What Beginner Macebell Exercises Should You Start With?

A macebell is a brilliant piece of equipment to add to your home gym if you want to improve your movement while also building strength. 

In case you’re unfamiliar with a macebell, it is a round weight on the end of a long pole. The idea is that using this piece of equipment challenges your balance and therefore your stabilising muscles.

Macebells are also incredible for building up your grip strength, which means you will definitely feel it in your forearms and hands when you start training with this piece of kit. 

What exercises should you start with as a beginner macebell user?

Before you think about swinging your macebell around (tempting though that may be), you need to understand the mechanics of how your body moves with it. 

Back and forth passes

This means the best place to begin is by holding the end of the handle and simply passing the macebell back and forth between your hands.

This might sound simple, but it will start to give you an idea of how the weight feels when you’re holding it and show you how having the weight at the end of a pole alters how your body moves while using it. 

360 degree macebell swings

Once you’ve got used to the weighting of your macebell, you can progress to 360 degree swings. This particular exercise requires a lot of thought, so take your time and break the movement down into stages until you are comfortable.  

Switch curl with a lunge

For this exercise, you move the mace side to side with control, while also moving your body in a lateral lunge. You start with the mace held horizontally, with one hand by the head (weight) and the other at the end of the handle. 

From here, you straighten the arm that’s holding the head of the mace and step into a lateral lunge with the opposite leg to your straightened arm. Return to the central, stable position, switch sides with the macebell and repeat. 

What size macebell should I start with?

If you’re new to macebell training, it’s best to start with a lighter weight so you can get used to the movement patterns before you increase the load. 

The general advice is to start with a macebell that weighs 4–5kg. It’s important to note that the weight is all in the ball of the macebell. Regardless of what size macebell you choose, the handle will always weigh the same.

That means when you opt for heavier macebell weights, you can find that it feels like a bigger leap than it might with a similar progression with kettlebells or dumbbells. 

Although you might be keen to start using a heavier weight, it’s best to get used to the movement patterns with a macebell with a lighter weight than you think you’ll need. Trust us when we say this will feel more challenging than you think – even if you’re used to training with heavier weights. 

What muscle groups do macebells work?

Macebell workouts predominantly target three main groups of muscles:

• The core
• Shoulders
• Arms

That said, training with a macebell is a full-body workout because it will also force your posterior chain (the muscles that stabilise the back side of your body) and your legs to work pretty hard too. 

Given that many of us could benefit from strengthening our posterior chains, the macebell is a good piece of equipment to introduce to your workouts. 

But let’s look in more detail at how the macebell works on the three main muscle groups we’ve identified. 

The core

Your core works hard to stabilise you when you’re working with an isometric weight like a macebell and this means it provides a workout that reaches all the muscles in your core from your obliques to your transverse and rectus abdominus muscles. 

When you are carrying out weighted rotations, you need your core to be switched on to give you the power and strength to make the movement while remaining balanced. 

Shoulders

As soon as you lift the macebell overhead and swing it, you’re engaging all the parts of your shoulders. Because the movement is a swing, your shoulders rotate to bring the weight around your body.

This means the exercises you do with your macebell will get into your deltoids, rotator cuff and scapular stabilising muscles. If you have stiffness in your shoulders, training with a macebell is an excellent way to improve your range of movement.

Arms

The muscles further down your arms are also working hard when you’re using a macebell, particularly those in your wrists and forearms, which help stabilise the macebell as you move. Your biceps and triceps will also kick in depending on the specific movement pattern you’re executing.