O.k, guys… today I’m going to break down the steel club mill in as much detail as I can because I know when I first started clubbell training finding information on how to perform this exercise properly was tough.
Steel club mills is a fundamental clubbell exercise and one of the most important when it comes to club training.
Just as the swing is to the kettlebell, if you get good at the swing then you can perform all of the other ballistic movements such as the high pull, clean and snatch.
With the mace you’ll want to get good at the 360 so you perform the other macebell swinging movements.
And… So it is with the club, get good at milling and you’ll get good at all the other circular shoulder strength movements.
Progressions
The progressions we use with heavy club training is…
- Two hands (two hands on one club)
- Single arm (one hand, one club)
- Double arm (two hands, two clubs)
So… When you’re starting off you’ll want to begin with the two handed mill, then progress to the single club mill then the double club mill.
Two Handed Mill
Mills are essentially two exercises combined.
The first part of the exercise is a 180 swing, the 2nd part is an arm cast.
- Start in the right guard position.
- Rotate thoracic to the left.
- Cast the club away from the body, lock the elbow and keep shoulders down and packed.
- Charge your bodyweight as the club moves across the mid-line.
- Keep your chest facing the club.
- Draw the club to the body and perform an arm cast.
- Cast the club away again.
Mills vs Reverse mills
O.k… so there are a couple different ways to perform the single mill.
You have the mill, and the reverse mill.
The easiest way to think about this is with tennis.. You have the forehand and the backhand.
The forehand goes across the mid-line and is generally stronger… and the backhand moves away from the mid-line and is not so strong.
Or… another example would be boxing where you have the cross moving across the mid-line and the backhand which moves away from the mid-line.
Single Mill
The trick with performing heavy club mills are elbow circles. Many beginners struggle with mills because they don’t understand how the elbow powers the movement. The movement comes from the elbow, not the hand… the hand is just holding the weight.
With the mill you’ll be performing an inside circle with the elbow, and with the reverse mill you’re performing outside circles with the elbow.
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