Guide To Buying A Medicine Ball

You can do many exercises on the medicine ball, and different exercises target different muscle groups. You can use medicine balls to work your abs, shoulders, biceps, triceps, legs, and even your chest and back.

There are so many. Here are some of the popular ones:

• Overhead slam– Lift the ball overhead and slam it to the ground. This exercise is great for building abs.
• Shoulder press: Hold a medicine ball in front of you and raise it overhead. Great exercise for beginners.
• Bicep curls and tricep extensions to feel the burn on these two muscles.
• Squats: With your hips slightly apart and knees slightly bent, hold the medicine ball in front of your body and squat.
• Weighted Superman: Lying face down, hold a lightweight medicine ball with your arms extended completely. Peel your chest off the floor and raise your arms and legs. Hold this position for as long as you can. This exercise is great for working your chest and back muscles.

Russian Twist: With your feet planted on the floor and knees bent, lean back at a 45-degree angle with the floor and hold the medicine ball to your chest. Rotate to the right, return to the starting position, and then rotate to the left.

Medicine ball crunch: With your feet flat on the floor and knees bent, lie on your back while holding the medicine ball with arms extended. Bring your head and torso off the floor while squeezing your abs. Keep the ball in front of you throughout this motion and then lower back down to the original position.

Mountain climber: With both hands on the medicine ball, take the high plank position. Bring your right knee towards your chest and then bring it back to the starting position. Do the same for the left leg and keep alternating as quickly as possible.

Toe touch: Lie on your back, raise your legs towards the ceiling so that your body makes an “L” shape. Holding the ball overhead, extend your arms and crunch up until you can touch your toes with the ball. Roll back down and repeat.

Apart from working on your various muscle groups, the medicine ball is an overall fitness accessory that you can use to strengthen your core. A lot of exercises help build speed and accuracy, which is why athletes love the medicine ball so much. The explosive nature of most of the medicine ball exercises helps increase power and explosiveness. Additionally, the medicine ball also helps improve your coordination and balance.

Go for a lighter one in the beginning. Experts recommend that you should start at about 30 to 50 percent of your maximum rep load. For example, if you do dumbbell curls with a 25lb load, it translates to a 7.5 lb to 12 lb medicine ball.

Lighter medicine balls help in speed training, while heavy medicine balls help build power and explosive strength, so you need to choose accordingly.