The medicine ball — a boring, familiar workout object.
Is that true? Many of us have overlooked the medicine ball as a useful workout tool. In the era of coronavirus, home workouts have obviously taken on a new importance. A medicine ball is an extremely cheap and accessible tool for those who want to maximize the potential of their home workouts. Take some time to revisit the medicine ball and all it can do for you. It might do you good.
What is a medicine ball?
A medicine ball is a small weighted ball, often filled with beads. It can improve the quality of your lifts and increase the intensity of a variety of workouts when incorporated. Adding the weight of a medicine ball can make your workouts more difficult and increase how much mass you gain. Medicine balls are overlooked because they are extremely common and cheap to obtain. However, all you need to really invigorate is the addition of weight that a medicine ball provides. It’s worth it to look into what a medicine ball can add to your workout.
The Medicine Ball Chest Press
If you have a partner, the exercise basically consists of this: lie on your back while a partner drops a medicine ball on your chest. Catch the medicine ball and throw it back. This is a way of doing the chest press without adding extra stress to your joints. It provides all the benefits of a chest press without any of the drawbacks. This can really maximize the output of your workouts and increase your upper body mass.
The Medicine Ball “V-Up”
This is another great exercise with the medicine ball that strengthens your core. Lie down on your mat with a medicine ball in your hands. Holding the ball, lean forward and lift your legs as well; try and reach the ball in between your ankles. If you reach the perfect position, you should make a V between your upper body and lower (look at the diagram above for direction.) Holding a medicine ball while doing this greatly increase your core strength and your upper body strength.
The Medicine Ball Squat
Another exciting way to incorporate the medicine ball into your routines is to use it during squats. Squatting with a medicine ball can improve your upper body mass while also strengthening your core and lower body. Do regular squats while holding a medicine ball. However, when you start coming up from the squat, toss the medicine ball, and try to catch it again when you stand up to full height. This will help your arms make gains as your core makes gains when you do squats.
We hope this guide to incorporating the medicine ball helps you use it in your routines. Obviously, there are so many ways to use it in basic exercises, so it’s pretty much up to you how much or little you want to use it. It’s definitely a great way to take your workouts to the next level and add some weight to workouts that might otherwise not be pushing you that much.
