@@artv4nd3l4y oh now!!who are ya referring to?I wasn't talking about the old cocaine but I'm sure people get led around by that too that's for sure.i more meant not to follow any of these Influencers or anybody for that matter blindly.
Look up “the flowing Dutchman” on UA-cam if you think there isn’t much to do with a mace. That guy makes it look like a martial art. Thanks for sharing your experience 👍
It is a martial art. It was an important part of military training far and wide in the ancient world. Now it still thrives among grapplers in South Asia.
It is a martial art.Strength & conditioning for wrestling is only one part other part is fighting with a mace. It was used in ancient India as a both attacking & defence weapon. There are better guys than dutchman however,
Emilio Troiano has the best channel about mace training imo, he even implements unusual exercises that you don't find in other channels, wich adds more variation to this fantastic tool.
I started doing heavy clubs about 1.5 years ago (via Mark Wildman). got a couple cheapies from amazon to start and then got an adex adjustable (like 5 to 27.5lbs). I went with clubs cuz it seemed like you still got the rotational movement and there were LOTS of exercises possible. as you say a heavy club is stupid hard, it's a butt kicking exercise and it generally hits muscles in ways that they never really get hit. (def start light, someone said on a video once that it feels like it is pulling your joints apart, and it is kidna like that. everything else in weights is in compression (pushing on you) and most club exercises are in extension (pulling against you). it has definitely helped my shoulders a ton and as you say grip and forearm. I do the same basic exercises, every 3 days or so, slowly adding weight, reach 15 to 20 sets, and then go up in weight. People think "oh that's not much weight" and it isn't. UNTIL you start swinging it and it's dynamic (much like a kettlebell). And then understanding dawns very quickly. It can be humbling at first. Is it an end all be all device? no. but it's certainly a good tool in the toolbox. also it looks cool as f*ck when you're swinging.
They make standard bars with threaded weight pins. They’re like 40-50 bucks, take a reciprocating saw and saw one of the threaded ends off file it smooth and boom you have a mace.
I love my steel mace! However I totally agree with you about the adaptation, so I started swinging it around like it would be used in a real battle, but instead of just giving into momentum, I use muscle force to slow and control it. It makes it SIGNIFICANTLY harder, but also much less boring. Annihilates the core that way too😂
@@BrianAlsruheOfficialIf you get a chance I suggest looking up Mark Wildman regarding mace and club training. Having derived from ancient Persian warriors and Indian wrestlers, it’s a great tool for transverse plane training. It definitely has helped me in my combat sports applications.
I used vases filled with concrete from goodwill and a bamboo stick with nails in it in for a handle for a while. Now I have some wooden maces/clubs that were hand made and they're amazing. The Adex adjustable maces/clubs are very cool too. My favorite by far is the wooden ones. They're huge so they look cool and feel cool to swing and the wood also feels better in the hand than the metal.
Yeah I made a mace and a club from an old spinlock barbell, both adjustable. I like my plate loaded wooden club and mace better though. They do feel good.
Happy to see you sharing your thoughts on the mace. I've used mace in my training for almost 2 years. I think you got too caught up in the pricetag for the model you got. There are fixed weight options which will be much cheaper. Sure, you won't get the benefit of being able to adjust the weight with the same mace, but these models have a larger role when in comes to movement options. Something that is not talked about in regards to mace and circular training in general is that it counterbalances linear pattern lifts. You get a lot more strenghthening on tendons and ligaments through centrifugal force which is actually pulling these parts during the movement, that's probably why your shoulders felt so much better. I think you'd benefit a lot more doing single arm stuff with a heavy club (inside circle, outside circle and shield cast) eventually moving on to mills and reverse mills. These are more strenght/size builders than mace. I tore my right labrum last year. Pratically made a full recovery just working on these.
In between pressing exercises is where the mace really shines for me. Heavy mace swings in between sets of light presses, and light or single arm mace swings in between heavy presses. You can make the efficiency work for you by really letting yourself sink into the movement and getting a nice stretch while your at it, sort of like a rotational pullover.
Glad to hear you tried the mace Brian. All the movement patterns can be conjugated. Mark Wildman has great videos on the skill tree breakdown. Many years of skill work. Learning the mill is akin to learning the squat. So much contained in one word. Thanks for running the experiment. Happy training
@@BrianAlsruheOfficial I think you will dig Wildman's approach. Lots of programming similar to kata in karate. One basic formula can be iterated almost forever by plugging in different movements.
Shield casts, 10-2, uppercut with lunge, grave digger to shield cast, battle lunges and combos there of. Works for me. Totally agree on helping with the shoulders. This and your sandbag workouts keep this 58 year old moving along. Another thing to try for those interested are fixed maces. I use the ones from Amazon. They have a thicker grip and as they get heavier they get longer to increase the dynamic force you are swinging. Keep up the great work, Thanks
I got an adjustable wooden mace from Kensui for 60 or 70 bucks. Before that I made an adjustable club and an adjustable mace by hacksawing and filing two pieces of a spinlock 1" barbell. Onnit sells a 10 pound fixed weight steel mace for $50. A good hack is to throw a plate on a baseball bat. I used that for 3 years. For strength I prefer a heavy adjustable club to mace. Over 10 months I've doubled club reps and sets and increased load 65%. I keep a club in my truck and on my way home from work I stop at a trail, river, or beach to work out. I took a barbell to the beach once, but the club is much handier and goes regularly. Going by the basketball court at the beach so often while getting my mobility back up to snuff got me playing basketball again at 65 after 44 years off. I did get to a point where it was taking me away from my home gym, but I'm back at it now with improved shoulders. Besides basketball, the rotational strength and control from mace and club must be excellent for athletes in baseball, hockey, golf, tennis, boxing, etc Thanks for your take on this stuff.
I made one with a one inch pipe and some old one inch hole plates for next to nothing. I also use other diameter pipes loaded with sand. This is a wrestlers training tool which is why I use it and it does seem to heal shoulders up. I use it at the end of push day.
Every time I go into a hardware shop and see a sledgehammer, I consider buying it to use like a mace. I'm having some minor rotator cuff issues in my right shoulder just now, so I think you've convinced me to go for it.
I’ve been subscribed for years and always recommend you and Alan Thrall to anyone who asks about fitness , I hope you keep your spirits up it’s really important to me
Love the mace as a warmup before my pull days. 5-10m warm up of 10-2's to open the shoulder then the full send on the twirls. Bad shoulders and mobility, it's helped my dead hang tremendously. I've also done them as a warmup or squats doing the overhead chop. Start with 2 hands, mace is behind you with the ball on your lower back, as you squat down, you chop forward. Start position, standing, mace behind, ball on your lower back. End position is low squat with the mace extended infront pointing straight up.
Brian you always produce real, honest and actionable content - thank you. One note: you mention how much better your shoulders feel from regular mace/club work, but then question its value as your skill level increase makes it easier. These sorts of movements have saved me from double shoulder replacements at 65 - isn’t that reason enough to continue to keep it in your program?
There's a big variety of different mace/club flows and stuff that you can get into. Look at the flowing Dutchman on UA-cam I feel like he's a cool mace guy. It's huge in India.
And as far as historians and archaeologists can conclude, clubs&maces originated in India. They used clubs as weapons and they made bigger clubs as training tools and have been doing that for well over a thousand years
Appreciate the honest review. I use a sledge hammer for these movements. Not everyday, even every week. Just when I feel like changing things up or need shoulder recovery. You can buy several sledge hammers for the cost of one of these.
@@nerychristian depends on the injury but doing it light and high reps really helps getting blood flow in there and stretching anything that may be tight
Especially if you use your hips to perform a basic uppercut to throw the handle of the mace into the air so that the ball drops behind you, while being grounded into the floor you can actually make it a full body exercise. I like to do a lot of it in a horse stance as well
I made a mace out of threaded pipe for pretty cheap. 1" pipe cap 1" pipe @ 36" 1" x 3/4" pipe reducer section of 3/4" pipe for your standard plates to fit on (depending on how many plates you want to fit) 3/4' flange Pretty easy DIY option plus you can customize it to your size, preferences, and available weight plates. For the DIY cost it is absolutely worth adding to the garage gym tool box
Much appreciated, Brian, I'm always looking for ways to improve shoulder mobility and overall joint stability. This sounds like something I will look into some more so thank you.
I agree with your take on the mace. I have had one for years that I got when my shoulders were bothering me. I have practice swings and different movements and doing a consistent swing does help with my shoulders however, that is the only thing I have found. I’ve tried different movements and really the swings are the best and they do get boring after a while, but I keep it around because if I ever have shoulder problems, it really is the only thing that fixes it.
I think that was a fair review. I use maces, kettlebells and recently sandbags and I mainly use the mace for recovery work on an “off day” or for a quick warm up following mark Wildman’s 4 minute morning routine and building on inside/outside circles. It’s a great functional piece of kit and will compliment your overall workouts but i wouldn’t look at it for an overall piece of training. There are people who do mace flows and have magical ways spinning it around and using it in very dynamic ways which may hit more muscle groups, but this is very specialist and requires totally different training altogether. And price point, that’s a fair point, mine didn’t cost that much, though these days you can buy adjustable ones (even more dear). I’d recommend getting one, but know that this isn’t a replacement to your existing training, but a compliment and especially good for your overall shoulder health.
I own two maces. I like them for shoulder rehab. If I were to do it again, I'd buy heavy clubs instead, or at least first. They are certainly not the same as sandbags or kettlebells, at all. Just a great tool for shoulder and upper body mobility.
It's a super easy thing to DIY too. Just carve a piece of a hardwood branch into a stock that's thicker in the end and slide the normal bb weights (including the weight stopper thingy) onto it. Has been working great for me and I've used like 45 pounds on it for all kinds of movements for years
I was taught by Rik Brown and please don’t think you can’t do much with it. Mark Wildman has over 100 videos on mace exercises. One workout I do is 30 minutes in length and doing each exercise for a minute before moving on to the next without putting the mace down. Mace training for many people is about movement patterns but also strength and conditioning. The mace can target all muscle groups if you know what movements to do and as you get better you can go up in weight. Cardio or strength and conditioning you can do it with a mace. Anyone looking to build or start a home gym having several maces maybe is all you need without purchasing racks, weights, bench etc. I’m glad you had a go at it Brian.
I am working out with a mace and kettlebells.. I would like to add clubs and sand bags. I find these exercise are could for staying in shape and avoiding injuries
A basic steel mace is like $40; and you can get an adjustable wooden one for $30, + cost of plates which you might already have. As others have pointed out there are a lot of different moves you can do with it. In terms of cost, clutter, for completeness of upper body workout, I think its hard to beat.
a 3/4 in stick of black threaded pipe with a few split rings or other pipe fittings with smaller lengths of pipe (nipples) should work to make one at home for cheap. i made a tib bar for less than 40$ out of 7-3/4 X 6inch nipples and 3-3/4 "Tees" and 2-3/4 shoulder nipples. tib bar retail 175$ at the time 1 inch bore plates fit well but i had to sand the paint off to get my plates to fit on there. 1.5 inch pipe should hold the 2" bore plates tightly as well
I had multiple tendon injuries... I started mace training and I healed up. It's a great addition to a work out to build and repair tendons. On the jobsite I'm now one handing fullsize 8lb sledge hammers and guys eyes are popping lol.
I have a 5kg (11lb) fixed weight mace. I find it is a good weight for the therapeutic/health benefits of a mace without the expense of the adjustable ones. Another affordable adjustable one is the wooden Kensui mace. Apparently it feels a bit different though because it's wood.
Perspective matters here. The scariest phrase on the planet is 'use it or lose it', for us older guys it keeps everything going without being hard on the joints as it opens them up and lets the synovial fluid lubricate them rather than compressing them. Instead of adding weight try expanding the range of movement and keep going for a longer time, that way you build strength endurance without damaging the joints, and you get to enjoy the advantages of a toned, strong and flexible body well into old age. Learning new movement is challenging and important for neuroplasticity, it's also fun, which means you're more likely to stick with it.
What’s up, Brian! I have the shoulderok and love it. I don’t have much experience with mace work but the combination of the longer implement and the ability to adjust the load works great. I hope it helps with overhead stability during circus DB training. Just a few questions for you: 1) I’m about to buy a circus DB to train strongman in my garage gym. After researching, I’d like to buy from MB Powercenter. My strict OHP PR is only 170 lbs currently at 200 lbs. BW. So my issue is, while I’d like to buy the 12” CDB, it weights 99# empty. The 10” weighs 70#. Considering that I’d like to compete in my first SM meet next year at HGC ‘25, I hear most SM meets use 12” CDBs and not 10” for the men’s division. Would you recommend that I buy the smaller but more manageable 10”, or the heavier but potentially appropriate-sized 12”? Love your channel and looking forward to running your Strongman Powerbuilder program a few times before competing. Thanks, Brian!
This seems really cool, and quite a few commenters have mentioned shoulder benefits. I have/had a partial labrum tear, weak RCs, impingement, and AC joint arthritis. Tons of face pulls & PT band work have helped me strengthen my RCs (and possibly healed the tear). But I'm curious if this will help w/ impingement & arthritis as those seem to be more skeletal issues.
A spinlock barbell is like ten bucks. Cut the threaded part and stop collar off one side and cut the threaded part off the other side leaving the stop collar on. Load standard plates down the handle just like a shoulderok and secure them with a standard 1" barbell clamp with no risk of the plates flying off. You just paid 15-20 bucks for a mace with a knurled handle.
I added mace training to my work out for variety. You're right, it is great for shoulder strength and mobility! My shoulders have never felt better since doing mace swings. As far as training methods go, there are a myriad of methods for sure. I started following much of what the East Indian wrestlers do, in that, they do hundreds of reps! I tried that on a whim a 2-3 times a week and I can attest to the fact that I believe the mace 360 is possibly one of the best upper body exercises you can do...best bang for the buck. Yes, it's a lot monotonous. No doubt about it, but if you're a home gym trainer like me, this one was one of the single best pieces of equipment I ever purchased, next to my kettlebells. I get a strong contraction in my triceps, upper back, obliques, shoulders, traps and upper chest, as well as my core. Even my hips are sore from mace 360's. I had been doing up to 200 reps a workout but decided to drop that down a little to 100 or less. I train it 3-4 times a week as part of my upper body training.
Just as I thought. There are a lot things, like this that seem like a good idea but where would I put them in? Would I squat less, deadlift less, bench press less to add this? I have 4.5 hours a week for strength and about two hours a week for cardio. I don't see where I could add kettle bells, maces, or sandbags to my training. I squat, bench, OH Press, Chinup, Barbell Row, and do dips for strength. For cardio I run stairs, do sprints, and do sled work. Subbing in something else I think would be sub optimal unless I need to do it for recovery from an injury or to acquire a skill. For most folks stick to the big compounds for maximum return unless you have a lot of free time to go gym and for recovery.
I started doing swings behind the back as a finisher after sledgehammer tire work with a 20 lb sledge. After a while I wanted to try going heavier, so I made a 50 lb mace that is plate loadable, and I will say swinging a 65 lb mace is absolutely brutal. For me it really hits my triceps hard
Recently discovered the Kensui Adjusta Mace for about $70. Made of wood. Haven’t tried it but since I was considering making my own out of threaded pipes/fittings for about $50.. 🤷♂️
I'm a beginner and I'm using a 3 kg sledgehammer with long haft, it is really good. I'm sure a mace would be much more comfortable and safe, but for me right now the hammer is totally OK. And in three weeks after start I really feel like it's getting lighter for me, so I begin to think about some 5 kg sledgehammer.
I just use sledgehammers. I find I can modulate the intensity just fine by choking up on the handle (and I do that to warm up the movement). I mostly use it for light mobility work in the shoulders and hitting the less straight forward ranges if motion in my wrists, which helps keep them feeling healthy. I can't see paying $300 for a mace. Heaviest sledgehammer at the hardware store? Definitely worth it.
I drive all day mace bell really helps my back and shoulders I don't use it all the time you can get decent ones on Amazon around the 50 to 80 pounds depending on what weight you want I think it's nice to have in the home gym to mix things up I would not spend 300 dollars on one
You should try heavy clubs. They're far more versatile. A club plus a dumbbell replaces a kettlebell and you can do a lot more exercises than you can with a kettlebell.
I have a baseball bat at home that I can just slip a regular 2" weight plate on and it just catches and sticks near the top when the bat gets too thick for the plate and works really well
I just cut the end off of a 1" threaded chrome bar to make my mace. I can then thread on as much weight as I want (as long as that's less than 13 1" threaded plates).
Hey Brian, check out the Onnit Quad Mace. It's about 150-160. Weighs 25lbs but has a long, wooden handle that's nice and thick. The weight distribution changes things considerably over a steel mace, and the thicker handle really hits your grip like a bastard. It's one of my favorite things to do as part of my shoulder warmups.
You can do a fair few things with a mace. Gravediggers, shovel lifts, 10 to 2, 360s, single arm, hand over hand, etc. You should also bring your hands to navel level to start and to the nape of the neck when swinging
I’ve been doing Indian club swinging for a few years now after not being able to bench press for a year due to shoulder pain. Shoulders have never felt so good at 53
I wanted to add mace training to my training after watching "The Flowing Dutchman" for a while. The mace I got is a Strength Shop EU, I got the 6kg one, costed 60€. But if you have a sledgehammer, use that or even better, if you're handy or would like to take on a craft project, make your own; whether it be concrete and a bar or carving wood like the Indian ones. Personally, I didn't see all too much benefit overall, as I use kettlebells on my off days after rucking. But it's nice to mix it up and for 60 bucks it's honestly not a big deal. If it was $300 like what you got, yeah no way I'ld get that.
Get an ADEX Mace. They are adjustable empty 6 pounds up to 30, with the add-on kit I can load it to 50! I love my adjustable clubs and Maces. Love handing a guy a 20 pound club, it feels much heavier than that and they think it is a trick and weigh it. A fun way to train feels very primal to me.
I ordered a mace from Titan fitness for $80. Started using it for my warm ups and in place of plate Halos and I’ve noticed my shoulder and bicep pain has gone down.
I have been training with years with sledge hammers/maces/steel clubs/and a Gada which is a wooden club to which I add plates with a collar at the end. The movements you were demonstrating were VERY limited and you did not seem to investigate the "play-like" movements that are available by varying the hand position from the end of a sledge hammer, reversing hand position from supine to prone and using a hammer/mace as a "weapon of war", etc. Get your music playing, spend some time investigating different hand positions on the implement, leg movement patterns and I think you may change your point of view--mike
I have an old York barbell set I could probably make one of those out of. the bar is only about 4 feet long i could put the plates only on one end and swing it around, hmmmmmmm! at any rate anything that improves shoulder health is a good thing!
Adjustable maces are super expensive, but I got a normal 8kg mace (20ish pounds) for around 60€. I use it maybe once or twice per week towards the end of my workouts, and I basically only train Mace 360's. I think it's worth it for that purpose.
Since i had cancer being hodgkins lymphoma. Infected lymph nodes were on the left side. Im in remission for years but my left side dosent grow n develope as fast as my right. This wasnt the case before cancer have you ever herd of this
The pricing is absolutely insane. I bought a proper sledge hammer which I think was at most 30$. Best piece of excessive equipment I own, and I can use it for hitting a tire.
I feel like if you did a light KB/plate halo or something but made sure you went deep around the back of your head you'd get similar shoulder benefits. Could be wrong though.
You're right. I learned that movement with a club, then added a kettlebell, then a mace, then a basketball. They all work well and when varied they work even better.
What about a standard sledge hammer from the local hardware store? I assume 10lbs is on the lighter side, but for those of us aspiring to try somehting new?
10 lbs is perfectto start with for beginners. I started with a 10 lb mace 2 years ago. Learning the movement and perfecting it will take a lot out of you. Im still learning now and it is a fun and beneficial exercise.
From my understanding using a club is better than a mace due to the variety of training and the weight distribution. Ckmaceworks has a cadi club and it’s awesome. Mark wildman has a good bit of training variety for clubs too. If you’re good at mace then you’re good at mace. But if you’re good at clubs then you can also be good at mace.
I have to disagree with the mace not being very versatile. 360s, 10&2s, uppercut lunges, barbarian squats, dynamic curls, pullovers and grave diggers just to name a few exercises.
I was literally just thinking about your channel the other day as I haven’t followed you for a while, and I just started implementing mace training about a month ago myself. Weird.
The more efficient you get the more weight you can do. It’s a whole body. In this video you are still muscling it. You need to master it more to pendulum it more. Counter its forces.
And Brian with his strength thinks that if he didn't feel the chest with a 20lbs macebell then the macebell isn't as good a tool as... He didn't understand that he needs to get to at least 55lbs with his strength...
@@ThePhack3 I agree with you. He would need at least half a year to evaluate... I have been training with macebell and clubbell (among other training tools) for two years, and only in the last half year have I realized their real benefit, and for that reason I have increased their use from about 20% of the training volume to some 30%.
Funnily enough you got me into jiu jitsu, and then my Jiu Jitsu coach got me into mace work, and then I finally see you make a video about mace work. But yea he had a history of shoulder problems and apparently there are alot of different variations such as one handed mace swings, which work the hell outta your forearms and shoulder stability and add a whole nother layer of depth to the mace, once I tried one handed I never looked back, 5 lbs humbled me and I only do 10 lbs now, it's worth a try
Word of warning: I actually hurt my shoulder doing this. I'm not saying this to deter anyone. I absolutely loved the learning process. But do push your boundaries intelligently.
I'd just spend 43$ for a 18lbs Hammer, its perfect, i just keep swinging it for 5 Minutes and later again for 10, came back from work swinging again for 10 Minutes and so on... Guys THiS is the most effective and sexiest Bodybuilding workout styles i've ever seen/felt, just startet Oct, 1 now it is just Oct. 8 and the Feeling is great, talking about variable workouts: well it Limited like curls, dumpbells or cattlebells as well, but the moves are so much more beneficial
Honestly thought for a second this was a video about training to be maced. If Brian says being maced will make me strong I’ll do it
WHATEVER IT TAKES BROTHER
Never let anyone lead you around by the nose.
@@patrickboyle6727 Especially when it comes to nose candy my friend, unfortunately what happens in Vegas, doesn't always stay in Vegas!!!
@@artv4nd3l4y oh now!!who are ya referring to?I wasn't talking about the old cocaine but I'm sure people get led around by that too that's for sure.i more meant not to follow any of these Influencers or anybody for that matter blindly.
I think he did. He only doubts that you need to spend $300 plus on the equipment. You can get mace for cheaper.
Look up “the flowing Dutchman” on UA-cam if you think there isn’t much to do with a mace. That guy makes it look like a martial art. Thanks for sharing your experience 👍
It is a martial art. It was an important part of military training far and wide in the ancient world. Now it still thrives among grapplers in South Asia.
Yeah, the Flowing Dutchman totally makes it look so beautiful and majestic like with his amazing and phenomenal flow with the mace and with the club.
It is a martial art.Strength & conditioning for wrestling is only one part other part is fighting with a mace. It was used in ancient India as a both attacking & defence weapon. There are better guys than dutchman however,
Emilio Troiano has the best channel about mace training imo, he even implements unusual exercises that you don't find in other channels, wich adds more variation to this fantastic tool.
I started doing heavy clubs about 1.5 years ago (via Mark Wildman). got a couple cheapies from amazon to start and then got an adex adjustable (like 5 to 27.5lbs). I went with clubs cuz it seemed like you still got the rotational movement and there were LOTS of exercises possible. as you say a heavy club is stupid hard, it's a butt kicking exercise and it generally hits muscles in ways that they never really get hit. (def start light, someone said on a video once that it feels like it is pulling your joints apart, and it is kidna like that. everything else in weights is in compression (pushing on you) and most club exercises are in extension (pulling against you).
it has definitely helped my shoulders a ton and as you say grip and forearm. I do the same basic exercises, every 3 days or so, slowly adding weight, reach 15 to 20 sets, and then go up in weight. People think "oh that's not much weight" and it isn't. UNTIL you start swinging it and it's dynamic (much like a kettlebell). And then understanding dawns very quickly. It can be humbling at first.
Is it an end all be all device? no. but it's certainly a good tool in the toolbox. also it looks cool as f*ck when you're swinging.
Spot on man.
awesome to see a fellow Mark Wildman follower here. LOL
I have an Adex Arc. Def. worth it!
also I like the movement is used across the entire shoulder in comparison to machines where you tend to overtrain one side.
They make standard bars with threaded weight pins. They’re like 40-50 bucks, take a reciprocating saw and saw one of the threaded ends off file it smooth and boom you have a mace.
I did this to an unused spinlock barbell using a hacksaw and hand file. It's a fun useful project. Made a club out of the other end too.
And you have a blob for grip training at the same time
Why didn't I think of this 🤦🏼♂️🤦🏼♂️
I love my steel mace! However I totally agree with you about the adaptation, so I started swinging it around like it would be used in a real battle, but instead of just giving into momentum, I use muscle force to slow and control it. It makes it SIGNIFICANTLY harder, but also much less boring. Annihilates the core that way too😂
I think that is a good idea!
@@BrianAlsruheOfficialIf you get a chance I suggest looking up Mark Wildman regarding mace and club training. Having derived from ancient Persian warriors and Indian wrestlers, it’s a great tool for transverse plane training. It definitely has helped me in my combat sports applications.
I do the same thing, raise it up like i'm blocking an attack or something. I think it helps keep things tight and not just flop around with it
Checkout mark wildmans channel hes got a mace playlist of over 100 diff exercises. Mace training is actually unlimited there are 1000s of movements
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I used vases filled with concrete from goodwill and a bamboo stick with nails in it in for a handle for a while. Now I have some wooden maces/clubs that were hand made and they're amazing. The Adex adjustable maces/clubs are very cool too. My favorite by far is the wooden ones. They're huge so they look cool and feel cool to swing and the wood also feels better in the hand than the metal.
Yeah I made a mace and a club from an old spinlock barbell, both adjustable. I like my plate loaded wooden club and mace better though. They do feel good.
I use a 12 lb sledgehammer. My goal is to swing my 30 lb hammer around.
Happy to see you sharing your thoughts on the mace. I've used mace in my training for almost 2 years. I think you got too caught up in the pricetag for the model you got. There are fixed weight options which will be much cheaper. Sure, you won't get the benefit of being able to adjust the weight with the same mace, but these models have a larger role when in comes to movement options. Something that is not talked about in regards to mace and circular training in general is that it counterbalances linear pattern lifts. You get a lot more strenghthening on tendons and ligaments through centrifugal force which is actually pulling these parts during the movement, that's probably why your shoulders felt so much better.
I think you'd benefit a lot more doing single arm stuff with a heavy club (inside circle, outside circle and shield cast) eventually moving on to mills and reverse mills. These are more strenght/size builders than mace. I tore my right labrum last year. Pratically made a full recovery just working on these.
Good for your shoulder Brian!Hope Is doing Better!thanks again for your work!
In between pressing exercises is where the mace really shines for me. Heavy mace swings in between sets of light presses, and light or single arm mace swings in between heavy presses. You can make the efficiency work for you by really letting yourself sink into the movement and getting a nice stretch while your at it, sort of like a rotational pullover.
Glad to hear you tried the mace Brian. All the movement patterns can be conjugated. Mark Wildman has great videos on the skill tree breakdown. Many years of skill work. Learning the mill is akin to learning the squat. So much contained in one word. Thanks for running the experiment. Happy training
Thank you! I am definitely continuing with it and think I will use it for a long time to come
@@BrianAlsruheOfficial I think you will dig Wildman's approach. Lots of programming similar to kata in karate. One basic formula can be iterated almost forever by plugging in different movements.
Shield casts, 10-2, uppercut with lunge, grave digger to shield cast, battle lunges and combos there of. Works for me. Totally agree on helping with the shoulders. This and your sandbag workouts keep this 58 year old moving along. Another thing to try for those interested are fixed maces. I use the ones from Amazon. They have a thicker grip and as they get heavier they get longer to increase the dynamic force you are swinging. Keep up the great work, Thanks
Brother Savage
grave digger to shield cast is excellent, thanks
I got an adjustable wooden mace from Kensui for 60 or 70 bucks. Before that I made an adjustable club and an adjustable mace by hacksawing and filing two pieces of a spinlock 1" barbell. Onnit sells a 10 pound fixed weight steel mace for $50. A good hack is to throw a plate on a baseball bat. I used that for 3 years.
For strength I prefer a heavy adjustable club to mace. Over 10 months I've doubled club reps and sets and increased load 65%.
I keep a club in my truck and on my way home from work I stop at a trail, river, or beach to work out. I took a barbell to the beach once, but the club is much handier and goes regularly.
Going by the basketball court at the beach so often while getting my mobility back up to snuff got me playing basketball again at 65 after 44 years off.
I did get to a point where it was taking me away from my home gym, but I'm back at it now with improved shoulders.
Besides basketball, the rotational strength and control from mace and club must be excellent for athletes in baseball, hockey, golf, tennis, boxing, etc
Thanks for your take on this stuff.
Gold.
How did you find the Kensui Adjustable Mace? Is it good quality? Can it be loaded a lot?
I made one with a one inch pipe and some old one inch hole plates for next to nothing. I also use other diameter pipes loaded with sand. This is a wrestlers training tool which is why I use it and it does seem to heal shoulders up. I use it at the end of push day.
I teach steel clubs and steel maces, it’s an endless amount of variations to use it. The primary is the swings but can be used movements
Wife and I love the ones we have, they get used mostly for hammer throw warmups though.
Every time I go into a hardware shop and see a sledgehammer, I consider buying it to use like a mace. I'm having some minor rotator cuff issues in my right shoulder just now, so I think you've convinced me to go for it.
What sizes did you buy?
I’ve been subscribed for years and always recommend you and Alan Thrall to anyone who asks about fitness , I hope you keep your spirits up it’s really important to me
I absolutely love using steel clubs and maces, especially for active recovery
I use them to release my fascia
Love the mace as a warmup before my pull days. 5-10m warm up of 10-2's to open the shoulder then the full send on the twirls. Bad shoulders and mobility, it's helped my dead hang tremendously.
I've also done them as a warmup or squats doing the overhead chop. Start with 2 hands, mace is behind you with the ball on your lower back, as you squat down, you chop forward. Start position, standing, mace behind, ball on your lower back. End position is low squat with the mace extended infront pointing straight up.
Brian you always produce real, honest and actionable content - thank you. One note: you mention how much better your shoulders feel from regular mace/club work, but then question its value as your skill level increase makes it easier. These sorts of movements have saved me from double shoulder replacements at 65 - isn’t that reason enough to continue to keep it in your program?
Thanks for the review man, always wondered about these things. Hope all is still going well!
There's a big variety of different mace/club flows and stuff that you can get into. Look at the flowing Dutchman on UA-cam I feel like he's a cool mace guy. It's huge in India.
And as far as historians and archaeologists can conclude, clubs&maces originated in India. They used clubs as weapons and they made bigger clubs as training tools and have been doing that for well over a thousand years
@@LatimusChadimus They were in the UK over 5000 years ago and across Europe.
@@terryharris1291 You guys act like you came up with everything.
Great video; I had a similar experience as you. I love the honesty!
Appreciate the honest review. I use a sledge hammer for these movements. Not everyday, even every week. Just when I feel like changing things up or need shoulder recovery. You can buy several sledge hammers for the cost of one of these.
I had a shoulder issue for almost a year and decided to try using a mace. It was gone within a week. It's insane how fast and well it worked
Can you use if you have rotator cuff injury?
@@nerychristian depends on the injury but doing it light and high reps really helps getting blood flow in there and stretching anything that may be tight
Especially if you use your hips to perform a basic uppercut to throw the handle of the mace into the air so that the ball drops behind you, while being grounded into the floor you can actually make it a full body exercise. I like to do a lot of it in a horse stance as well
God bless you Brian, thank you for all you do
I made a mace out of threaded pipe for pretty cheap.
1" pipe cap
1" pipe @ 36"
1" x 3/4" pipe reducer
section of 3/4" pipe for your standard plates to fit on (depending on how many plates you want to fit)
3/4' flange
Pretty easy DIY option plus you can customize it to your size, preferences, and available weight plates. For the DIY cost it is absolutely worth adding to the garage gym tool box
Great tip my friend, thank you!
Much appreciated, Brian, I'm always looking for ways to improve shoulder mobility and overall joint stability. This sounds like something I will look into some more so thank you.
I agree with your take on the mace. I have had one for years that I got when my shoulders were bothering me. I have practice swings and different movements and doing a consistent swing does help with my shoulders however, that is the only thing I have found. I’ve tried different movements and really the swings are the best and they do get boring after a while, but I keep it around because if I ever have shoulder problems, it really is the only thing that fixes it.
I think that was a fair review. I use maces, kettlebells and recently sandbags and I mainly use the mace for recovery work on an “off day” or for a quick warm up following mark Wildman’s 4 minute morning routine and building on inside/outside circles. It’s a great functional piece of kit and will compliment your overall workouts but i wouldn’t look at it for an overall piece of training. There are people who do mace flows and have magical ways spinning it around and using it in very dynamic ways which may hit more muscle groups, but this is very specialist and requires totally different training altogether. And price point, that’s a fair point, mine didn’t cost that much, though these days you can buy adjustable ones (even more dear). I’d recommend getting one, but know that this isn’t a replacement to your existing training, but a compliment and especially good for your overall shoulder health.
Thanks as always Big man for the info !
This was a really helpful review thanks.
I own two maces. I like them for shoulder rehab. If I were to do it again, I'd buy heavy clubs instead, or at least first. They are certainly not the same as sandbags or kettlebells, at all. Just a great tool for shoulder and upper body mobility.
Yea, I have heard clubs are really good for that
It's a super easy thing to DIY too. Just carve a piece of a hardwood branch into a stock that's thicker in the end and slide the normal bb weights (including the weight stopper thingy) onto it. Has been working great for me and I've used like 45 pounds on it for all kinds of movements for years
I was taught by Rik Brown and please don’t think you can’t do much with it. Mark Wildman has over 100 videos on mace exercises. One workout I do is 30 minutes in length and doing each exercise for a minute before moving on to the next without putting the mace down. Mace training for many people is about movement patterns but also strength and conditioning. The mace can target all muscle groups if you know what movements to do and as you get better you can go up in weight. Cardio or strength and conditioning you can do it with a mace. Anyone looking to build or start a home gym having several maces maybe is all you need without purchasing racks, weights, bench etc. I’m glad you had a go at it Brian.
Pathetic weeb upsell trying to convince yourself that this tech support nonsense has any legitimate strength and conditioning effect.
Thanks for the video your stuff is always so awesome appreciate you
I am working out with a mace and kettlebells.. I would like to add clubs and sand bags. I find these exercise are could for staying in shape and avoiding injuries
A basic steel mace is like $40; and you can get an adjustable wooden one for $30, + cost of plates which you might already have. As others have pointed out there are a lot of different moves you can do with it. In terms of cost, clutter, for completeness of upper body workout, I think its hard to beat.
a 3/4 in stick of black threaded pipe with a few split rings or other pipe fittings with smaller lengths of pipe (nipples) should work to make one at home for cheap. i made a tib bar for less than 40$ out of 7-3/4 X 6inch nipples and 3-3/4 "Tees" and 2-3/4 shoulder nipples. tib bar retail 175$ at the time
1 inch bore plates fit well but i had to sand the paint off to get my plates to fit on there. 1.5 inch pipe should hold the 2" bore plates tightly as well
I had multiple tendon injuries... I started mace training and I healed up. It's a great addition to a work out to build and repair tendons. On the jobsite I'm now one handing fullsize 8lb sledge hammers and guys eyes are popping lol.
I have a 5kg (11lb) fixed weight mace. I find it is a good weight for the therapeutic/health benefits of a mace without the expense of the adjustable ones. Another affordable adjustable one is the wooden Kensui mace. Apparently it feels a bit different though because it's wood.
Perspective matters here. The scariest phrase on the planet is 'use it or lose it', for us older guys it keeps everything going without being hard on the joints as it opens them up and lets the synovial fluid lubricate them rather than compressing them. Instead of adding weight try expanding the range of movement and keep going for a longer time, that way you build strength endurance without damaging the joints, and you get to enjoy the advantages of a toned, strong and flexible body well into old age. Learning new movement is challenging and important for neuroplasticity, it's also fun, which means you're more likely to stick with it.
What’s up, Brian! I have the shoulderok and love it. I don’t have much experience with mace work but the combination of the longer implement and the ability to adjust the load works great. I hope it helps with overhead stability during circus DB training.
Just a few questions for you:
1) I’m about to buy a circus DB to train strongman in my garage gym. After researching, I’d like to buy from MB Powercenter. My strict OHP PR is only 170 lbs currently at 200 lbs. BW. So my issue is, while I’d like to buy the 12” CDB, it weights 99# empty. The 10” weighs 70#. Considering that I’d like to compete in my first SM meet next year at HGC ‘25, I hear most SM meets use 12” CDBs and not 10” for the men’s division. Would you recommend that I buy the smaller but more manageable 10”, or the heavier but potentially appropriate-sized 12”?
Love your channel and looking forward to running your Strongman Powerbuilder program a few times before competing.
Thanks, Brian!
I got a cheap, small "standard" barbell. I might try this with that
This seems really cool, and quite a few commenters have mentioned shoulder benefits. I have/had a partial labrum tear, weak RCs, impingement, and AC joint arthritis. Tons of face pulls & PT band work have helped me strengthen my RCs (and possibly healed the tear). But I'm curious if this will help w/ impingement & arthritis as those seem to be more skeletal issues.
A spinlock barbell is like ten bucks. Cut the threaded part and stop collar off one side and cut the threaded part off the other side leaving the stop collar on. Load standard plates down the handle just like a shoulderok and secure them with a standard 1" barbell clamp with no risk of the plates flying off. You just paid 15-20 bucks for a mace with a knurled handle.
I added mace training to my work out for variety. You're right, it is great for shoulder strength and mobility! My shoulders have never felt better since doing mace swings. As far as training methods go, there are a myriad of methods for sure. I started following much of what the East Indian wrestlers do, in that, they do hundreds of reps! I tried that on a whim a 2-3 times a week and I can attest to the fact that I believe the mace 360 is possibly one of the best upper body exercises you can do...best bang for the buck. Yes, it's a lot monotonous. No doubt about it, but if you're a home gym trainer like me, this one was one of the single best pieces of equipment I ever purchased, next to my kettlebells. I get a strong contraction in my triceps, upper back, obliques, shoulders, traps and upper chest, as well as my core. Even my hips are sore from mace 360's. I had been doing up to 200 reps a workout but decided to drop that down a little to 100 or less. I train it 3-4 times a week as part of my upper body training.
i cut the collar off 1 side of a cheap 1" standard barbell and a few inches off the other, use both screw clips to hold weights.
It makes my shoulders feel good and it improved my grip strength quite a bit.
Just as I thought. There are a lot things, like this that seem like a good idea but where would I put them in? Would I squat less, deadlift less, bench press less to add this? I have 4.5 hours a week for strength and about two hours a week for cardio. I don't see where I could add kettle bells, maces, or sandbags to my training. I squat, bench, OH Press, Chinup, Barbell Row, and do dips for strength. For cardio I run stairs, do sprints, and do sled work. Subbing in something else I think would be sub optimal unless I need to do it for recovery from an injury or to acquire a skill. For most folks stick to the big compounds for maximum return unless you have a lot of free time to go gym and for recovery.
I started doing swings behind the back as a finisher after sledgehammer tire work with a 20 lb sledge. After a while I wanted to try going heavier, so I made a 50 lb mace that is plate loadable, and I will say swinging a 65 lb mace is absolutely brutal. For me it really hits my triceps hard
Recently discovered the Kensui Adjusta Mace for about $70. Made of wood. Haven’t tried it but since I was considering making my own out of threaded pipes/fittings for about $50.. 🤷♂️
I'm a beginner and I'm using a 3 kg sledgehammer with long haft, it is really good. I'm sure a mace would be much more comfortable and safe, but for me right now the hammer is totally OK. And in three weeks after start I really feel like it's getting lighter for me, so I begin to think about some 5 kg sledgehammer.
I just use sledgehammers. I find I can modulate the intensity just fine by choking up on the handle (and I do that to warm up the movement). I mostly use it for light mobility work in the shoulders and hitting the less straight forward ranges if motion in my wrists, which helps keep them feeling healthy. I can't see paying $300 for a mace. Heaviest sledgehammer at the hardware store? Definitely worth it.
i have a loadable mace from Titan and love it. I think it was around $80.
Iron sheik had something similar to that.. also hammer throws use a chain with weights at the end
I drive all day mace bell really helps my back and shoulders I don't use it all the time you can get decent ones on Amazon around the 50 to 80 pounds depending on what weight you want I think it's nice to have in the home gym to mix things up I would not spend 300 dollars on one
You should try heavy clubs. They're far more versatile. A club plus a dumbbell replaces a kettlebell and you can do a lot more exercises than you can with a kettlebell.
I have a baseball bat at home that I can just slip a regular 2" weight plate on and it just catches and sticks near the top when the bat gets too thick for the plate and works really well
Persian meels, I made my own.
I use 10 lb, and 16 lb sledgehammers for a mace.
Love the mace is getting popular. Been using it for years HIGHLY RECOMMEND
I just cut the end off of a 1" threaded chrome bar to make my mace. I can then thread on as much weight as I want (as long as that's less than 13 1" threaded plates).
Did this too. It also looks very cool, doesn't it?
the mace has more moves than i think you found. it is a flow tool , so continuous movement is key and not just linear movement
Use mace training for warming up and keeping shoulders happy and healthy. Also use them to train forearms using the offset load.
This is some crazy simulation stuff. I started taking mace training seriously a few weeks ago and BAM here we go.
Hey Brian, check out the Onnit Quad Mace. It's about 150-160. Weighs 25lbs but has a long, wooden handle that's nice and thick. The weight distribution changes things considerably over a steel mace, and the thicker handle really hits your grip like a bastard. It's one of my favorite things to do as part of my shoulder warmups.
You can do a fair few things with a mace. Gravediggers, shovel lifts, 10 to 2, 360s, single arm, hand over hand, etc. You should also bring your hands to navel level to start and to the nape of the neck when swinging
For 1 handed club work, a big pipe wrench works quite well.
Not heavy enough
I’ve been doing Indian club swinging for a few years now after not being able to bench press for a year due to shoulder pain. Shoulders have never felt so good at 53
I wanted to add mace training to my training after watching "The Flowing Dutchman" for a while.
The mace I got is a Strength Shop EU, I got the 6kg one, costed 60€. But if you have a sledgehammer, use that or even better, if you're handy or would like to take on a craft project, make your own; whether it be concrete and a bar or carving wood like the Indian ones.
Personally, I didn't see all too much benefit overall, as I use kettlebells on my off days after rucking. But it's nice to mix it up and for 60 bucks it's honestly not a big deal.
If it was $300 like what you got, yeah no way I'ld get that.
Get an ADEX Mace. They are adjustable empty 6 pounds up to 30, with the add-on kit I can load it to 50! I love my adjustable clubs and Maces. Love handing a guy a 20 pound club, it feels much heavier than that and they think it is a trick and weigh it. A fun way to train feels very primal to me.
Great tip, thank you!
Amazon sells a 25lb mace for $61. I got 2 8lb sledges for $24 each at Harbor Freight to mimic Indian clubs.
I ordered a mace from Titan fitness for $80. Started using it for my warm ups and in place of plate Halos and I’ve noticed my shoulder and bicep pain has gone down.
I did a 1/2 marathon 30 minutes with a 10lb mace. 1064 reps 1.69 cycle time. I think this type of exercise is so beneficial to mobility.
That sounds brutal
I have been training with years with sledge hammers/maces/steel clubs/and a Gada which is a wooden club to which I add plates with a collar at the end. The movements you were demonstrating were VERY limited and you did not seem to investigate the "play-like" movements that are available by varying the hand position from the end of a sledge hammer, reversing hand position from supine to prone and using a hammer/mace as a "weapon of war", etc. Get your music playing, spend some time investigating different hand positions on the implement, leg movement patterns and I think you may change your point of view--mike
I have an old York barbell set I could probably make one of those out of. the bar is only about 4 feet long i could put the plates only on one end and swing it around, hmmmmmmm! at any rate anything that improves shoulder health is a good thing!
Adjustable maces are super expensive, but I got a normal 8kg mace (20ish pounds) for around 60€. I use it maybe once or twice per week towards the end of my workouts, and I basically only train Mace 360's. I think it's worth it for that purpose.
Since i had cancer being hodgkins lymphoma. Infected lymph nodes were on the left side. Im in remission for years but my left side dosent grow n develope as fast as my right. This wasnt the case before cancer have you ever herd of this
Guess ill stick to kettlebell shoulder halos with SquatU's banded rotator complex for shoulder prehab.
The pricing is absolutely insane. I bought a proper sledge hammer which I think was at most 30$. Best piece of excessive equipment I own, and I can use it for hitting a tire.
I feel like if you did a light KB/plate halo or something but made sure you went deep around the back of your head you'd get similar shoulder benefits. Could be wrong though.
You're right. I learned that movement with a club, then added a kettlebell, then a mace, then a basketball. They all work well and when varied they work even better.
What about a standard sledge hammer from the local hardware store? I assume 10lbs is on the lighter side, but for those of us aspiring to try somehting new?
10 lbs is perfectto start with for beginners. I started with a 10 lb mace 2 years ago. Learning the movement and perfecting it will take a lot out of you. Im still learning now and it is a fun and beneficial exercise.
From my understanding using a club is better than a mace due to the variety of training and the weight distribution. Ckmaceworks has a cadi club and it’s awesome. Mark wildman has a good bit of training variety for clubs too. If you’re good at mace then you’re good at mace. But if you’re good at clubs then you can also be good at mace.
Did you cap out the loading capacity?
My prediction before video starts is that it's worth it because that would be on brand for Brian
I have to disagree with the mace not being very versatile. 360s, 10&2s, uppercut lunges, barbarian squats, dynamic curls, pullovers and grave diggers just to name a few exercises.
Not to mention mace flow which has 1000s of movements
I got mine off of amazon for under $30.00. You DON'T have to break the bank. They are useful to have.
The Shoulder Rok has super aggressive knurling for swinging around - rips up my thumb webbing real bad
I was literally just thinking about your channel the other day as I haven’t followed you for a while, and I just started implementing mace training about a month ago myself. Weird.
You found a quick fix to your long shoulder problems and asking a question "Is it worth it?". Asked multiple times by some reason.
Do these really work any differently than plate or kettlebell halos?
The more efficient you get the more weight you can do. It’s a whole body. In this video you are still muscling it. You need to master it more to pendulum it more. Counter its forces.
The Great Gama swung an 80 lbs mace for 40 minutes a day. I use kbs, mace/clubs, and sandbags only.
And Brian with his strength thinks that if he didn't feel the chest with a 20lbs macebell then the macebell isn't as good a tool as... He didn't understand that he needs to get to at least 55lbs with his strength...
@@MarekKE-ei6ec I wouldn’t say all that. I respect Brian a ton, but 28 days isn’t enough to make a good assessment on clubs or maces.
@@ThePhack3
I agree with you. He would need at least half a year to evaluate... I have been training with macebell and clubbell (among other training tools) for two years, and only in the last half year have I realized their real benefit, and for that reason I have increased their use from about 20% of the training volume to some 30%.
how about switching the grip up?
Now do clubs! Heavy vs 2-handed Indian clubs. I’ve become curious about those!
…and rucking. Do a 30-days of weighted rucking too!…
I ruck all of the time. I have for decades
Funnily enough you got me into jiu jitsu, and then my Jiu Jitsu coach got me into mace work, and then I finally see you make a video about mace work. But yea he had a history of shoulder problems and apparently there are alot of different variations such as one handed mace swings, which work the hell outta your forearms and shoulder stability and add a whole nother layer of depth to the mace, once I tried one handed I never looked back, 5 lbs humbled me and I only do 10 lbs now, it's worth a try
Word of warning: I actually hurt my shoulder doing this. I'm not saying this to deter anyone. I absolutely loved the learning process. But do push your boundaries intelligently.
I'd just spend 43$ for a 18lbs Hammer, its perfect, i just keep swinging it for 5 Minutes and later again for 10, came back from work swinging again for 10 Minutes and so on... Guys THiS is the most effective and sexiest Bodybuilding workout styles i've ever seen/felt, just startet Oct, 1 now it is just Oct. 8 and the Feeling is great, talking about variable workouts: well it Limited like curls, dumpbells or cattlebells as well, but the moves are so much more beneficial