Issue 084
January 2012
The five best medicine ball exercises for improving your explosive power
Struggling for the strength to power through your takedowns and combinations? Full-body medicine ball exercises might be just what the doctor ordered. Here, FO has five of the best to help give you balls-to-the-wall power for five, five-minute rounds.
The medicine ball is a weighted ball (typically between 2lb to 25lb) and it’s one of the oldest forms of improving your fitness and performance. You might have seen these leather or plastic spheres in the corners or along the walls of gyms. They have been battle-tested effective from back in 1930s during the days of US President Herbert Hoover, when he and his staff played a game called Hoover Ball on the White House lawn where teams had to throw a medicine ball over a volleyball net. Still to this day the medicine ball has remained a staple fitness tool because of its simplicity, versatility and the ability to throw it in any direction.
There are two basic reasons why fighters use medicine ball throwing exercises and why it’s one of the best ways to express and improve total-body power. First, power is the summation of all of your levers, which means the ability to use all of your muscles together to generate maximal force. Medicine ball throwing drills give you that. Second, power is equal to strength multiplied by speed. Throwing a weighted object (the medicine ball) forces you to move a weight fast. That’s what power training is.
Additionally, research in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior showed throwing things develops the frontal lobe of the brain, and develops attention and concentration. Simply, throwing is good for your brain and a critical part of human function and development.
Below are five of the best medicine ball exercises you can use to improve your explosive power. Do 2–3 of these drills at the beginning of each of your workouts. Perform 4–6 sets of 4–6 reps for each exercise.
BIG BALLS?
1 REV SCOOP TOSS
Initiate the throw from your legs
Throw the ball as fast as possible
Coaching Tips:
- Do not round your back. Keep it straight in the set-up position.
- Your feet should leave the ground at the end of the throw
SET-UP: Hold the ball between your legs as you drop your shoulders even with your hips in a Romanian deadlift-type position.
ACTION: Explode out of the position and throw the ball over your head and at a 45-degree angle behind you. Walk to the ball and repeat.
2 LUNGE TO PUSH THROW
Coaching tips:
- Keep your elbows close to your sides when throwing in order to minimize stress on the
elbow joint and maximize power.
SET-UP: Hold the medicine ball at your chest with your elbows by your sides.
ACTION: Lunge forward with your left and use both hands to explode the ball away from your chest in a pushing action. Reset and repeat the same throwing action while lunging with your right leg. Alternate legs on each rep or perform all reps lunging with one leg before switching to the other.
3 SQUAT TO OVERHEAD THROW
Coaching tips:
- It’s not recommended to catch the ball for safety reasons.
- Be sure to keep good rhythm and timing between your legs and arms so they work together as a single unit to throw the ball.
SET-UP: Hold the ball at your chest with your elbows underneath the ball. Squat down so your thighs become roughly parallel to the floor.
ACTION: Explode out of the bottom position by extending your arms and legs straight toward the sky and launching the ball upwards. Let the ball land on the ground before picking it up, resetting your position and repeating.
4 SIDE SCOOP TOSS
Coaching Tips:
- If throwing a bouncing medicine ball against a wall, catch the ball after it bounces once and set up your next throw.
- If using a non-bouncing ball, skip to the ball after each throw, return and repeat.
SET-UP: Hold the ball by your left hip and shift your weight to your left leg with a slight bend in your hips and knees.
ACTION: Explosively drive the ball across your body, turning your hips and shoulders to throw the ball using both hands in a scoop-like motion to your right side. Perform all reps on one side, then repeat on the other.
5 PUNCH THROW
Coaching Tips:
- On every throw, be sure to lift your rear heel and rotate your hips so that your rear foot points at your target at the end of each throw.
SET-UP: Stand perpendicular to your target in a staggered stance with you right leg in front. Squeeze the ball between your hands with your left elbow parallel to the floor.
ACTION: Explosively rotate your hips and shoulders toward your target and extend your left arm to throw the ball in a punching-style action. Perform all reps on the same side before turning your body and performing the exercise on the opposite side.
Coach Nick Tumminello is the owner of Performance University International, which provides hybrid strength and conditioning training for athletes, and educational programs for fitness trainers and coaches in Fort Lauderdale Florida. He is the head fitness expert for Jaco clothing. The exercises were performed by Mike Spiegel, 2010 NY Golden Gloves champion at light heavyweight.
