Understanding The Energy of Clubs

Exercising with the ‘Gada or Club’ balances one’s physical and spiritual energies.

The Gada, or heavy mace or Club, was the preferred weapon of Hindu soldiers. The first Gada is said to have been forged by the Hindu God Vishnu, and imagery of the Gada is closely associated with Lord Hanuman, the Hindu God of wrestling. It was mostly used by those who worshiped Hanuman.

Hanuman was a monkey-man hybrid who wielded a mace and was said to be capable of lifting the Mountains with his hands. The mace, also known as a “Gada,” was primarily used to condition warriors for their combat training, which included wrestling, archery, and sword fighting. When we look back at various martial cultures, we can see that they all used some kind of mace.

Let’s be clear: the mace was invented to kill people. But it wasn’t long before people realized that lifting one could help them get in shape as well. The use of a mace dates back to the days when fitness was a byproduct of war training. More than 2,000 years ago, Hindu soldiers in India used maces made of bamboo sticks with stones tied to the ends. Various types of maces were found in India, later Russia, and Western Europe during the Middle
Ages, as each culture’s warrior armor, became more advanced than the weapons used against it.

The first training manual for club training was written in the twelfth century. The ‘Manasollasa’ manual included descriptions of club swinging, wrestling, and physical exercise. Clubs were used in combat around this time, but they were eventually replaced by more efficient weapons such as swords and spears.

Although the Indian Club was popular among Western exercise enthusiasts as early as the nineteenth century, Gada training did not catch on until very recently. Western MMA fighters have taken up heavy mace training to strengthen the muscles involved in throwing opponents to the mat. Mace training has also gained popularity among functional fitness and natural movement practitioners due to its incredible full-body workout.

A mace symbolizes concentrated prana (or the central force). The mace moves around the body to gather life force for its practitioner, just as the earth rotates around the sun and gathers life force from it, which it then stores. The movements of the mace, which is shaped like the earth, are practiced in double rotations, replicating how the earth revolves around the sun and then rotates on its axis to produce phenomenal power.
However, it should not be practiced solely as an exercise routine because it requires the invocation of specific mantras to bring out the practitioner’s hidden potential.

The recommended weight of the mace for a beginner learning basic movements is 4 kg: 4 kg (the ball and the handle). As you gain experience with the mace, the weight is gradually increased to 6:6, then 8:8, and finally 10:10. After gaining complete control over the physical and etheric manifestations of the mace, accomplished masters practice with 15:15 kg (total weight 30 kg).

A strong back and a clear flow of energy are essential prerequisites for practicing the mace movement. This can be accomplished through the use of Sanatan kriya and other specific yogic techniques. The mace movement can be useful in this situation. The spine should be in excellent condition to perform the mace movements. This is the primary foundation for supporting weight and assisting the specific movements and momentum gained by the body
during practice.

It is also necessary to be able to withstand 80 to 100 kg of weight without feeling strained. The mace movement is similar to a graceful dance with a strong spiritual undercurrent. The combination of the physical and spiritual creates the ideal platform for those looking for the best way to build a stronger back using this age-old art.

The basic mace movement, an around-the-head swing with a push-pull mechanic, strains the entire upper body. The movement also employs and opposes momentum. The mace initiates movement, allows gravity to exert its pull, and then forces one to counterbalance it by exerting one’s own force in the most basic form of strength training.

To some extent, all strength training is a battle against gravity, but it takes place on the vertical plane. Mace work entails twisting and pulling against centrifugal force, as well as contorting the body across multiple planes.

The mace works out the entire upper body in a dynamic, fluid manner, including the core, arms, shoulders, and grip. It’s almost like a symphony of isolation exercises, with the shoulders pushing and the lats and biceps pulling, and the core and hands constantly stimulated. The mace movement helps women achieve the perfect hourglass figure, increases muscle endurance in men, and serves as an intense metabolic conditioning workout for both.

Check out our Membership catalog.