The Top 5 Benefits Of Using Medicine Balls In Your Workouts

The ancient Greeks used medicine balls from as far back as 3000 years ago to help patients going through post-injury stages of recovery. Nowadays, medicine balls (or weighted balls) have become popular in daily training with their ability to tone up bodies, build core strength, and improve balance.

Coming in a wide range of weights (from 1kg to 10kg) and shapes (with straps, handles, inflatable, etc.), medicine balls provide users a versatile and portable tool to carve their shapes and reduce body fat.

This article will explore the detailed benefits and reasons you may want to start adding exercises with this ball in your workout routines.

5 Benefits Of Medicine Ball Workouts

1. Develop explosive power and build body strength

Explosive power is the ability to push out the maximum amount of force in the shortest amount of time. The more energy you can release when you tense the muscle, the stronger the force you can produce the fastest.

This explosive power relies on the body strength in specific parts and movements in which the training impacts. Any sequences that combine movements and medicine balls, like squats and ball throw altogether, will bring out these dual benefits.

2. Enhance speed, movement accuracy for physical preparedness

While preparing and warming up sections before any competitive sports, practicing with medicine balls can help athletes or players to boost their speed and the accuracy of their movements.

By reproducing some certain actions with these weighted balls, athletes or high-performing sports people can move their bodies in a versatile way, proactively react, and position their body while interacting with teammates.

3. Provide versatile, full body workouts

Medicine balls force your core muscles to encage more, regardless of the primary muscle group being targeted. This way you can get more of a full body workout, which means burning more calories and improving overall fitness. So mixing up and varying training forms will help you unlock your overall body capability.

Moreover, throwing and catching the ball alone or with others will improve hand-eye coordination, body balance, and flexibility while letting yourselves to react with the moving trends of the ball.

4. Improve rehabilitation effort after injuries

Helping patients to recover from injuries or surgeries, the medicine balls are really useful in regenerating the body’s endurance and response. The particular parts that they help the most are spinal, shoulders, and knee injuries.

Patients are usually instructed to use the lightweight ball at first, then gradually increase the ball’s weight as the recovery process progresses. Furthermore, some exercises can be designed to help to build fluidity and strength of the thigh or calf muscles specifically.

5. Enhance socialization skill and teamwork

While most of the gym workouts can be done by yourself, practicing with these weighted balls can be done with another partner to bring more fun into the workout. Engaging another person to join will extend the variety of training exercise and increase positive mood.

Group training with a ball can involve team members rolling, bouncing, tossing or passing the ball back and forth between the team to target different muscle groups. This will help to level up their energetic feelings by playing and training at the same time.

Top 5 Best Medicine Ball Exercises

Before jumping right into which is the most effective exercises with balls, you should prepare for yourself the proper ball for your current health status with the right weight and suitable design.

Choosing a ball which is too light or too heavy for you to practice with can lead to ineffective training outcome or cause injuries. You can start slowly with these below exercises list and move up by increasing the number of repetition or using the heavier balls.

1. Wall Ball

• Benefit: Increasing cardiovascular health, overall body training, fat burning, increasing body interaction
• Instruction:
  1. Stand 2 feet away with your face the wall
  2. Do the full squat while holding the ball at chest level close to the body
  3. Extend the arm, stand up and throw the ball against the wall
  4. Then catch the ball and repeat again with the full squat
• Repetition: 10 reps to complete a set. You should do 3 sets continuously before moving to the next exercise.
• Notice: Keep your back straight to avoid backache while squatting.

2. Squat Throws

• Benefit: Increasing core strength, targeting quads, shoulders, triceps, hamstrings, overall body workout.
• Instruction:
  1. Hold a ball at chest level
  2. Stand with feet about hip-width apart
  3. Squat down
  4. Come up out of the squat and throw the ball up straight overhead.
  5. Catch the ball and go down with the next squat
• Repetition: 10 reps to complete a set. Recommend to do 3 sets continuously before moving to the next exercise.
• Notice: Keep your back straight to avoid backache while squatting.

3. Ball Slams

• Benefit: developing power, strength, and speed, burning calories and increasing cardiovascular health.
• Instruction:
  1. Stand with feet apart at shoulder length, knees bend
  2. Hold a ball in hand
  3. Bend forward and throw the ball in front of the feet
  4. Catch the ball when it bounces off the floor and starts again.
• Repetition: 10 reps to 15 reps are recommended.
• Notice: Be careful with a bouncy ball and do not throw the ball straight down, throw a bit forward to avoid injury.

4. Ball Twists

• Benefit: Special designed for your core muscle, especially obliques
• Instruction:
  1. Sit down and hold the ball in hands
  2. Lift the feet off the ground
  3. Twist your torso to the right side until the ball touches the ground
  4. Then twist to the left side until the ball touches the ground
  5. Repeat the movement without leaving your feet on the ground
• Repetition: 10 reps to 15 reps are recommended.
• Notice: Always keep your core tight and relax your shoulders.

5. Side to Side Slams

• Benefit: Strengthening arms and shoulders
• Instruction:
  1. Stand with feet apart wider than shoulder width
  2. Hold the ball below your chest
  3. Lift the ball above the head
  4. Throw the ball straightly to the right side
  5. Squat to pick up the ball and restart with the starting position
  6. Repeat on the opposite side
• Repetition: 10 reps to 20 reps are recommended.
• Notice: Try not to let your knees bend further than your toes while squatting

Summary

Medicine balls are the economical, portable, and endurable choice for workout accessories. They can easily be added to your daily training routine. With this entertaining and refreshing tool, you can really spice up your workout routines. Ready to start? Good luck!