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Other/Mixed Macebells and Clubbells

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

Level 4 Valued Member
Beast Tamer
Greetings everyone!
Recently, I've seen on socials that many lifters incorporate training with Macebells and Clubbells into their routine. I'd like to ask you camrades, what do you think about them? Can they give something that barbells or kettlebells cannot? I think that maybe they can be great accessory work for shoulders. Can you recommend "starting weight" or any tutorials "how to" train like barbarian? (y)
 
@Filip Strong
I'm a huge fan of maces and clubbells and use them very extensively. The movements are very fun and satisfying and are a great compliment to KBs and barbells. You're moving in different planes and patterns than those implements, and patterns of tension and relaxation within the movements are very different.

IMO, for clubbells my main go-to drills are one and two-handed mills and reverse mills (the reverse mill is a special favorite and one I think is underappreciated), and shield casts (like a one-arm 360). I also do a fair amount of two-clubbell swipes, one and two-arm inside and outside pendulums, drumming, and various leverage lifts. I mainly learned from Scott Sonnon videos, although I often find his instruction gratuitously esoteric. I started with 15lb clubbells. They felt plenty heavy at the time and I would have had a hard time learning with anything heavier. Now my working weights for one-arm drills are 25 and 20lbs. I rarely use 15lbers anymore unless I am doing a very easy session that is more recovery than work. For two arm drills, I use 35 and 45lbs.

For maces, it's all about the 360 and the 10-2, but mostly about the 360. There's other things you can do with a mace, but IMO, those are the killer apps. I have a couple of plate loading maces by Strongergrip, a longer one with a 1.25" handle and a shorter one with a 1.66" handle. The longer one is about as long as a ShoulderRok (48" for the handle, plus added length for the plates), and the shorter one is about as long as most of the generic fixed-weight maces out there (38" for the handle plus added length for the plates. I also have a Kettlebell Kings adjustable mace (plate loading inside a globe shell). I have both maces loaded with 20lbs of plates, for a total weight of about 32lbs.

For reference my working A+A snatch weights are 28 and 32kg, my best KB MP is 36kg, and my best DLs are 425lbs and 465lbs on a trap bar (DL PRs are not recent). Since you're listed as a beast teamer, you are stronger than I am, but I think it's worth starting a little light to learn the technique. The leverage and momentum of maces and clubs make them feel a lot heavier than their nominal weights, and a lot of the technique is learning how to smoothly manage and direct the momentum of the implement, rather than muscle it. If you are more interested in mobility and injury prevention, you also want to be more conservative, especially when learning. If you make it more of a main training modality you can always progress the load.

A few basic form principles to pay attention to:
--When the club is swinging to the side or down, keep the elbow locked. Having the momentum of a swinging club yanking on a slightly bent arm is a recipe for elbow irritation.
--When a mace or club is swinging behind you, keep your elbow up (show your armpit) and your hand low, with the elbow mostly bent. You don't want tension in the triceps like you are doing a triceps extension. That will irritate the hell out of the spot just above the elbow where it meets the triceps.

When you first start, expect some crazy DOMS in the armpit area.

Here's a session I did a little while ago during football season while watching an NFL game:
2-Arm Pendulum
45lbs x 5 reps x 12 sets (60 reps)

2-Arm Mill
35lbs x 5/5* x 10 sets (100 reps)
*5/5 = 5 reps in each direction

1-Arm Mill
25lbs x 2(10R/10L)* x 10 sets (400 reps)
*2(10R/10L) = 4 continuous sets, switching arms on the fly every 10 reps

1-Arm Reverse Mill
20lbs x 2(10R/10L) x 10 sets (400 reps)
 
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I have experimented with clubs over the years and make some general points
- initially go lighter than you think to learn the movements well.
- control of the club/mace is critical to avoid direct (self) bodily contact in many movements.
- Rmax clubs (and another brand) are padded by a plastic coating. This will reduce but not avoid self damage after a bodily contact event.
- poor control when the club is too heavy can also result in injury to the limb gripping the club.
- do check ceiling heights and surrounding area before swinging.
- clubs with the plastic coating can help to protect floors if handled carefully.

A relatively safe approach to start off using 1-2lb indian clubs for general mobility and to start learning some of the neuromuscular coordination involved before going heavier. Also, to ensure that you are able to make various circling movements in several planes and that there are no unknown gaps in your mobility.

Various organizations recommend 10-15lb's as a starting point for a heavier club. Learn single club movements before trying to move 2 at once.

Whether or not clubs will help an individual's training depends on goals. Also depends on what else is in your training program already ie from point of view of time and content. For example, some martial arts using various weapons will likely find relatively little benefit as they are already gripping and swinging club like weights in various planes. People with different goals and different pre-existing training may have various views.
 
I have a 10 and 15 lb mace and Indian clubs 1 lb and 2 lb. Still a beginner but I play with them from time to time.

Just wanted to share a few great Instagram accounts for that sort of thing. Their posts often describe the benefits of including them in your training.

 
3/3/21-Wed
I'm late to this party and a novice with the mace only-so far. I'm a pretty big guy, but started with a 7# mace. Been focusing on 360's only, especially on pressing days and occasionally on other training days too. I like the way my repaired shoulders have felt over the past month. When I'm up to a few thousand 360 revs, I'm thinking about ordering both a 10 and 15 pound mace to get acquainted with them this coming spring and summer. I wish I'd heard about them 20 years ago.(edit): double the number of years.
 
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I can't wait for Strong First to partner up with a clubbell/mace "instructor" and bring us another great tool instruction.
 
Does anyone have coach Vaughn's book? I was about to order it, but got hit with a monetary setback. Apparently it has a program to follow and good instructions and illustrations
 
Does anyone have links or recommendations for mace and steel club workout programs? As much fun as it's to just play with them I'd like an actual program. From what I've seen, alot of people do flows with the mace. I'm not really into dancing with my mace and want a more traditional approach. I would like a program like s&s and sfg that's straight to the point, not a lot of moving parts, effective, and minimalistic.
 
Does anyone have links or recommendations for mace and steel club workout programs? As much fun as it's to just play with them I'd like an actual program. From what I've seen, alot of people do flows with the mace. I'm not really into dancing with my mace and want a more traditional approach. I would like a program like s&s and sfg that's straight to the point, not a lot of moving parts, effective, and minimalistic.
The session I described above follows my basic template for clubbell and maces. The general programming principles I use are as follows, although I am not very strict about it:

Weight selection:
--I mostly stay in the upper range of what I can handle comfortably with good form.

Exercise selection:
--Focus on the big bang for the buck ballistic drills. I might play around with a low volume of other drills before or after my main drills, but they aren't ever the main focus. I tend to use clubbells and maces in separate sessions.

--For clubs (I pick a few variations per session):
--Mills (1-Arm and 2-Arm)​
--Reverse Mills (1-Arm and 2-Arm)​
--Shield casts (1-Arm)​
--Inside and outside pendulums (single and double)​
--Swipes (double)​
--For maces:
--360s (consecutive and alternating. I use the name "alternating 360" instead of "10-2" if I am doing them by coming to a stop at the vertical center position at the end of every rep, which isn't really going 10-2)​
--10-2 (I also often do a more flowing 10-2 style, instead of coming to a stop between reps)​
--I alternate grips each set.​
Set Length:
--Short enough so I can quickly recover between sets and do a high total volume for the session.
--This usually works out to 10 total reps, but often broken up into 5 in each direction, depending on the drill.
--For 1-arm mills and reverse mills I often do more consecutive reps, often 4 consecutive sets of ten, alternating hands each set.

Rest Periods:
--Long enough to recover well and accumulate a high volume for the session. I sometimes use a clock and sometimes go by feel. The actual time depends on the drill, load and set length. If using a clock, you have to experiment to find a good interval that keeps things moving, but is long enough so you can sustain the effort.
--It's an "A+A style" approach in that the load is relatively heavy, the sets are relatively short, recovery between sets is relatively generous, accumulated volume is relatively high, and overall perceived effort is relatively moderate. However, given the nature of clubbells and maces, the sets are longer in time and reps than "real" A+A, and recovery tends to be based more on local muscular fatigue than breathing or heartrate.

Volume:
I try to accumulate a significant volume. Typically a whole session will be at least 300 reps and often over 1000.

Frequency:
Depends on what else I am doing. I most commonly rotate mace or clubbell sessions with KB sessions during a week, and end up doing between 1-3 of each (obviously not 3 of each in a single week, but somewhere in that range for each).

Progression:
I don't really worry about "progress." I just put in the reps, and usually stay with more or less the same weights for long periods of time. When a given weight starts to feel easy, I might start practicing with a heavier weight and work it into my sessions by feel, but progressing the weight is really not a focus.

 
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