Summary
Dennis Dunphy and Neil Valera of the Stick Mobility podcast interview personal trainer Monica Boldt about her approach to functional training using Indian clubs, steel mace, stick mobility, and kettlebells. Boldt, a StrongFirst Elite certified trainer based in Fort Worth, Texas, shares how she discovered Indian clubs about three and a half years prior and found they dramatically improved her short-term memory and cognitive focus through the complex bilateral movement patterns they demand. The conversation dives deep into the practical benefits of club swinging: shoulder mobility restoration, grip and forearm strengthening, wrist health for desk workers, and injury prevention for heavy lifters. Boldt explains how club work follows inertia and gravity principles rather than muscular force, making it fundamentally different from conventional resistance training. She recommends using clubs as a warm-up, between sets during heavy lifting, or as standalone movement sessions, and cautions that even one-pound clubs become surprisingly challenging during extended swinging. The episode also covers steel mace training, the bent press, programming clubs alongside barbell and kettlebell work, and how high-skill movement practices like club swinging improve overall athleticism and body awareness as people age. Boldt discusses her Indian Club and Mace workshops and the growing but still niche community around these tools.
Key Points
- Indian club swinging restored Monica Boldt's short-term memory after years of cognitive decline from constant task-switching in her dental sales career
- Even 1-pound Indian clubs become intensely challenging during 5+ minutes of continuous swinging due to centrifugal force amplifying the weight
- Club swinging follows inertia and gravity principles, not muscular force - you can't muscle through it, which teaches efficiency and body awareness
- Clubs are excellent for shoulder prehab: use between heavy lifting sets to flush stiffness and maintain range of motion during hypertrophy phases
- The wrist and grip benefits are significant, especially for people locked up from desk work and mouse use
- Steel mace training (200+ swings) creates serious tricep and lat soreness, building rotational strength
- Club swinging has a strong brain training component: bilateral patterns where hands do different things force intense focus
- Start with 1-2 lb wooden clubs; jumping to 3-5 lbs is a serious increase that most people underestimate
- High-skill movement practices like clubs improve overall athleticism and motor learning speed as people age
Key Moments
Club swinging restored short-term memory
Monica Boldt describes how Indian club swinging dramatically improved her short-term memory after years of cognitive decline from constant task-switching. The complex bilateral patterns forced complete focus for 5-10 minutes at a time, which retrained her brain.
"when I picked up clubs, one of the immediate benefits I noticed was my short-term memory came back. Like I could remember things. And that had to do with thinking about complex patterns. And then especially when I got into, okay, my right hand is doing something different than my left hand. And then going back and forth in my mind's eye, thinking about that, like five or 10 minutes of just that complete focus."
Why 1-pound clubs are harder than you think
The hosts and Boldt discuss how people underestimate the challenge of light Indian clubs. Even 1-pound clubs become extremely demanding during continuous swinging because centrifugal force amplifies the effective weight, making 5 minutes feel like swinging 5 pounds.
"I think for people that look at Indian clubs, probably talking more to men is they look at a one pound Indian club and like, what is this going to do? So they, and there's that,"
Using clubs between heavy lifting sets
Boldt explains her approach of incorporating club swinging between sets of heavy barbell work to flush out stiffness and maintain shoulder range of motion. She noticed that heavier lifting was decreasing her mobility, and club swinging between sets countered that effect.
"And between the set, instead of getting on the phone, just, you know, do 10 repetitions of heart swings, inward, outward, it flushes out any kind of stiffness, especially if you're lifting heavy."
Club swinging follows inertia, not muscular force
Boldt explains the physics of club swinging, noting that it follows inertia and gravity principles rather than muscular force. When someone taps into this rhythm, their swinging develops an inner pulse that looks aesthetically fluid and connects the whole body.
"club swinging follows inertia and gravity principles. And when someone taps into that, they start feeling kind of like that heartbeat rhythm to the swing. It has this inner pulse, right?"
200 mace swings for tricep and lat strength
Boldt discusses adding steel mace training back into her programming alongside clubs, noting that 200 mace swings create serious tricep and lat soreness and build functional rotational strength.
"after you do like 200 swings of mace, one of the things you..."
