I’ve been enjoying playing with my 5 pound thrift store steel mace and learning new exercises with it. After a few weeks of this I thought it was time to start doing a workout with it. I call it the MV Workout because it is a workout presented by Aubrey Marcus where I tacked on the 360’s and Rebel Presses from Coach Vaughn. All of the movements are demonstrated between both presenters’ videos.*
MV Steel Mace Workout
Do one set of 20 reps of each of the following exercises with no rest between exercises. Then, again with no rest, do another set. With the second set switch hands or your grip and do the movements in the opposite direction where appropriate.**
- TWO SETS OF:
- 360’s
- Barbarian Squats
- Grave Diggers
- Joust
- Twisted Sword Draw
- Rebel Press
- After the final set perform 20 Chest Presses from a Horse Stance, flip the mace around to change your grip and do another 20 reps. You’re done!
If you want to make this workout easier, you can do just one set, do less repetitions or introduce rest where needed. Conversely, if you want to make it more involved, you can do more sets, more repetitions, or even do this as a Tabata, where you perform each exercise for twenty second rounds with ten seconds of rest between rounds. After eight rounds move onto the next exercise.
The workout as presented is focused more on endurance — performing work with little to no rest using resistance that allows you train for a goodly amount of time. One could just as easily use a much heavier mace and possibly drop the repetitions (say to 10) and rest as needed between exercises. I’m going for the endurance end of things for the moment with my mace because I only have the one mace and also because I already get in an adequate amount of heavier training.
I have noticed, and Marcus points this out in his video, that for some of the exercises you can make them easier by choking up on the mace or harder by gripping lower on the handle. For example, I found the Grave Diggers very easy with my 5 pound mace but when I gripped way down on the handle I immediately felt the movement a bit more in my forearms and hands. I imagine this would be magnified if one were using a heavier mace.
* All of the movements used in this workout are contained in Aubrey Marcus’ “Ultimate Steel Mace Workout” and Coach Vaughn’s, “Beginner Steel Mace Workout.”
** I like the names for many of the exercises. I find the whole “warrior” thing neat and names like “Grave Digger” and “Rebel Press” brings on delusions of grandeur which are always welcome. Where I think perhaps it goes a bit too far is when I am reading through comments of mace videos and people start debating the merits of using the steel mace and their concomitant training for home defense and the like, though perhaps if one’s domicile were besieged by hordes of Franks or rampaging Janissaries then they might have a point. One could at least give as good as they got!
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What would you say if I told you that there is a unique, custom-built, steel mace for sale in the United Kingdom that has been custom built by a professional wrestler? Well, you may think I am nuts or a crazy sports fan or something like that, but it is true. There is a unique, custom-built steel mace that is used by professional wrestlers to bring down opponents. Now you may not think that a professional wrestler could or would use one of these in a match, but they do. Many professional wrestlers have made them for their own use and to display amongst fans. So what is the difference between a normal steel mace, and a wrestler mace?In the real world, plenty of times exercises are never perfectly executed. You toss around the weights, make hundreds of repetitions, do hundreds of sets, and never get anything done that is going to give you that “paying off” feeling. With a steel mace workout, you have to balance your body in several unique, but extremely effective exercises. You balance yourself with a few hand holds, lifts, push ups, cleans, jerks, and even back raises. You also have to work at increasing your stamina through stamina exercises, high intensity cardio workouts, and circuit training workouts.Your entire body needs to be put into motion in order to build muscle, burn fat, and improve your overall stamina. A lot of people think that you need to do hundreds of reps and sets and lift heavy weights in order to get results, but that is completely wrong. The truth is that a steel mace workout is much more effective than just about any other exercise out there, because of the way it strengthens your entire body. If you want to get the most possible results, then consider adding this unique exercise routine to your regular workout routine.
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Adding some weights is a good way to make exercises you’ve started to master even harder. I’ve been thinking that in a month or two, I might need to go that route for some of my cardio routines. I am in favor of the macho names too. I find that some exercises with innocuous names (burpees, squats, lunges) are actually the hardest!
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That is true about innocuous names. I remember the first time I heard the term “burpees” many years before Crossfit made them popular and immediately thought, “Uh oh!” because I had seen this phenomenon before. To the uninitiated doing 50 “Grave Diggers” sounds hard but it is the burpees you gotta watch out for!
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Its true. 50 burpees could send someone to the ER unless they’ve been working out for a bit! 😀
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Heh, yes they could! 🙂 I saw a video a few years ago where someone was doing burpees and slipped and did a face plant on the concrete and if the looks of their face was any indication they had to go to the urgent care/emergency room. The guy was really fit looking too so you never know.
Fear the Mighty Burpee!
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Curious about the “5 pound thrift store steel mace”, where does that come from?
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I found mine at a second hand shop, which is why I call it what I do. I don’t know what brand mine is though it looked pretty much new when I bought it. I suspect someone bought it or got it as a gift and never used it.
I like going to the thrift store. It kind of reminds me of that old “Deep Space Nine” episode where Nog helps O’Brien get some part he needs by making a bunch of goofy trades and talking about the “Great Material Continuum” and how “the river provides if you navigate it with skill and grace.” I often think that about the thrift store. If you wait and keep your eyes open eventually almost everything makes it way to the place. Sometimes though, one wants something specific today and doesn’t want to navigate the river of supply and demand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treachery,_Faith,_and_the_Great_River
They are readily available on Amazon by searching for “steel mace” or “steel mace bell.” A company I keep hearing about when I read about maces is Onnit. I’ve heard good things about their products, though I have no idea first hand; only what I’ve heard online. The only bad thing I’ve heard about them is sometimes they are out of stock on things for a long time. There are tons of different places selling the things.
https://www.onnit.com/clubs-and-maces/
https://www.roguefitness.com/onnit-steel-maces
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=steel+mace+bell&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
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Thanks! I wasn’t sure if it was something you bought at a dollar store (that would be a serious find!) or something you maybe crafted. An actual “thrift store” makes sense though, and fitness equipment does seem to make it’s way there quite often as humans often change their minds about things. 😉
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Yes, getting something like that in a dollar store would indeed be one heck of a find! I remember selling a bunch of equipment years ago when we moved across the country. It wasn’t feasible to bring it with us; some of it I sure wish we had been able to keep.
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Very interesting workouts Ann, although attacking a home invader with a mace seems a bit overkill, unless they were zombies, then swing away ! LOL
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The mace is a lot of fun and along with the clubs allows for some very different things than what I’ve traditionally done with regular weights, and you are right about the zombies. By my reckoning you’d get a +3 to both attack and damage rolls using the steel mace against zombies. Only +1/+1 though with the indian clubs unless you can dual wield with proficiency, in which case I’d allow the full bonus. 😀
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