Squat Press with 10kg Steel Clubs

Steel Club Training: Best Steel Club Exercises.

Steel Club Training: Steel Club Exercises

The best exercises to perform with Steel Clubs are ones that are well planned, well executed and performed in terms of your short term and long term goals. Safe and effective steel club workouts can increase power, muscular strength and muscular endurance depending on: the exercises selected, the order of the exercises and weight loads that are used.

Our Steel Club Training Videos can be found HERE.

 

How do I Start Steel Club Training? Evaluate Movement.

The Beauty and The Beast of the Steel Club is the uneven weight distribution which makes it a versatile and effective training tool but also makes it potentially risky to an unfamiliar first-time user. Be cautious and understand that a 2kg Steel Club will bring much different demands to your training task than a 2kg dumbbell or kettlebell.

Below is an excerpt from our discussion with Tania Vrga. Check out the full discussion here for more in-depth insight on how you might bring Steel Clubs and other unconventional training tools into your training.

We have an assessment that we do to evaluate shoulder mobility, overhead position and thoracic mobility. If I pick up a Steel Club that is too heavy and my technique and mobility are poor, I could end up in a situation where I might aggravate my wrists,  shoulders, elbows or strain lats, triceps and add undue stress on my spine.
We will check if a client can perform movements such as a kettlebell Halo  to make sure that the client has an understanding of how important mobility is before we start working with a Steel Club of any weight.
We also assess and evaluate spinal mechanics.
Are you able to hinge at the hips to bend over to pick something up in a safe manner?
 It's the same way we teach kettlebells: it's going to be how you pick it up, and how do you put it back down. The main considerations are body awareness, shoulder mobility, thoracic mobility and awareness when it comes to spinal mechanics.

Load Your Basic Movement Patterns 

Steel Club Workouts for beginners should not be started with considerations of how capable you are with barbells or dumbbells. The Steel Club is designed differently and it will require a different application of  muscular strength and muscular endurance.

The squat, press (vertical and horizontal), the pull (vertical and horizontal), the hinge and gait (loaded carries) can be loaded with Steel Club giving careful consideration to how the uneven weight distribution will increase the demands of these movements. However, starting with some grip strength training might be a low-risk and high-reward activity that will develop awareness, strength and a sense of achievement that will build capacity for the steel club workouts to come.

Here is an example of a Steel Club carry with the weight distributed behind the user. A 6kg Steel Club is used here because this particular user has more strength in this position to keep the wrist neutral while carrying it.

Loaded Carry with Steel Clubs

Here is an example of a Steel Club carry with the weight distributed in front of the user. A 4kg Steel Club is used here because this particular user has less strength in this position (relative to the instance above) to keep the wrist neutral while carrying it.

Please let us know if you have introduced Steel Clubs into your training. Please contact us at anytime with questions or feedback ! #jointheclub

 

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