Primal Exercises and Movements: Part 1

The Steel Club: history, benefits, and how to use them

Enter any gym today and you’ll find the usual suspects of strength training- a squat rack, platform, bench, rack of dumbbells, and cardio equipment. 

Sometimes, you might even see an area that resembles a cross-training facility with turf, battle ropes, and medicine balls.

While the above are common at boutique gyms throughout cities, I recently encountered a tool that I’ve never seen in either place: a steel club. And at a hotel gym to boot!

I picked it up, like a chimp picking up a shiny new object for the first time, and observed it. I’ve never actually held one, only seen one on social media every now and then. I was surprised as to how heavy it was, even though it had “5 lbs” marked on it. There was no way, I thought. 

Then, like any good chimp, I started swinging it and doing whatever my body felt called to do with it. And what would you know, I had a great workout from it! My shoulders and back were sore the next day and I thought, “damn, I need to get me one of these” (I now have 2).

While swinging the clubs at the hotel gym, I felt badass - There’s no other way to put it. I entered a flow state with them as if I was meant to swing heavy objects around my head.

Why wouldn’t I be built for this though? Our ancestors, probably much further back than has been recorded, have been swinging blunt instruments to secure their survival.

It got me thinking about how it would be cool to look at the not-so-common tools we can use for exercise today, beyond the traditional stuff you find in gyms.

History of the steel club

As I mentioned above, swinging heavy, blunt instruments likely goes further back than has ever been recorded. As in our caveman ancestors swinging heavy sticks in battle or while hunting. 

The steel clubs of today, however, and their shape, are a modern variation of a tool that descends from ancient India and Persia and was used thousands of years ago. Back then, they were made of wood, but shaped in such a way that the weight was offset-loaded. This means that the bulk of the club's weight is further away from the handle, making it difficult to stabilize and control.

Exercising and training with clubs enhanced our ancestors’ overall endurance, strength, and speed, especially in their upper body. This came in when handling ancient weapons like swords or spears, where the business end of the weapon was typically further from the handle.

Why you should train with a steel club

The day after I swung clubs around at the hotel gym, my arms, shoulders, and back were pretty sore. Clearly, it wasn’t from the weight, since each club was only 5 lbs! Rather, it was from moving in a way I’ve never moved before.

My new 15 lb steel clubs

As you can see from the shape, most of the weight of the club is further away from the handle. This makes it feel so much heavier than say, a dumbbell, where the same weight is neatly distributed on both sides of your hand.

This makes swinging a steel club a great builder of grip strength. Think of it as being similar to a kettlebell, but slightly more advanced. At various points in steel club exercises, such as when the club is furthest from your body, your hands have to work extra hard to make sure the weight doesn’t go flying out of your hands (Maddie asked me to stop swinging my new clubs in the parking lot for fear that I’d send it through a car window).

One of the most common injuries you see as people get older is the loss of overhead mobility. Another main benefit of the club, and the reason I was drawn to it, is its ability to increase shoulder strength, mobility, and endurance. That’s especially attractive to me as a bowhunter. I want to have strong, healthy shoulders for as long as possible to allow me to bow hunt into my old age.

The problem is, most exercises you can do at a gym for your shoulders are limited to overhead or lateral movements. The steel club injects the ability to do rotational movements to keep your shoulders mobile and fluid in their full range of motion.

Last but not least, the steel club injects one crucial, yet most often forgotten piece of movement into your arsenal: rotation.

Think about it… The overhead press, squat, deadlift, bench press, lunge, pull-up… All STELLAR exercises that everyone should do… None of them have you rotating the core of your body in an explosive manner. Have you ever seen your parents throw out their backs by moving too fast? Shoot, since turning 30, I sometimes wake up with a stiff back or neck. This is because we humans no longer move and rotate our core as we are supposed to.

When you are swinging steel clubs, especially the heavier they are, your core needs to work extremely hard to not only swing the club but decelerate the motion in a controlled fashion. This explosion and deceleration is the key reason why steel club exercises are so vital and unique to anything else.

Incorporating steel clubs

Take action: Get swinging! I recently found a pair of 15 lb clubs and a steel mace for $100 total. I was so convinced of their benefits after working out with them at the hotel gym 2 weeks ago that I didn’t hesitate to find some for sale. Onnit has some on their website too if you can’t find any for sale locally!

My advice would be to start lighter than you think. The 15 lb clubs I got are really heavy, and I did it because they were a good deal but I probably should have got 5 or 10 lb ones to start. They’re that effective! 

I don’t fully know what I’m doing with them yet and look rather clumsy right now, but I’m confident the skills are going to pick up as I get the hang of the clubs. Either way, it’s fun to try something new in your workout routine. Especially when that new thing isn’t a gimmick and has a long history of use.

As someone who likes jiu-jitsu and shooting a bow, I’m going to be doing some kind of club work every day for my grip and shoulders. I’m confident the benefits are going to be long-term for my overall health. 

Would you all be interested in a YouTube video that shows how I’m using the clubs? Or more articles geared toward “primal movement patterns”? Let me know what you think in the comments!

Sebastian