There’s a chance you’ve walked into a gym and seen those weighted round balls in the corner more than likely gathering dust. That neglect ends now. These colorful weighted balls are med balls, and when incorporated into your daily workout routine med ball training exercises will supersize your core strength and power.
But first, a quick history lesson on medicine balls. The Persians supposedly used med balls 3,000 years ago as a method for their wrestlers to become stronger.
Just across the road in Ancient Greece, Hippocrates is believed to have stuffed animal skins for people to toss for “medicinal” uses. Hippocrates considered these ‘balls’ to be great for helping injured people regain their mobility and strength and a way for people to stay healthy.
Then in the early 1900s, med balls became popular because of a game called Hooverball, an activity similar to volleyball but with a med ball tossed over the net. President Herbert Hoover’s doctor suggested his patients use a medicine ball to get in shape.
Now, medicine balls are in almost every gym in the land for your benefit. Here we will get med ball training benefits and five exercises for you to become bigger, faster, and stronger.
Benefits of Med Ball Training Exercises
Med balls are a great tool to add variety and some pop to your training. Here are four critical benefits of adding med balls to your workouts.
- Better Calorie Burn: Because med balls use fast-twitch muscle fibers, this may increase the number of calories burned during the workout up to 14 hours later.
- Simple To Use: Olympic lifts and the big three are fantastic exercises to develop full-body power and strength. But there is a trade-off because it takes time to master the technique. Med ball power exercises are easy to perform, and the learning curve is quick.
- Increased Strength: Med ball power exercises like slams involve rapid contractions of “fast-twitch” muscle fibers, and these have the most significant potential for improved hypertrophy and building strength. Med ball power exercises set the table for this to happen.
- Improved Athleticism: Med ball drills improve the speed and accuracy of your movements in and out of the gym, like when twisting or changing direction. The med ball’s freedom of movement and multi-planer ability will prepare your body for realistic motions; because of this, you’ll be better protected against injury.
5 Med Ball Training Exercises For Strength and Power
Med ball slams and crunch-type variations are excellent exercises and ones that should be included in your workouts from time to time. But you will need help finding them here. Here are five med ball exercises that will help you see the med ball in a different light.
Yeah, you can thank me later.
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