Karl Gotch Indian mace swinging

**QuickJab** · Posted On: 5/19/2006 12:22am

http://www.scientificwrestling.com/public/160.cfm?sd=2

Exercises that legendary catch wrestler and trainer Karl Gotch does with an Indian mace. He's big on Indian maces and Indian clubs for training. Here he's training some Japanese wrestlers, showing them some mace techniques. What makes this crazy is that he's an old geezer, and in better shape than like 90% of people walking around. The Maces are I believe 25 pounds.

**poidog** · Posted On: 5/20/2006 10:45am

Great find, QJ. That video is inspirational. I love seeing the old schoolers doing their badassness.

Aloha, Poi

**Nid** · Posted On: 5/20/2006 11:16am

I actually saw an Indian guy do that in a video I watching in an anthropology class.

Anyone know the point of doing that? It looked like some sort of ritual in the native context.

**QuickJab** · Posted On: 5/20/2006 7:38pm

Its a strength exercise, I'm not sure what exactly is works though. I've heard from a few people that have tried thats its hard as ****. Its a 25 lbs ball, but feels like ALOT more cause of the long pole. The Japanese guys in that video include a young Funaki (pancrase fighter) and a young Sakuraba.

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 5/20/2006 9:39pm

Originally Posted by Kein Haar

I actually saw an Indian guy do that in a video I watching in an anthropology class.

Anyone know the point of doing that? It looked like some sort of ritual in the native context.

It's hard as ****, specially for your wrists and forearms. What makes the exercise hard is that the entire weight is at the end of a handle (as QuickJab pointed out.)

I saw a documentary of Iranian wrestlers practicing an old form of training using heavy clubs as well. They hold one in each hand and swing them back and forth. That, and after reading other material, I decided to make two out of plastic baseball bats (the big fat ones for kids.) I filled them up with sand and compacted it with a stick until the bats got hard as concrete. They weight about 10lbs each.

Now, the thing is, I used every other day by holding them by the end of the handle and swing them horizontally in a open-arm, cross-arm movement. My wrists and the base of the thumbs get numb after a short while.

So I can only imagine how much harder it would be to the same or similar movements with a weight twice as much (25lbs+) with a much, much longer handle as in the video. What Gotch is doing is reminescent of some exercises for grip and foream strenght.