One of the most frequently injured areas of the body is the shoulder area because is the weakest joint in the entire body.
Injury prevention is key, and this is one of the most effective tools to prevent shoulder injury.
There are many exercises like ‘‘360‘‘ which will increase flexibility and mobility while simultaneously improving the strength of the muscles and connective tissue surrounding the shoulder joint.
After months of practice, you will have the mobility in your shoulders that most overhead sports or MMA professionals strive for day in and day out.
2. STRONG STABILIZER MUSCLES
Stabilizer muscles distribute the work of training and movement throughout our bodies instead of placing all the stress on one or two primary movers/joints.
If stabilizers are weak, you risk creating muscle imbalances. Stabilizing muscles is crucial for sports performance and ability to take pressure on joints (think pretty much every full-contact sport).
3. GRIP STRENGTH OF THOR
When was the last time you focused on building your grip strength? Do you dedicate enough time to working on your forearms and grip?
Perhaps one of the most useful things you can do that will impact your entire life is to improve your grip strength. You use your grip every single day from picking anything up, to opening that jar of pickles to carrying your groceries inside.
The non-proportional weight distribution of the Mace combined with swinging motions requires an extra strong grip. Since Mace training often is comprised of repetitive movements your grip strength will continue to improve as the weeks and months pass.
4. MULTI-PLANAR MOVEMENTS
The mace engages forces and activates new ones through purposeful multi-planar movement. This is one of few tools that can work you through all 3 planes of motion in one exercise or complete movement.
The ability to effectively channel and absorb force is what healthy, performance-based movement is all about. Without a focus on all three dimensions of the body, this skill is incomplete.
5. WORK THE TRANSVERSE PLANE: INCREASED CORE ROTATIONAL STRENGTH
The uneven weight distribution of the Macebell activates your core in order to keep the Mace under control while performing swinging motions. Many Mace movements entail cross-body swinging movements that activate and engage the core, especially the obliques.
One of the key factors in transverse training is that you will be more resilient to injury. Your core is your foundation and is the most crucial component of sports performance at it’s highest level.
A strong core = longevity.
Training in the transverse plane will help you to build a strong core and the ability to accelerate and decelerate at the drop of a dime – super important for athletes.
The Warrior’s Way!
Warriors had to be extremely powerful and resilient through every muscle, joint and fiber of their body.
Warriors would be twisting and turning while holding a heavy load (a weapon) throughout the battle. They used heavy tools in practice. They needed incredible stability, rotational strength, and muscle endurance. They needed to be able to accelerate and decelerate with loaded weight. They needed balance, coordination and kinesthetic awareness. They needed to have strong, mobile joints.
Modern day athletes and weightlifters need the same thing. Injury resilience is one of the most important aspects of fitness. To do this, we can look back to how these warriors trained, and we can look to modern day fighters like UFC athletes. What tools do they use? What training methods do they implement?
Our favorite tool to accomplish remarkable injury resilience is the mace.
6. CORE STABILITY AND BALANCE & COORDINATION
Just as it’s good for rotational work. it’s an amazing tool for anti-rotational work. Which can directly apply to sports in terms of stability and the ability to be hit or take force from one side while maintaining balance.
The offset weight, again similar to unilateral training, will drastically improve your balance and coordination, something many conventional weightlifting athletes are missing as they mostly train in the sagittal and frontal plane with an even weight distribution (squats, deadlifts and bench). However, that’s not to say most conventional athletes don’t do moves like split squats or lunges, however, using an unconventional tool like the mace will really challenge and take your balance and coordination to the next level.
7.CARDIOVASCULAR CONDITIONING – METABOLIC TRAINING
By swinging the Mace or performing other movements during a set period of time will boost your heart rate dramatically resulting in improved cardiovascular output.
8. TOTAL BODY STRENGTHENING + MUSCLE ENDURANCE.
Exercises and movements using the Mace are almost entirely compound movements that engage multiple muscle groups within the same movement.
Here is the perfect example and it’s not a movement that most would consider “full-body” but it is when you are using a weight like and form like that.
9.UNILATERAL TRAINING – CORRECT MUSCLE IMBALANCES
The mace can help fix any imbalances you might have.
Training with a unilateral weight like the macebell will keep your dominant side from assisting your weaker side. That is the purpose of functional training and what athletes focus on day in and day out.
By SignaturefitroomAdmin
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