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Other/Mixed Clubs and Maces?

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
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Aaron Jones

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I have been reading about and watching videos on heavy club swinging, mace/gada, as well as the lighter Indian club styles. I’m intrigued by the history with Persian and Indian wrestlers and warriors using these implements for >1000 years, but I’m also curious about the training effects one might get from incorporating these into their training. Anybody have any thoughts, insight, experience on the subject?
 
I love mine. I've found a pair of lighter clubs (mine are 15lb) and a heavier mace (I'm currently using 25lbs) to be an excellent counterpoint to kettlebell work. It's all about rotational strength and training movement patterns. There are few exercises that I love as much as the reverse clubbell mill and the mace 360.
As a standalone tool I don't agree with the Instagram crowd that a single light mace can get you strong, but as a supplement a mace is outstanding.

Have you seen any or Mark Wildman's videos on youtube? I'd start there for the club movements especially
 
Check out this Aussie fellow on YouTube as well: Paul Taras Wolkowinski- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDZ5oEYfuubNK4dUW8iyTdQ

Here is a great interview with him: LT 075 | Paul Taras Wolkowinski - Restorative Training: Indian Clubs, Persian Mils & the Gada Mace -

I have two sets of Indian clubs (2lb and 4.5lbs), I use the 4.5lb clubs as part of my warm up before every strength session, the 2lbers are more of a dust collector at this point.

I have 2 Onnit maces (15lb and the 25lb quad mace) which I tend to use when the weather is nice and I can be outside--still a couple of weeks away from that, though if I could do it again I would just go with sledgehammers and save the $.

My piece de resistance is my set of 8lb Persian meels, I do use them indoors for some things, but I am more comfortable using them outside to avoid incidents of smashing something inadvertently.

I definitely consider my Indian clubs a very good buy and regular use does feel very restorative to the shoulders. The mace/gada/meel stuff does take more concentration and focus and will absolutely torch your upper body quickly, especially when getting into it/back into it. I learned how to use them by watching Mr. Wolkowinksi on youtube as well as the DVD that came with my Indian clubs. Revolution Clubs are where my clubs/meels are from, they are pieces of art on top of being training implements.
 
Skip said:
I love mine. I've found a pair of lighter clubs (mine are 15lb) and a heavier mace (I'm currently using 25lbs) to be an excellent counterpoint to kettlebell work. It's all about rotational strength and training movement patterns. There are few exercises that I love as much as the reverse clubbell mill and the mace 360.
As a standalone tool I don't agree with the Instagram crowd that a single light mace can get you strong, but as a supplement a mace is outstanding.

Have you seen any or Mark Wildman's videos on youtube? I'd start there for the club movements especially
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+1 to all of this.

It's especially cool to see another fan of the clubbell reverse mill, which is one of my favorite drills and seems very underutilized and underappreciated.

I agree that clubbells and maces are not primarily about strength or power in the same way as KBs or barbells. With maces and clubbells, it's more about steering and managing the momentum of the mace/club. More of the momentum with maces and clubs comes from pendulum motion powered by gravity, rather than powered by the lifter.

Aaron Jones said:
I have been reading about and watching videos on heavy club swinging, mace/gada, as well as the lighter Indian club styles. I’m intrigued by the history with Persian and Indian wrestlers and warriors using these implements for >1000 years, but I’m also curious about the training effects one might get from incorporating these into their training. Anybody have any thoughts, insight, experience on the subject?
Click to expand...

Clubbells and maces are a lot of fun and a great complement to KBs since they have you exploring difference planes, patterns, ranges, and dynamics of movement.

Although there are lots of drills you can do with them, to me the killer apps are clubbell mills, reverse mills, and shield casts, and mace 360s and 10-2s. Lately I've been doing a lot of two-arm mills in both directions, using both grips, with heavy clubs (35-45lbs), which are sort of like a combination of a mace 360 and clubbell inside and outside circles.

After many years of heavy club swinging, I've also picked up lighter Indian club swinging and use the lighter clubs a lot as warm up, dynamic mobility, and a fun and relaxing form of active recovery.
 
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I love my clubs and maces.

But, for me, they're accessory work.

Great for mobility and bullet-proofing shoulders and building athleticism.

They're also a great change of pace between other types of training blocks.

But I can't imagine basing my entire training around just maces and clubs.
 
Skip said:
I love mine. I've found a pair of lighter clubs (mine are 15lb) and a heavier mace (I'm currently using 25lbs) to be an excellent counterpoint to kettlebell work. It's all about rotational strength and training movement patterns. There are few exercises that I love as much as the reverse clubbell mill and the mace 360.
As a standalone tool I don't agree with the Instagram crowd that a single light mace can get you strong, but as a supplement a mace is outstanding.

Have you seen any or Mark Wildman's videos on youtube? I'd start there for the club movements especially
Click to expand...
Good to hear. Yeah, I’ve recently come across Mark Wildman’s stuff and his videos definitely seem like a great resource. Where did you get your clubs/mace?
 
Hrungnir said:
@sizzlefuzz for the meels do you think one could jump right in or would they need to work with smaller/lighter clubs before? Are you primarily doing casts and swipes?
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Meels wise I usually do casts, mills, and swipes. I had "simple" in the bag when I started working with the meels and the 4.5lb clubs so it was more linking up the movements/connection. I started doing one handed stuff with the heavier club to get used to it. I almost always do single arm stuff with meels. I think if you have simple in your back pocket and start with single arm work so you can easily bail out if you need to and you should be fine. Early on, getting a feel for the weight transfer and momentum can be hard on the wrists so you have to bail out in a safe way.
 
I'm in the UK, and the Power Guidance maces on Amazon are pretty decent, as are 9t9 Fitness. Shaun at Rawform Functional Fit are all custom made and are beautiful. Lloyd at Valhalla Training makes the most ugly, indestructible brilliant maces. Clubs are Xenios and 9t9 Fitness.
If you're in the US, Onnit for maces and Tacfit/CST clubs are the best bet. I'd love a Tacfit/CST club but they're too expensive to ship over here.
If you have the money, Adex loadable clubs and maces are a great option, as you only have to buy them once and get a full range of maces or clubs. They even do a mid size one called the Arc which is brilliant - technically it's a bulava, which is like a short mace or long club. I'd love one, but have made my own by cutting one of my 25lb maces shorter with a hacksaw.

Actually, I think the bulava might be my favourite rotational swinging tool. All the benefits of the mace and club in one tool. Not for beginners though, a good background in clubs and/or maces is essential first!
 
sizzlefuzz said:
Check out this Aussie fellow on YouTube as well: Paul Taras Wolkowinski- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDZ5oEYfuubNK4dUW8iyTdQ

Here is a great interview with him: LT 075 | Paul Taras Wolkowinski - Restorative Training: Indian Clubs, Persian Mils & the Gada Mace -

I have two sets of Indian clubs (2lb and 4.5lbs), I use the 4.5lb clubs as part of my warm up before every strength session, the 2lbers are more of a dust collector at this point.

I have 2 Onnit maces (15lb and the 25lb quad mace) which I tend to use when the weather is nice and I can be outside--still a couple of weeks away from that, though if I could do it again I would just go with sledgehammers and save the $.

My piece de resistance is my set of 8lb Persian meels, I do use them indoors for some things, but I am more comfortable using them outside to avoid incidents of smashing something inadvertently.

I definitely consider my Indian clubs a very good buy and regular use does feel very restorative to the shoulders. The mace/gada/meel stuff does take more concentration and focus and will absolutely torch your upper body quickly, especially when getting into it/back into it. I learned how to use them by watching Mr. Wolkowinksi on youtube as well as the DVD that came with my Indian clubs. Revolution Clubs are where my clubs/meels are from, they are pieces of art on top of being training implements.
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Awesome! Thanks for the tips!
 
Adachi said:
I hear this from a lot of guys who are bigger and stronger than me by a long shot; but, about kettlebells

Honestly, it gives me pause.
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Pavel himself had some interesting comments on the Joe Rogan podcast about bodyweight vs barbells vs kettlebells.
 
Adachi said:
I hear this from a lot of guys who are bigger and stronger than me by a long shot; but, about kettlebells

Honestly, it gives me pause.
Click to expand...

Here is the Pavel discussion on bodyweight vs barbell vs kettlebell:



I'd put maces & clubs in roughly the same family as kettlebells -- off-center ballistic free weights.
 
watchnerd said:
But did they only use clubs to get that strong?

Or did they combine it with other modalities?
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Probably mixed... I used only clubs and maces for a year or more before I started with the kettlebells, and my progress went through the roof once KBs were in the mix. When I started KBs I also found out I could swing a 25lb mace single handed, a 45lb mace two handed, but couldn't press a 25lb kettlebell. That's when I started mixing things up.
That's also why I have a problem with the steel mace flow crowd claiming you can get strong with a 10lb mace. Most of them were strong *before* they picked a mace up, found extra strength they were missing but now sell it back as a standalone training tool. It needs support from other, heavier modalities.
 
Skip said:
That's also why I have a problem with the steel mace flow crowd claiming you can get strong with a 10lb mace. Most of them were strong *before* they picked a mace up, found extra strength they were missing but now sell it back as a standalone training tool. It needs support from other, heavier modalities.
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I'm pretty aligned with Bodytribe's opinion on this.

If you skip the intro fluff, they start talking about clubs more directly at about 8:45.

 
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