these are the main ways I use them in our Steel Mace programming:
- Movement Prep/Activation
- Skill Work
- Long Duration Flows
The Steel Mace should enhance your training not overtake it. While there are some days when I solely work with the Steel Mace, either those days are my lighter training days to which I do long duration flows as a way of cardio or I’m playing around working on building new skills.
Let’s get this out of the way – Do you have to use the Steel Mace? No. Is it a game changer to your training? No. But I enjoy working with the Steel Mace.
If you are interested in the Steel Mace and curious on how you may be able to use it in your own training, then this article will give you a good idea on how to do just that.
1. Movement Prep/Activation
The Steel Mace given its weight distribution can be used as part of your warm up to prepare the body for a training session. We can take the basic movement prep exercise and add the steel mace to add instability, shoulder and core stabilization, and more.
Take the above video, Hinge with Rotation. This movement prep drill can prepare your body for a deadlift session through reinforcing the hinge, activating the glutes, and working thoracic mobility through rotation.
2. Skill Work
There are various work drills and exercises with the Steel Mace that can always be refined. The fundamental movements of Steel Mace training are the 360 Swing, 10 to 2, Switch Squats, Warrior Squats, Joust, and Dynamic Lunges
The Steel Mace is an implement that can be used by anyone, from beginner to advanced, and the skills can be taken wherever you want. There are practitioners like Leo Savage who refines his skill with the Steel Mace as you would with poetry.
Long Duration Flows
I personally like to perform Steel Mace Flows. Similar to barbell or kettlebell flows – flows are when 3 or more exercises are combined together in a sequenced pattern. They work great for endurance training as well as getting you in the zone. It’s almost as if you are in a meditative state.
Steel Mace Flows can be performed with prescribed reps or simply flowing through a pattern of movements for a duration of time like below:
What to do Next?
The best thing to do next if you are at all interested in Steel Mace training is to get one. Generally, I suggest people to start off with a 10lb Steel Mace. From experience, the first Steel Mace I got was a 20lb one. Big mistake. Start with the 10lb, your body and pride will thank you for it.
