What Is Steel Mace Training? Basics and Benefits

Steel mace training is the essence of functional training. It improves overall athletic performance and offers great benefits to your body.

A steel mace, also called a macebell, is a type of strength-training equipment. It is a long metal rod that is capped with a weighted ball. It comes in a variety of lengths and weight loads.

A steel mace provides an unbalanced and asymmetrical weight that is different from other forms of strength training tools.

Steel maces aren’t that common in standard gyms but are still gaining tremendous popularity in the fitness space. If you are lucky enough to have them in your gym, you can add steel mace training to your workout routine once or twice a week to start gaining benefits.

You can use steel maces in place of kettlebells and dumbbells to enhance instability throughout basic exercises, including lunges and squats. However, it is important to remember that the benefits of steel mace come alive with exercises that have swinging and rotational movements.

So, what makes steel mace training so unique?

Steel mace training allows your body to challenge both your stability and strength with lighter loads. This means it puts less stress on your joints and acts as a great alternative to heavier lifting.

Plus, using steel maces will help increase your joint mobility and also strengthen and build muscles.

---

Benefits of steel mace training

Incorporating steel mace training into your workout routine will likely provide several benefits, including:

1) Better grip strength

Though grip strength is often ignored in most fitness routines, it is very important for everything you do. It is a combination of forearm, finger and hand strength, and helps you with daily activities.

Since steel mace training requires swinging movements and uneven distribution of weight, it can potentially improve your grip strength and enhance your overall functional fitness.

---

2) It allows continuous movements

Steel mace is among a few tools that improve all three planes of motion (sagittal, coronal and transverse) in just a single exercise.

Steel mace training allows you to engage your body to perform powerful movements and activates new forces through consistent moves.

---

3) Strong and strengthened shoulders

Your shoulders are the least stable joints in your body and also the most susceptible to injuries and pain.

When you experience shoulder pain, even basic exercises such as pull-ups, push-ups and dips can become extremely challenging and painful. To enhance your shoulder stability and strength, you can add steel mace training to your routine.

Using a steel mace in the right form, you can increase the strength of your shoulder muscles as well as the strength of the connective tissues surrounding your shoulder joints.

---

4) Improves core strength

Several steel mace training workouts use cross-body rotational swinging moves that require great core engagement, particularly of your obliques and glutes.

The uneven distribution of weight along the steel mace requires core activation to control the equipment. The result is a great oblique and core workout that enhances your overall core strength and stability.

---

5) Improved cardiovascular health

Swinging and rotating the steel mace for an extended period of time helps boost your heart rate, resulting in improved cardiovascular health.

---

6) It acts as a total body workout

Steel mace acts as a whole-body workout. Like dumbbells, various steel mace exercises such as switching forward lunges or climber squats work as part of a lower-body strength training workout. Similarly, the swinging movements involved in steel mace training can increase heart rate and benefit cardiovascular health.

The key to achieving these benefits, however, is to maintain a proper form. Hence, it is always ideal to work with a trainer and master the movements before starting a steel mace training session.

---

Summary

Steel maces are the perfect equipment for developing strength and functional fitness. They offer a variety of exercises and help to keep your muscles and joints engaged.

Incorporate steel mace into your workouts to see if the training is right for you. Just remember to start with a light mace and make sure to use it correctly. Don’t put too much tension on your joints.