Written by Sam Coleman | Co-founder
Fact checked by Kirsten Yovino, CPT Brookbush Institute
FACT CHECKED
Whether you are short on time, you hate traditional cardio like running, you want to switch things up, or you simply love steel mace training, this 15 Minute Steel Mace Cardio Workout will be perfect for you.
Workout type: AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible)
Equipment: 10LB Steel Mace (7LB will be better for some people)
Time: 15 minutes total
Target: Cardiovascular Health, Endurance, Burn Calories
Purpose: This workout is designed to be a quick and effective cardio session or a finisher for those with a more advanced fitness level.
Structure: 20 seconds each exercise. AMRAP in 15 mins. Switch sides each round.
Note: For some of the exercises, you will need to remember to target the other side every other round. Don’t worry if when you finish one side was worked for one extra round. It’s completely fine. Push yourself to the last second.
Warm up: Make sure you warm up before this workout. Take 5 minutes to do a dynamic warm up that targets each joint complex and gets your blood flowing and body temperature up, as to avoid injury and prepare you for the workout.
15 Minute Steel Mace Cardio Workout
If you push yourself to the limit, this workout will be pretty brutal. You will be moving non-stop for the entire 15 minutes, and most of these exercises are intense.
If you need to rest, then rest. But make your rest time quick and then continue where you left off. Keep pushing yourself for the entire 15 minutes if you want to achieve maximum cardiovascular, endurance and fat burning results.
The goal is to not let your heart rate drop below 60-85 percent of your maximum heart rate for the entire workout.
Remember, 20 seconds for each exercise, then move to the next exercise and continue like this without stopping (only rest when needed) for the entire 15 minutes. Switch sides with each round. And do as many rounds as possible.
Exercise 1: Single Arm 360 to Forward Lunge to Reverse Lunge
Exercise 2: Front Load Squat to Overhead Press to Stiff-Legged Deadlift to Reverse Curl
Exercise 3: Forward Jack Presses
Exercise 4: Side Swing Step Backs
Exercise 5: Mace Jump Squats
Exercise 6: Battle Lunge to Joust
Benefits of Cardio using weights (Cardio Workout with Weights)
Although running, swimming, cycling, and rowing are great workouts for cardiovascular health, using weights for cardio will give you the added benefits of upper/lower body muscular endurance and it involves resistance training, so it can help you build lean muscle for your entire body.
Not to mention, you can get an effective cardio workout done in half the time. For those of us with a busy schedule, this is one of the best benefits of doing cardio with weights.
Are Steel Maces Good For Cardio?
First, yes.
Second, you’ll need to use a light weight mace, which is going to be relative to your strength. For most people, that’s a 10LB mace, which is what we used in the steel mace cardio AMRAP workout above.
A heavy mace won’t be good for this cardio workout, or cardio workouts in general, as the exercises are designed for lighter weight maces, and with heavy maces you will have too much difficulty continuing through an entire workout without resting, which is the point of a cardio workout. You want to keep your heart rate elevated for the entire duration of the workout, especially when it’s only 15 minutes long. That said, heavy maces definitely have their place in fitness. They are great for other purposes, like strength training and traditional movements like 360s and 10-to-2s.
Now, back to why light weight steel maces are great for cardio…
First, many steel mace exercises are explosive by nature. This makes them perfect for cardio AND resistance training. This increases your heart rate FAST.
The key is to use proper form and avoid common mistakes that can lead to injury. If you haven't learned the fundamentals of steel mace training, you’ll want to start with that before doing any kind of intense mace workout.
Another reason steel maces are great for cardio is because the exercises consist of large multi-joint movements and many work multiple planes of motion. This means hundreds of muscles will be recruited at the same time. And the more muscles used, the greater the demand on your cardiovascular system, as your body will need to produce more oxygen to power the movements.
Simply try this workout, if your mace skills are up to par, and you will see what we mean.
We wrote an article on how to cardio without running for those who are interested in learning more ways.
Steel Mace Flows
If you know anything about steel maces, then you know what a steel mace flow is.
Steel mace flows are great for cardiovascular health and resistance training.
Because they are taxing, your heart rate will skyrocket. Moreover, they will keep you moving for long durations of time, which is essential for improving cardiovascular health.
Steel Mace Flows are one of the funnest ways to exercise. They express freedom of movement and creativity as well. That said, they do require a significant amount of steel mace skills.
Check out 20+ Steel Mace Flows from the Instagram Community.
Here is another good steel mace workout for cardio - Steel Mace Swing & Stamina. The rest ratio for this one is 1 to 1 (meaning you rest as long as you worked for each set). We deliberately set the rest time so your heart rate won’t drop below the necessary levels for cardiovascular benefits. Note: This workout is longer than the one featured in this post, and is actually more focused on muscular endurance and resistance training than cardio, but it will definitely give you that cardiovascular health boost.
How often can I do cardio workouts using a steel mace?
This depends on what your training regimen looks like. If you are doing other kinds of workouts, you can do a steel mace cardio workout a few times a week to great effect.
If this is your only style of training (which we don’t recommend if you want to have all-around fitness and athleticism), you can do this nearly every day.
Of course, it all depends on your fitness level, how much you are sleeping, how much you are eating and your health. Listen to your body. You don’t want to overtrain, as that will cause negative results. If you feel up to a workout, do it! Again, listen to your body.
A steel mace cardio workout could be the perfect workout for two-a-days.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us and let us know your goals, background, and current fitness level, and we can try to guide you in the right direction.
Have you tried this steel mace cardio workout? Let us know below…
Sam Coleman
Author