Mace Review: As Rambo requested when I mentioned ordering 10- and 15-pound Indian maces, here is a review after training with them for a month. As it turns out, I am pleased I ordered them. In practice, they are a leverage bell. (Some people call them "macebells.") The basic mace exercise involves raising the mace over your head and shoulder and swinging it behind your back and bringing it up over the opposite shoulder. There are two similar variants known as the 360 and the 10-2. (These moves are illustrated in any number of YouTube videos.) This is an excellent way to work your shoulders, upper back and core, but even more your forearms and grip. The further down the handle you grip the mace, the more challenging the exercise. I can now do the classic moves with some fluidity and perform a reasonable number of swings with the 10-pounder gripping it near the bottom of the handle. The 15-pounder is still very ponderous unless I grip it close to the head, where the move becomes similar to a kettlebell halo. I note that I am finding kettlebell haloes much easier since I started training with the mace.
As for other suggested exercises with the mace, I don't find them very challenging with the 15-pounder. Perhaps with a heavier mace and high reps they may be more beneficial.
When it comes to tire-bashing, I am definitely going to stick with sledgehammers. The smooth, narrower handle of the sledge seems preferable to the thick, lightly knurled handle of the Onnit maces. For performing diagonal blows on the tire, there's not much practical difference between the mace and the sledgehammer. However, when pounding the tire with overhead blows (as if driving a stake), the longer handle of the mace wants to punch me in the groin area, which obviously I don't want it to do.
In summary, the maces strike me as worthwhile additions to my home gym, providing me with new challenges and variety in training. They are not very expensive and take up little room. Would I want the mace as my sole piece of fitness equipment or make it the centerpiece of my training regimen? No. Am I glad I got the maces? Yes.
I note that some proponents of the mace claim that when Alexander the Great's army reached India, they found the Indian warriors bigger and stronger than any men they had previously faced, presumably because of their mace training. I studied the campaigns of Alexander pretty extensively in graduate school, and I didn't remember any such thing. Our four major sources on Alexander are Arrian, Plutarch, Quintus Curtius Rufus and Diodorus Siculus. I re-read the accounts of these authors on Alexander's Indian campaigns, and there was nothing of that sort in there...but perhaps it does appear in some other ancient author. The only mention of the Indians' physiques I could find was in Arrian's Indica where he says that the Indians in general were on the skinny side.
On a final note, I have been pronouncing the Indian term for the mace "gah-dah." We recently had a Punjabi visitor who pronounced it "g'duh"...if that's of any interest.
Jan Libourel
Can you direct me to good Indian club workouts? I would like to add them to my routine. Thank you.
Grand Potentate
: please explain this Keto thing to me. Is it all about percentages or is portion control still a factor? Does it distinguish between different types of fats? How can I go so long without shitting when all I’m eating is fat and protein??