Steel Mace Training: A World of Rotation

What you have to understand about swinging a Steel Mace is that it’s more than just what goes on above the chest. I find that a lot of newcomers to Mace swinging don’t realize this and this is something that took me a long time to learn. My hope is that you can learn from my mistakes and rapidly improve your Mace Swinging.

I began swinging the mace about 4 years ago. In my mind it was about muscling this thing around my head and over the shoulder. Boy was I absolutely wrong. Some of my early swings did damage to my shoulders that I’m probably still paying for today and I deeply regret.

Shoulder mobility is obviously important and the Steel Mace Swings can be broken down into various components that should be practiced alone to improve your swings.

But why is rotation important? Well my friends, all of the universe is made up of rotational or spiral patterns. Galaxies, Solar Systems, DNA spirals, your ear, numerous shells in the ocean create spiral formations. Our strongest winds are formed in spirals, from Tornadoes to Hurricanes. They are powerful and forceful.

Steel Mace Training
So check this out. Our body is made up of spiral lines which transfer forces from the ground to our extremities. Why do you thing we Swing opposite arm and leg? Why do you think we wind up in a corkscrewing type manner before throwing a pitch, or a football? We create tension in a spiral before forcefully unloading to swing at a pitch or a golf ball. This is how we generate power.

But not only that, these spiral interactions through the body create our stability and give us structure to keep us erect. Why do you think the baby’s first pattern is learning to roll over?

We place them on their stomach and wait for them to lift their head strengthening their erectors, and turn side to side to begin rotation… then once they roll we know they have gained enough engagement in rotation to begin crawling or at least scooting around. These crawls then give them strength in opposition spiral patterning to start practicing standing upright.

So, when prepping for a rotational movement like the Steel Mace 360, I like to work both my spiral patterning as well as in the transverse plane of stabilization prior. This is one way I movement prep for Steel Mace Training. The demands for stability as well as rotational sequencing is huge. Coordinating this is challenging for most people. Using rotational patterning can give valuable feedback to the body, which can improve output of the core movement or exercise.

Steel Mace Training
I also like to use the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag in order to open my shoulders while creating stability and activation through the hips and deep abdomen. This movement has been one of the single most useful activities of late, that has dramatically improved my Mace Swinging. Well, that and Yoga of course. 

Anyhow, all you need is maybe 3 or 4 rounds of 3 or so reps of each movement for good rotational activation.

Leave a Comment

Shopping Basket
Total
1
Share