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. Also, you can use a lighter or heavier implement, if you have one.
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!
