Club training is excellent for building a strong grip, developing healthy elbows, and creating durable shoulders.
Training with clubs and maces requires a different type of grip than traditional strength training.
When performing an exercise like a barbell deadlift, for example, we use something called a crush grip, applying maximum tension throughout the movement.
Club training, however, requires a different style of grip known as intelligent gripping. Intelligent gripping applies maximum tension at the heaviest part of the movement and a very light grip at the lightest part.
This loose-tight-loose-tight tension is used because club training challenges the wrist flexors like nothing else; using a crush grip continuously would fatigue the grip far too quickly.
Grip strength is one of the most overlooked aspects of strength training. Good grip strength is foundational for healthy shoulders and is essential for real-life activities. Everyday tasks like carrying shopping bags, sports such as rock climbing or wrestling, and foundational strength exercises like pull-ups, deadlifts, and rows all require solid grip strength.
For many people, grip strength is their weakest link, and improving it often leads to gains in other areas of training.
Most steel clubs have thick handles, which are effective for building forearm and grip strength, any exercise with a steel club automatically becomes a grip exercise. Even basic strength exercises like the torch press and flag press boost grip strength due to the uneven load.
Thanks to the dynamic nature of exercises like swipes, bullwhips, and mills, the forearm flexors and extensors are constantly challenged in a tight-loose-tight-loose pattern.
Skeletal Grip Strength vs. Muscular Grip Strength
Unlike kettlebells, dumbbells, and barbells, which have conventional handles that rest on the skeletal structure (pulling against the fingers or resting in the heel of the hand), swinging a steel club requires actively engaging the forearm flexors to grip the club as it tries to pull through the fingers.
