4 Tips for Swinging Your Steel Mace: How do you swing your steel mace safely?

 4 Tips for Swinging Your Steel Mace

We are very happy that Coach Harbert "Heartbeats" Egberts "The Flowing Dutchman" was kind enough to share his writing with us on this topic. 

The Flowing Dutchman was getting this question a lot, and it’s a good question. He even made a  Steel Mace exercise training tutorial on YouTube for this. We have included the link below.

Learning how to safely swing your Steel Mace is an evolving process that will require consistent focus on your training in terms mobility, strength and overall fitness. Being aware of these factors (and their changing nature) is essential in Steel Mace training.

Assessments should be performed prior to your Steel Mace Training to ensure you understand the capacity and limitations of your mind and body on that day. Our abilities are different session-to-session and we should be aware of this so we can train safely.

How to avoid back pain when swinging a mace?

I have had some back pain in the past when swinging a Steel Mace, and I know I’m not the only one who experienced it. This is especially true if you like to go up in weight. When I bought my 8kg Steel Mace (after my first 4kg mace) I got pain in my back after a lot of swings. There are a few points I’d like to discuss in order to prevent back pain from occurring when training with a mace.

#1 Weight & Technique. It’s really important that you choose wisely when buying your first mace or when buying a heavier mace. Without proper technique you will strain your back muscles. - or worse.  Improper technique leads to a heavy drop when you swing the mace behind you. Especially if the mace is too heavy for you.

#2 Mobility. Mobility is very important with a mace. Mobility refers to the ability to move and load in a certain range of motion of the joint. If you’re unable to reach behind your body, you will use other parts of your body to compensate for the lack of mobility in your shoulders and lats.

#3 Back Tightness. If your back is already tight, swinging a mace might possibly overload the back muscles. It is therefore necessary to make sure your back is supple and mobile before you start your training. A warm up with mobility exercises is great to achieve this. In the YouTube video, I perform a few exercises you can do to loosen up the back.

#4 Position of the back. The position of especially the low back does matter. It is necessary to tuck the hips to a certain extend in order to prevent the low back muscles from firing directly. A lot of people have an overly arched low back and for them it’s important to take into account the tucking of the hips.

Watch the full Youtube video HERE

How can you find Coach Harbert "Heartbeats" Egberts ?

Instragram: @the.flowing.ducthman  <- Click

YouTube:  The Flowing Dutchman <- Click

Website https://functionalharbeats.com/