If you have a medicine ball, why not put it to good use? A medicine ball is a weighted ball, varying in weight from 2 to 25 pounds used in fitness training. Coaches and fitness trainers use these balls for general conditioning and to build power and agility in the upper body. But medicine ball slams aren’t new. Hippocrates made primitive versions of medicine balls for his patients to toss for exercise.
Medicine balls are versatile, and you can do a variety of exercises with them, but one of the most popular and effective movements you can do with a medicine ball is a medicine ball slam. Here’s how to do one:
- Stand with your feet flat on the floor with your feet about shoulder-width apart.
- Hold the medicine ball in front of your body at waist level.
- As you rise up on your toes, raise the medicine ball above your head as high as possible. Don’t arch your back though!
- At the top, slam the ball down on to the floor with force.
- Lower your body to the floor as if squatting, as you grab the ball on the bounce.
- Rise up on your toes and lift the ball over your head again to repeat the movement.
- Keep repeating.
To do a medicine ball slam correctly, hold your core tight and your back as straight as possible when you do the exercise. Make sure you’re slamming the ball against the ground with force rather than letting it drop. The more force you put into the slam, the more you’ll activate the muscles in your upper body.
Start out using a lighter medicine ball and work up to a heavier one once you get comfortable using a weighted ball.
What are the benefits of doing medicine ball slams? Let’s look at some of them.
Medicine Ball Slams Work Multiple Muscle Groups
For such a simple exercise, medicine ball slams work a lot of muscles. When you slam a ball against a surface, you activate your biceps, triceps, deltoids, and the muscles in your upper back, but your lower body gets in on the action too. A medicine ball slam works your hamstrings, quads, and glutes too. You also tighten your core muscles when you do this movement.
When you lift the ball over your head and slam it down onto the floor, you contract your abdominal muscles with force while holding your core tight and stiff. Core tightening allows you to hold your spine in a fixed position when you do the exercise, making it safer. A stiff core also facilitates the transfer of energy from your upper body to your lower body. With so many muscles working, medicine ball slams are a total body workout and one that also improves agility.
They’re a Metabolism Booster
When you slam a weighted ball into the floor with force repeatedly, you work intensely for short periods of time. The heavier the medicine ball, the more you tap into anaerobic pathways and boost the afterburn, also known as post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC). Those are the extra calories your body burns after intense exercise to cool your body down, correct the drop in blood pH, restore, breathing, and return to a resting state. The greater afterburn benefits you if you’re trying to get leaner. Medicine ball slams using a heavy ball taps into anaerobic energy pathways in the same way an exercise like sprinting does. Plus, you’re working almost every muscle, unlike sprinting where you work your lower body only.
Medicine Ball Slams Boost Cardiovascular Health
If you use a heavy medicine ball and do medicine ball slams with intensity, you enhance your anaerobic energy system, a system that uses pathways that don’t require oxygen. But if you use a lighter medicine ball and do as many reps as you can for 30 to 60 seconds, you’ll boost your heart rate and get cardiovascular benefits. In this case, you’re working at a fast pace to boost your heart rate rather than maximizing intensity. Do 30 seconds, rest for 30 seconds, and keep repeating. You’ll feel your heart pumping after a few minutes!
Slamming a Medicine Ball into the Ground Builds Power
Strength is one thing, but an athlete, and anyone who wants to be physically fit, also needs power capabilities. Strength is the ability to lift a heavy weight irrespective of time, but power adds a time component to the equation. It’s the ability to move a weight quickly through space. You’re strong if you can lift a heavy weight but powerful if you can do it fast. Medicine ball slams are one type of dynamic movement that improves power capabilities. When you slam a weighted ball into the floor with intensity, you’re teaching your muscles to generate force quickly and, therefore, building power.
Why is power important? If you play certain sports, being powerful will help you perform better, but you also become less powerful with age. Just as you lose strength, you lose power as the years go by. Research shows power declines at a faster rate than strength. At an extreme, loss of power in the lower body can make it hard to thrust your body out of a chair. Medicine ball slams are one of the best exercises for building upper body explosive strength and power.
Medicine Ball Slams Are a Great Way to Release Frustrations!
After a long, frustrating day when you feel uptight, medicine ball slams will help you release pent-up stress. Each time you slam the ball into the ground, you’ll feel your frustrations melt away and your mind relaxes. In fact, medicine ball slams are as effective as punching a punching bag for relieving frustrations and you’re getting physical benefits too.
The Bottom Line
Medicine ball slams is a straightforward exercise that even most beginners can master. You only need a small space, a little motivation, and a medicine ball to get a total body conditioning workout. It’s a dynamic workout that works multiple muscle groups and improves agility. Give medicine ball slams a try!
References:
- com. “Med Ball Slams: The Surprising Benefits of This Ancient Exercise”
- com. “Strength Training versus Power Training”
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