Hey, moving with a mace in anyway is beneficial.
So move with it how you like and as long as it's safe and done with intention, I support you
I had some gas left in the tank at the end of my session last night so decided to try some heavy single arm sweeps (I believe some call them inside circles) for a nice grip burnout.
45lb felt quite good considering it was at the end of a session. Definitely want to play around more with this when I'm fresh!
Magnificent Mace Marathons
MMMM, thats good training.
A nice check in with Gyatso, the first ever gada I made. Weighing in at 6kg with a long handle, this mace swings beautifully for these longer duration sets.
Had to push just enough to get a sweat on to keep a 36 rep per minute pace. I like to check in with a 30+ minute swing about once a month but haven't been too concerned with the pacing for quite awhile. It was nice to see where my comfortable pace was at for a long round.
Im going to be phasing in a little more of the volume swings in the next little bit. Ive been missing them during this power building phase. I have a solid plan laid out to do so and am looking forward to seeing how it plays out!
Mixed patterns is one of the trickiest expressions of an Indian Club practice.
One must truly have the moves programmed in to be able to separate one side from the other.
Personally, I love using this flow from @indianclubflow to practice this skill, as well as to warm up body and mind before a steel mace or heavy club session.
Shoulders, elbows, wrists, and definitely the brain all getting some nice work with this one!
These clubs are teardrops from @bodymindfit and are my go to for moves like this (the design lends itself brilliantly!)
Easing back into my practice after a great long weekend.
Drinking, not eating great, loads of walking/hiking, and a few nights on an air mattress meant my body just wasnt recovered enough to be able to push to extremes.
And thats totally fine. Trade offs happen, life must be lived, and joy must be found, otherwise what's the point of the struggle.
I did a quick test set and found that I wasn't going to be moving to my usual standard, so I abandoned the plan and instead did a ladder easing my way up to 22kg before throwing a handful of sets there. Felt great, sweat the last of the weekend out, and had a great time.
Its important to be adaptable!
Also, pumped to be at a point where 22kg single hand swings are part of an "easier" session!
For real, I had to do an hour of mobility 3 days in a row just to get to the point of being "normal sore" lol.
What does a heavy single arm steel mace swing make sore?
Pretty much everything. Shout out heavy single arm steel mace swings.
My session plans didnt call for a new PR attempt for quite awhile... but then some absolute crankers and the FOMO of King of The Swing 3 (my own fault for wearing the shirt, their fault for posting awesome athlete bios all week) got me motivated to throw plans out the window and see what I can do with this absolute hog of a mace.
16 total reps (these 10 in the middle the cleanest) for a new personal best.
Im working towards a goal of 35kg single arm swings before February 2028. I mapped out my sessions all the way until then with a reasonable projection of progression. Pleased to see that I'm about 7 months ahead of where I thought I would be!
When I first got into Steel Mace training manufacturers didnt even carry mace above 25kg. I will always have so much love for @white_lion_athletics for expanding what's possible and forever making new toys for me to chase.
@valhallatrainingacademy @valhallatrainingacademy_events have the King of The Swing 3 event this weekend. Ive been watching (and helping) people prep for it for months now and I cant wait to watch along as some monster take the platform and put up some amazing numbers!
Playing through some mills, I almost didnt attempt 35lb because I dont have a matching pair.
I was looking at the two 35lbs I do have, one from xtreme monkey and the other an OG clubbell. The OG is longer by a couple inches and a fair bit thicker. These differences make it harder to control one than the other. Even in the video its easy to see theyre quite different dimensions.
Then I realized I didnt have a problem, I had an opportunity.
So I grabbed that OG with my left hand, the xtreme monkey with my right, and mills were done.
It was definitely tricky keeping my awareness of the difference in the clubs, but overall Im very pleased with how it went and will definitely continue playing with this pattern despite not having a matching set
Had to battle with the humidity to get this one done, but got it done we did.
Another great swing session at @warriorflowfitness with people throwing around all sorts of heavy weight for minute long sets (30+ rep minimum).
My personal project right now is to get to a 35kg single arm swing before I turn 35 (February 2028). My current best is 32kg for a very sloppy 10 reps.
Will it really take me that long to add 3kg? Maybe, maybe not. Adding 3kg to a max is tricky but goes pretty quickly when youre new. For example, people can get to 5kg to 8kg pretty quick. But when it comes to these more top end mace weights? That's a whole different beast.
Plus, I like to over prepare. Yeah, I'll be happy with a sloppy 10 reps. But I want them so clean people think Im using fake weights. Thats my absolute favorite flavour of hater-ade. Had someone comment "Styrofoam" on one of my meel posts and I've been riding the high for weeks
Both the 22kg and 25kg I used in this session come from @white_lion_athletics , forever grateful for their selection of heavy fixed weight maces.
Another big win in this week's heavy swing session.
20 rounds with 25kg, single arm the whole time. Keeping a 17-20 rep per round pace, each round being 30 seconds followed by a 90 second pause.
Doing a weekly big swing at @warriorflowfitness over the last year has been so wildly motivating. Every week theres multiple people having what I call "Samwise Gamgee Moments"- theyve go farther than theyve ever gone before.
Seeing people hit new steel mace PRs every dang week makes it real easy to keep fighting for my own. This was a record amount of volume for me with the 25kg singles, and I cant wait to go even farther next time.
Ive been reading @john_gwynne_author 's Bloodsworn trilogy lately (at the recommendation of @thejedicowboy ) and its completely consumed my thought-cage
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So you can imagine how pumped I was to realize that I had the exact equipment I needed to scratch my itch of training for the Shield Wall.
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7kg/15lb gada swing paired with 10kg/22lb Sang "shield bashes".
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Also, I love the idea of a Canadian using an Indian tool and an Iranian tool while wearing a tshirt from a gym in England (@valhallatrainingacademy ) to do a Norse inspired workout
"Swing something for a long time" style sessions are a personal favorite of mine.
My current goals arent crazy volume based, so I've not been doing as many long swing sessions since I checked off that 24 hour swing goal. It was a nice check in with them last night, especially after a tough meel session the night before.
Definitely has me considering finding a new "long swing" goal. But what? Do I go longer than 24 hours? Do I go back through my old goals but with a heavier weight? Or do I just stick with my current goal of getting a 10 rep 35kg single arm swing?
I could likely chase a volume goal and a heavy weight goal... but then I might have to abandon some of my goals with other tools. There's only so many hours in a day for a person to train and recover and volume training takes a lot of time.
Goal setting is an important piece of the puzzle. Its also very important to check in with those goals as you progress, especially long term ones, to make sure theyre still what you want.
Continuing to build up that single arm steel mace swing.
I was going through my workout logs earlier and was pumped to see that, in the last year, I have added 6kg to my average working weight in this session type while keeping the same RPE. No way my hands/grip/shoulders/back wouldve been able to handle this weight at this volume this time last year. Absolutely stoked to see that progress.
One of the hardest parts of building this all up over the years has been getting over the mental hurdles of what's "heavy". Ive always said that "heavy is relative", and I truly believe that.
However, theres a mental hurdle to overcome when something that was once "heavy" is now something youre using for a more "volume" style session. For example, this session.
The 22kg and the 25kg still get in my head a fair bit before the session starts. I have moments of "what if I cant swing that" because there was a time where these weights were ones I was right on the line of being able to do. And I failed, multiple times. Those moments still pop into my mind, and I often find myself having to remind myself (even mid set) that "I can do this. This is light. Dont take it so seriously".
Growth is often a tough mental game. Its easy to fall back on old habits and beliefs. Its hard to remember how far you've come and what youre capable of. Personally, I'm going to do my best to do the hard thing
The original plan was 20 rounds with the 22kg. But after a few rounds I realized I was taking it too easy on myself and bumped up to the 25kg at the halfway point.
Im glad I did, that was right near my absolute limit. I dont think I would be able to accomplish all 20 rounds with the 25kg right now, but give me 6 weeks and it might be doable.
Building strength with a steel mace, like with any tool, is a grueling labor of love. And like anything; general training will give you general results while specific training will give you specific results. My specific goals right now are all around swinging heavy stuff, so my specific training is geared towards that. Im excited to see what comes from it all.
Shout out to @white_lion_athletics for the 22kg and 25kg maces used in this session and shout out @valhallatrainingacademy @valhallatrainingacademy_events for the shirt and constant inspiration to keep pushing the mace envelope