9 Best Steel Mace Workouts (Improved Mobility & Strength)

The 10-to-2 is another basic steel mace exercise used by Gada swingers since the tool's creation.

It will activate muscles similar to the mace 360 exercises while following the same movement pattern.

How to Perform the 10-To-2

1. Start by stacking your hands near your navel.
2. The mace should be kept at the vertical front.
3. Assume a feet hip-width stance with your hips and keep your back flat.
4. Start the exercise by swinging the mace over your shoulder at 10 o'clock with your hands right over the left.
5. Don't flare your elbows while also keeping your ribs tucked.
6. Keep your hands low behind your head on the swing's back part.
7. Pull the mace over your right shoulder when it reaches the opposite side, and use momentum to help you.
8. Pause the mace when it reaches the 2 o'clock position and swing it back to the starting position.

3. Joust With Lunge

Joust with lunge is a great combination of upper and lower body movements that will teach your body to use the forward momentum to strengthen the joust.

How to Perform Joust With a Lunge

1. The starting position is with your mace sideloaded to your right side.
2. The hand close to your head should face up, and the other should be further down the handle facing down.
3. Start the exercise by lunging forward with the left foot, all while keeping your back flat as with the normal forward lunge.
4. Finish the movement by jousting the mace forward and returning to the starting position.
5. Repeat with the other leg or do one leg for a certain amount of reps before switching to the other leg.

Also Read: How To Do A Curtsy Lunge Correctly

The dynamic lunge is an excellent exercise to make your lower body steel mace training more versatile and less boring.

It will activate muscles such as your glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, and necessary wrist and arm muscles to turn the mace around.

How to Perform a Dynamic Lunge

1. Assume a standing position where your hips are shoulder-width apart and mace hanging from your hands.
2. Start the exercises by horizontal rotation of the mace so its upper end finishes on the opposite side, looking horizontally.
3. After the rotation of the mace is complete, proceed with the forward lunge with the right leg.
4. Return to the start by pushing your left foot off the ground.
5. Again, rotate the mace on the opposite side and proceed with the lunge with your left leg.

Read More: 6 Side Lunges Stretches

5. Single Arm 360

Single arm 360 is a unilateral version of the basic mace 360 exercises. It will make the whole movement more challenging by requiring your trunk to stabilize the whole body without rotating or twisting to the side to compensate for the movement.

How to Perform a Single-Arm 360

1. Start by stacking hands at the level of your navel, the same you would do with Mace 360.
2. Remove your top hand from the mace and keep the mace vertical and centered at the navel level.
3. Start the exercise by performing a 360 with the same cues you would go with both hands.
4. Pause and repeat once you reach the starting exercise position.
5. Do the desired reps with one hand before switching to the other.

Half-kneeling uppercut press uses the same movement pattern as the cable lift exercise.

The muscles working are also almost the same, but the activation with the mace is slightly different due to the nature of free weight.

How to Perform a Half-Kneeling Uppercut Press

1. Assume a half-kneeling position.
2. During the whole movement, keep your back flat in the physiological position.
3. Side-load the mace and ensure its head is facing backward. Your hands should be facing in.
4. Keep the hand near the mace head in the linear part while pressing it up.
5. This causes the effect of your opposite hand being in alignment with your ear.
6. Press the hand near the mace head towards the sky and ensure your bicep is aligned with your ear on the working side.
7. Repeat on the same side after returning slowly to the starting position.

Also Read: Half-knee Quad Stretch for Tight Muscles

7. Lunge With Uppercut Press

Lunge with uppercut press is an ideal combination of upper and lower body movements that will activate the muscles of your whole body.

The main muscles working in the lower body are the gluteus, hamstrings, and quadriceps, while the upper body primarily works to produce movement using bodyweight.

How to Perform a Lunge With an Uppercut Press

1. Assume a stance where your feet are hip-width apart.
2. Put the mace in the side loaded-position with its head facing backward.
3. Your hands must be facing in.
4. Start the exercise by stepping forward into a lunge with the foot opposite the side of the mace loaded.
5. This is followed by stepping forward into a lunge with the alternating leg while pressing the mace up at the same time.
6. Press the hand near the mace and head towards the sky.
7. Press the biceps near your ear on the working side too.
8. Step forward, and so you alternate the forward leg, and return the mace to the starting position.

Single arm 10-to-2 is a unilateral variation that will force your stabilizer muscles to get activated.

It will impact your shoulder's range of motion and develop the necessary strength to complete the circumduction movement without spending too much energy.

How to Perform a Single Arm 10-To-2

1. Repeat the starting position from a single arm 360 exercise.
2. Remove your top hand from the mace.
3. Holding the mace in your right hand, you must swing it over your left shoulder at 10 o'clock.
4. When the mace reaches behind your back, use the momentum to pull the mace over at 2 o'clock.
5. Grab the mace with the other hand and repeat the whole process.

9. Lateral Lunge

Lateral lunge coupled with the rotation of the mace will build dynamic stabilization in the frontal plane and make the regular lunge more challenging.

How to Perform a Lateral Lunge

1. Assume a wider stance than shoulder-width apart.
2. Start the exercises by performing a lateral lunge to the opposite side of the mace head.
3. Extend your arm toward the ground during the lateral lunge.
4. Curl the mace in a straight motion back to the horizontal bottom when returning to the starting position.
5. Lastly, perform a front switch and repeat the movement on the other side.

The dangerously fit steel maces, also known as mace bell, are solid steel training tools that can be used for a variety of exercises. With feet hip-width apart, they provide a great training tool for movements like the barbarian squat with light weight.

You should use the steel mace to develop mobility and strength at your shoulder joint.

However, the core plays a major part in improving and stabilizing the whole movement, so the exercises for mass that target the glute muscles, abdominal and back, will also be developed.

Even though the steel mace isn't the best equipment for hypertrophy training, you can get ahead by implementing the principles of progressive overload [1].

It means changing the overall volume by reps, sets, or external resistance by every following steel mace workout session.

You should aim to complete every exercise through the full range of motion to avoid injuries and build strength in the whole movement. 

Later, you can experiment with a partial range of motion [2].

Steel mace makes a category of free weight, making it much better than machines for developing your stabilizer muscles [3].

Finally, steel maces are excellent for developing the mobility and strength of your upper limbs, strengthening your core and stabilizer muscles [4].

"Steel mace training will make you a better mover without it’s not confining you to a fixed space or predetermined range of motion. Second, it’s an offset load with 80 to 90 percent of the weight in the head. You’re also constantly having to resist rotation, which creates greater core engagement."

- Jesse Grund, Elite Personal Trainer & Owner of Unconventional Strength Training Studio in Orlando