The Invisible Key to Mace Control

Happy December, my fellow mace enthusiasts!

This week's Flow Made Simple dove deep into the intricacies of the Snake Charmer Flow – an advanced take on the popular Cobra Whip. This advanced flow demands both skill and an understanding of the key to mace control: the invisible balance point of the steel mace. While the video provided a visual guide to performing this challenging flow, today I want to explore 2 game-changing tactics that will elevate all your mace flows to new heights.

Understanding Your Mace's Balance Point

Before we embark on the strategies, let's first define the balance point of the mace. It's that magical spot where the length of the tail perfectly offsets the weight of the head, creating equilibrium. While the balance point varies with mace material, weight, and length, you'll often find it a few inches away from the head of the mace. Now, let's dive into the 2 tactics that have the potential to revolutionize your mace game!

Tactic 1: Proximity Equals Control

Keep the balance point close to your body during momentum switches. Whether altering the mace's swing from clockwise to counterclockwise or transforming the spin from vertical to horizontal, initiate these changes when the mace is easiest to manipulate – when the balance point is close to your hands and your body. In the Snake Charmer Flow, observe the transition from the downstrike to the flourish—by pulling the mace back towards my body and moving my hand to the head of the mace, I regain complete control over the balance point, making the subsequent flourish seamless and controlled.

Tactic 2: Extend, but Always Return Home

When extending the balance point away (think Arrows and various swings like 360s), always have a path in mind to return the balance point of the mace back under direct control. In the Snake Charmer Flow, observe how I extended the mace's balance point during the down-strike but retracted it before the flourish. Similarly, between the Arrow and the cradle grip, a deliberate drop of the mace into a controlled one-arm 360 allowed me to smoothly transition into the cradle grip which gave me direct control over the balance point once more. 

Elevate Your Mace Flows

By applying these two tactics, you gain the power to manipulate the mace's momentum effortlessly. This, in turn, opens the door to a world of possibilities, allowing for greater creativity and variety in your mace flows. I invite you to try out these tactics in your next mace flow practice - keep greater awareness of the balance point of your mace and notice how much easier it is to manipulate the whole mace throughout your flows. The balance point, though invisible, emerges as the single most pivotal aspect of the mace. Command it, and you command the entire flow.

Carpe Mace,
Coach Lochlainn