Ancient tools for modern strength that develop unmatched forearm, wrist, and grip strength. And let’s not forget about the development of your core and rotational power!

There are very few training tools that feel as raw and immediately effective as Indian clubs and maces. 

They might look odd: a long lever with weight at one end, but beneath that simplicity lies one of the most powerful systems of functional strength training you can experience. 

These tools are portable, durable and incredibly easy to bring anywhere, whether you travel with a small pair of clubs a heavy Gada in the trunk of your car.

Our journeys into mace and club training began by accident. In 2022, Eero purchased a steel mace just to play with something new. Back then, very few were using these tools in the Western world.

The effects truly surprised us. In just 30 days we started feeling shocking results, especially in our forearms and arms.

We still have the same clubs and maces from 2022, almost 4 years later. When you buy one (and they are not even very expensive), they will last forever and give you so much gains it's unbelievable.

A Surprising Shock to the System

The first video from 2022 — you can hear our excitement!

We had been training for over a decade by the time we picked up the mace. We were accustomed to lifting heavy weights, mastering bodyweight movements, practicing mobility, and developing functional strength. 

So, when we got into this style of training, we weren't expecting anything dramatic.

What happened instead genuinely shocked me.

After just a little bit of training, the wrists, forearms, and grip were completely cooked.

Not only fatigued but actually aching. We could feel the deep activation of small muscles we had never trained in isolation like this. It felt as if a whole new layer of strength and development inside the arms had been exposed.

The biggest surprise was how light the mace was. Six kilograms (13 pounds) is nothing compared to traditional lifts. Why would such a small load create such an intense response?

The answer is that it's all about the lever.

Why Levers Change Everything

With conventional weights, the mass is distributed evenly around your center of gravity. A barbell keeps the load symmetrical. Dumbbells align nicely with your body. Kettlebells add some offset weight but still behave like traditional resistance.

A mace or club is different.

All the weight is placed far from your hands at the end of a long handle. This creates a moment arm that multiplies the torque dramatically. Even a light weight becomes heavy when it’s swinging through space on a long lever.

That leverage demands:

This is why, even now, we still train regularly with the same weights with started with. The weight hasn’t changed—The relationship to it has. The leverage keeps the challenge alive.

Unmatched Forearm, Wrist, and Grip Development

One of the first benefits you notice, and you notice it fast, is the improvement in grip and forearm strength.

When you hold a mace or a heavy pair of clubs, even the tiniest tilt of the handle creates instability. Your wrist flexors, extensors, pronators and supinators must constantly adjust.

All the small stabilizing muscles activate at once!

If you grapple, wrestle, climb, or practice martial arts, this is a game-changer. My own forearm endurance in grappling used to fade quickly.

With mace and club training, that weakness began to vanish. I wasn’t just building maximum strength, I was building strength endurance which is one of the most functional attributes in real sports.

Holding onto strength for a long time is far more important than producing it once.

Read the article: Why you DESPERATELY need Strength Endurance!

The Hidden Engine: Core Strength & Stability

The clubs and mace truly target the arms and shoulders but the core is where the real magic happens.

Especially the mace forces your body to stabilize dynamically as the weight shifts around you. Every swing requires your transverse abdominis (your deepest abdominal muscle) to tighten like a corset. You also feel your obliques firing constantly.

And unlike machines or cables, the movement is fluid and athletic. The resistance changes constantly as the mace moves through space around you in 360 degrees.

This rotational quality is what makes maces and clubs so effective for:

When you swing a mace, you’re training the kinetic chain from the toes to the hips to the core to the shoulders.

It’s the same chain used in punching, golfing, throwing and even sprinting. This is real-world, functional power.

The Fluidity of Movement

Maces and clubs encourage a type of movement you won’t find in most gyms:
free-flowing, circular, rotational strength.

You can keep your body square or rotate naturally with the swing. With clubs, you can mimic the mechanics of throwing a ball, swinging a bat, or striking with a weapon.

You’re teaching your body to produce power through coordinated sequences rather than isolated muscles.

This is why ancient wrestlers and warriors loved these tools. They understood that real combat and real life are not symmetrical.

Objects are awkward. So are opponents. Weight shifts and resistance changes unpredictably.

Indian club and mace training prepares your body for this world and not the perfect symmetry of a barbell.

One of the most beautiful aspects of training with clubs and maces is that you don’t need to chase heavier and heavier weights.

You can build immense strength simply by:

A set of 50 to 100 swings is brutal. Not because of the load, but because of the constant demand on grip, coordination, and endurance.

Archaic Training Tools with Proven Results

This is true historical and ancient training with over 2,000 years of history. Indian wrestlers used the Gada (mace) as their primary strength tool for centuries. Persian warriors trained with heavy clubs to build endurance, functionality and power. 

These tools weren’t only recreational. They were essential for athletes preparing for battle or competition.

And thousands of years later, the effectiveness hasn’t changed, rather they are more important than ever.

What has changed is that modern athletes often overlook these tools because they seem unconventional.

But once you feel the effects... once you swing a mace and your entire body lights up, you realize exactly why ancient cultures relied on them so heavily.

Why You Should Start — And How Easy It Is

You don’t need a full gym.
You don’t need heavy weights.
You don’t need complex programming with periodized sets and reps.

A simple 5–6 kg (11-13 lbs) mace or a pair of lightweight clubs can transform your training.

Just start with:

— Within days, you’ll feel the difference in your grip and forearms.
— Within weeks, you’ll feel it in your entire body.
— Within months, you’ll develop a level of functional strength that conventional training rarely offers.

This is why I believe mace and club training should go mainstream and not remain a niche practice. Anyone can benefit from it, from beginners to advanced athletes. This is what we recommended to UFC Champion Jiri Prochazka.

A System Built on Ancient Wisdom

Over the past three years, we’ve combined these ancient methods with modern research to build a complete system: The Iron King Method. 

Iron King Method a comprehensive methodology that integrates:

The goal is simple:
To forge an iron-strong, resilient, functional body.

If you want to learn this system and experience the power of these tools yourself, you can start at IronKingMethod.com

Stay strong.