In this article you will find out detailed information on:

  • The difference between Standard Medicine Balls, Dynamax & Dead Balls.
  • How to train for Mobility & Prehab/Rehab
  • How to train for Maximal Strength & Speed Strength
  • How to train for Speed & Power
  • How to train for General Conditioning

Introduction

Training with weighted balls has been around for literally thousands of years.  In Ancient Greece, Hippocrates had his patients throwing stuffed animal skins around for injury rehab and Persian wrestlers trained with sand-filled animal bladders way back in the 4th Century BC.  Medicine ball training, in its various incarnations, has certainly stood the test of time.

Medicine balls are incredibly versatile and these days, with different types of balls suited to different purposes, a huge range of training goals can be catered for with the humble weighted ball.  As Paul Check points out in the below video, everyone from children to pro athletes can use medicine balls and derive great benefits from them.

This article aims to cover a range of medicine ball exercises for different training outcomes, focusing on exercises where the medicine ball adds something unique.  There is also a section with a wide range of common movements where the medicine ball can be used as a simple loading option.

Types of Medicine Balls:

  • Standard Medicine Balls
  • Dynamax Balls
  • Dead Balls

Training for Mobility and Prehab/Rehab:

  • Intro: Why medicine balls are useful for mobility and prehab/rehab work and which medicine ball types to use.
  • Exercises:
  • Rotator Cuff Throws and Wall Dribbles
  • Medicine Ball Overhead Squat
  • Over, Under and Side Partner Passes
  • Wood Chops
  • Back Lunge with Rotation

Training for Maximal Strength and Strength Speed:

  • Intro: Why medicine balls are useful for developing maximal strength and strength speed and which types of medicine balls to use.
  • Exercises:
  • Medicine Ball Push Ups
  • Medicine Ball Squats
  • Medicine Ball Atlas Stone Lifts
  • Medicine Ball Cleans

Training for Speed and Power:

  • Intro: Why medicine balls are useful for developing speed and power and which types of medicine balls to use.
  • Exercises:
  • Slams
  • Wall Ball
  • Chest Pass
  • Side Throw
  • Overhead Back Throw
  • Sit Up Throw
  • Russian Twist Throw

Training for General Conditioning:

  • Intro: Why Medicine balls are a good conditioning tool and which types of medicine balls to use.
  • Exercises
  • Examples of conditioning routines with medicine balls.

More Medicine Ball Exercises:

  • Dynamax Balls exercise series.
  • Deadlift, Single Leg Deadlift, Jump Squat, Good Morning, Lunge and  Lateral Lunge.

Types of Medicine Balls

These days your options of weighted balls aren't limited to sand-filled animal bladders or stuffed animal skins; there are a variety of different medicine balls available on the market that vastly increases the options in terms of training applications.

There are three general categories of medicine ball: standard rubber medicine balls, large soft weighted balls such as Dynamax Balls and balls that have no bounce such as Dead Balls.  The different categories may vary somewhat from manufacturer to manufacturer so the below descriptions focus on the medicine balls stocked by Iron Edge.

Dead ball atlas stone lift

Standard Medicine Balls

Standard medicine balls are simply weighted rubber balls with a relatively high level of bounce, making them suitable for exercises requiring rebound.

The quality of these balls, and the amount of punishment they can withstand, will depend largely on the type of rubber used in manufacture.

Standard medicine balls usually vary in size according to weight, having small, light weights in the range suitable for single hand work, rehab/prehab and mobility.

6kg Premium Medicine Ball Iron Edge

Dynamax Balls

Dynamax Balls are weighted but soft with a relatively high level of bounce.  Being soft, they are ideal for partner work, exercises that require throwing/catching at maximum velocity and exercises that involve rebound as they are less likely to inflict injury than their harder counterparts.

Dynamax Balls are standardised in diameter at 14 inches as this allows them to be held in a manner conducive to good posture (the athlete’s shoulder girdle isn’t protracted and the scapula is set in a neutral position) and generating maximum power.

14lb Dynamax Ball Iron Edge

Dead Balls

Dead Balls, as the name suggests, are a dead weight with little to no bounce.  They are filled with iron sand and are somewhat deformable (they will change shape in response to pressure) - a bit like a cross between a medicine ball and a sandbag.

The deformability of Dead Balls mean, when compared with standard medicine balls, they are more resistant to rolling, more stable for balancing on for exercises such as push ups and easier to get purchase on in difficult positions such as holding overhead.

Dead Balls are extremely tough and designed to withstand very high impact, making them perfect for exercises such as slams.

Dead Balls come in a very large variety of weights, with much heavier options than other types of medicine ball (up to 85kg) so they are suibtable for strength and power development.

85kg Dead Ball Iron Edge

Training for Mobility and Prehab/Rehab

Medicine balls lend themselves perfectly to mobility and prehab/rehab work:

  • They are moved easily in all planes and allow easy transitions from one plane to another, enabling joints to be worked through their full range.
  • They can be thrown to add dynamic effort to warm ups, increase the difficulty of rehab exercises and to perform mobility/rehab exercises that prepare the body for power and acceleration drills.
  • They can be passed easily from person to person for partner work.

Medicine ball side pass with partner

Which medicine balls?

Obviously, mobility and prehab/rehab work generally requires lighter weights, so this may affect your choice (for example, Dead Balls only go down to 3kg, Dynamax down to 2.7kg and standard down to 2kg).

Some exercises will require a ball with bounce, so dead balls won’t be appropriate, while for other exercises it’s not a concern.

The diameter of the medicine ball may also determine which type is most suitable.  For example, if you intend to hold the ball with one hand the smaller diameter of a light standard medicine ball may be best.  On the other hand, if you are holding the ball with both hands the 14 inch diameter of the Dynamax Ball may be beneficial for maintaining good posture while performing mobility or rehab exercises.

Rotator Cuff Throws and Wall Dribbles

Rotator cuff throws or wall dribbles are a great way to get the rotator cuff switching on, either for preparation for just about anything that requires shoulder stabilisation or for increasing the demands on the rotator cuff at the appropriate stage of shoulder rehab.  Of course, these exercises are also able to provide very specific preparation or rehab for athletes who throw in their sport.

Rotator cuff medicine ball throws

Technique Points and Variations

  • Use natural throwing and catching actions for these exercises, and use a throwing action that is specific to the athletes sport.
  • Varying the range of motion as appropriate.
  • You may want to start with something much lighter than a medicine ball (such as a tennis ball).

Concentric only: One of the easiest variations is to perform just the throw (no catch) to work only the concentric/acceleration phase.  This is an easy and safe introduction to faster movements.  There are examples of throws for boxers and javelin throwers below to illustrate how medicine ball throws can be adapted for specific applications to different sports.

Eccentric only: in order to perform the eccentric/deceleration phase you need to be able to catch the ball, if you want to isolate the eccentric phase this means you need someone to throw it to you.  Many soft tissue injuries are due to poor breaking or eccentric strength.  By isolating this phase of movement you can build the specific strength, thus reducing change of injury.  Initially, you may wish to perform the eccentric only phase with a large range of motion and progress to short ranges if this is specific to your application.

Concentric and eccentric: to perform both phases you need to be able to throw and catch.  There are several ways you can achieve this: rebounding the ball off a hard surface or trampoline, or with a partner.  The angle at which you rebound the ball will determine the range of motion for throwing and catching (eg. throwing down will increase the range of motion, whereas throwing straight ahead will decrease it).

Backwards Toss and Deceleration Catch:  these are advanced throw variations that essentially reverse the acceleration and deceleration demands of throws.  They're particularly useful for athletes who throw in their sport, strengthening the muscles required for deceleration of the shoulder in throwing which is very important for injury prevention.

Wall dribbles: wall dribbles are essentially throwing and catching at very short range, so will reduce the range of motion through which the shoulder joint is moved.  This can be of benefit when more control is required, for example earlier on in shoulder rehab before full range throwing is appropriate.  See the below video for some examples of variations on wall dribbles.

Medicine Ball Overhead Squat

Light overhead squats are among the best full-body mobility drills out there (when done full range): ankles, knees, hips, back and shoulders.  With a medicine ball, a narrow grip is necessary.  This means greater emphasis on thoracic spine mobility, so may be a useful progression in developing upper back and shoulder mobility over time or within a single warm-up.

Holding the medicine ball overhead also requires the shoulders to be externally rotated, and a combination of a narrow grip and externally rotated shoulders is precisely what’s required with overhead kettlebell work, making medicine balls a good complement to kettlebell training.

Medicine ball overhead squat

Technique Points

  • Keep your arms locked and vertical (don't let them bend or drop forward).
  • Maintain thoracic spine extension throughout the movement.
  • Squat as deep as you can maintaining neutral spine, heels on the ground and knees tracking over toes.

This video shows a great medicine ball mobility sequence using the overhead squat:

Over, Under and Side Partner Passes

Over, under and side passes are partner drills that make a great combination to get the spine, hips and shoulders moving through a large range of motion in both the frontal and transverse planes.  Simple but very effective.

Over under medicine ball passes

Medicine ball side pass with partner

Technique Points

  • Simply hold the medicine ball in both hands and pass over your head, between your legs or to your side.
  • If you increase the distance between you and your partner, you increase the range of motion required.
  • Over and side passes can be performed in a kneeling position.

Wood Chops and Reverse Wood Chops

Wood chops and reverse wood chops are a diagonal rotational movements that are beneficial for hip, spine and shoulder mobility and stability.  They are good for any athletes who use similar movements, such as golfers or baseball players.  Wood chops may also be useful for athletes who don’t use rotational movements in their sport to activate spine and shoulder stabilisers and therefore assist with injury prevention.

With the medicine ball, wood chops and reverse wood chops may also be used as partner passing exercises or can be performed as a throw to increase dynamic effort.

Medicine ball wood chops

Technique Points

  • Swing the medicine ball diagonally across the front of your body from above one shoulder down past the opposite hip (or reverse direction for reverse wood chop).
  • Keep the arms extended throughout the movement.
  • Maintain extension of the spine throughout the movement (rotation is necessary but there should not be any flexion).
  • Modify the range of motion as appropriate (and depending on how far you can maintain neutral spine).

Lunge with Rotation

This is another great drill for whole body mobility, with ankles, knees, hips and spine all moving through a large range of motion.  The Dynamax Ball is especially well-suited for this exercise as its diameter encourages the scapula to be set in a neutral position, assisting with the maintenance of thoracic extension throughout the movement.

With a medicine ball this exercise can also be turned into a partner passing drill and even a throwing drill

Medicine ball lunge with rotation

Technique Points

  • Extend your arms in front of your chest holding the medicine ball (the more the arms are extended the more difficult the exercise).
  • Step forward or backward into a lunge and rotate your torso over the front leg, rotating from the waist rather than the hips.
  • Be careful to maintain spine extension while rotating.

Training for Maximal Strength and Strength Speed

Maximal strength sits at the end of the force part of the force-velocity curve with maximal speed at the other end.  In between you have strength speed (e.g. heavy Dead Ball clean), speed strength (e.g. heavy squat throw) and ballistic strength (e.g. light back toss).

It's important to know that training one end of the force velocity curve will result in improved performance at that end, but a reduced performance at the other end, particularly for advanced athletes (so if you train purely for strength, your speed performance will decrease).  Medicine balls can be a great tool for training all the way along the force-velocity curve, which is important for many sports where speed, strength and power are all required (think AFL).

Muscle force velocity curve

Medicine balls offer not only an alternative for adding sufficient load to maximal strength and strength speed exercises, they change the loading patterns compared with other object and therefore can change the muscle recruitment demands of a movement and help vary training stimuli, which can  be helpful for both injury prevention and plateau breaking.

Which medicine balls?

Maximal strength exercises can be performed with any type of medicine ball, however the primary concern will usually be getting a sufficiently heavy ball to be challenging with lower rep work.  Of course, “sufficiently heavy” will depend on your baseline strength level but for most people the heaviest Dynamax (30lb/13.6kg) and standard medicine balls (10kg) won’t cut it for maximal strength training (these lighter types of loads may be better suited to speed or ballistic strength).

Therefore, the Dead ball range with weights up to 85kg is usually going to be the most suitable for maximal strength or strength speed training.  In addition, the fact that the Dead Ball is somewhat deformable makes it easier to get a purchase on for very heavy lifting.

Push Ups on Medicine Balls

There are various ways in which medicine balls can be used in push-ups, usually with two main goals that will increase the difficulty of the push up to improve maximal strength: to elevate a contact point with the ground (hands or feet) or to make a contact point less stable or both.

Push up on medicine ball Push up on medicine ball

Push up on medicine ball

Technique Points and Variations

  • All the usual push up rules apply: neutral spine being most important.
  • When using medicine balls take your time to set yourself up properly and make sure you are stable before moving.
  • Push hands or feet directly down into the medicine ball (pressure in any other direction may result in the ball rolling out from under you).
  • Balls that are deformable are more stable than those that aren’t; dynamax and dead balls are less susceptible than rolling especially when there is pressure on them compared with standard medicine balls.

Hand(s) on medicine ball:  Destabilising the hands by placing them on a medicine ball (or balls) during push ups will increase recruitment of shoulder stabilising muscles such as the rotator cuff, as well as forcing core muscles to work harder.

If one hand is elevated on a medicine ball the bulk of the load is transferred to the, the chest, shoulders and triceps on the other side of the body – this sort of training can be used to gradually transfer more load to one side at a time to build up to one arm push ups by further extending the arm on the medicine ball.  Elevation of both hands allows you to go through a deeper range of motion.

Feet on medicine ball: Destabilising the feet by placing them on a medicine ball while doing a push up will have more of an effect on hip stabilisers and the core.  If the feet are elevated the angle at which the shoulders work in the push up is altered so there is more emphasis on the anterior delts and upper pecs.

Hands and feet on medicine balls: This is obviously the most difficult (and unstable) variation.

Medicine Ball Squats

Medicine ball squats with sufficiently heavy load are a great maximal strength exercise.  Medicine balls can be held in various positions while squatting to change the loading patterns, which can shift the focus of the muscles being used and provide stimulus variation.  To get balls heavy enough to develop maximal strength you'll likely need to use Dead Balls.

Dead ball shoulder squat

Technique Points and Variations

  • All the usual squat rules apply: stand with feet a comfortable width apart and squat as low as you can maintaining neutral spine, keeping your heels on the ground and knees tracking in line with toes.

Front squat:To "rack" the medicine ball simply hug it to your chest or hold it Zercher style.  The awkward shape of the medicine ball, and the fact that it isn’t easily rest

ed against the body, changes the way in which it loads a front squat compared with a barbell: the medicine ball front squat requires isometric upper body work.  This also means that the medicine ball front squat is likely to be limited by what the upper body can hold onto, rather than what the legs are capable of lifting.

The positions in which the medicine ball can be held in the front squat, are also more accessible than racking a barbell for those with limited mobility in the upper body.

Shoulder squat: A squat can also be performed with the medicine ball on one shoulder.  In this position the medicine ball is rested on the body so requires less upper body work than a front squat.  Squatting with the medicine ball on one shoulder also loads the squat asymmetrically, forcing stabilisers through the core and hips to work harder to maintain neutral spine.

Overhead squat: As mentioned in the mobility section, medicine balls can also be used for overhead squats, however for most people this will be more of a mobility challenge than a strength challenge.  Having said that, if it can be performed with heavier weights, an overhead medicine ball squat can be useful for developing overhead strength and stability.

Atlas Stone Lifts with Medicine Ball

Stone lifting is fantastic for functional maximal strength.  However, stone lifting is a very specific type of lifting that requires loading of the spine in a rounded position.  Given the spine is vulnerable in this position, it’s essential for safety that the body is specifically conditioned to accept load in exactly this position and that technique is perfected with lighter weights before heavy stones are tackled.

Heavier medicine balls can be used as a substitute for atlas stones, and are a great way to graduate preparation for atlas stone lifting.  The dead ball range is the obvious choice for atlas stone lifts because of the enormous weight range (up to 85kg).

Dead ball shouldering

Dead ball atlas stone lift

Technique Points and Variations

  • Stand over the medicine ball and squat down to reach your arms around it, keeping your arms straight.
  • Place your hands around the medicine ball, pushing your fingers as far underneath (and as close to each other) as possible.
  • Squeeze hard with fingers, hands and forearms and pull the medicine ball back onto your thighs ("lap" it).
  • You can reposition your hands at this stage to get a better grip.
  • When lifting with a rounded back it is vital that there is no eccentric muscle action during the upwards phase.  Meaning that at the bottom position the spine should be locked and should only extend during the lifting phase.

Stone lift/load: In the lift/load after the medicine ball is lapped, the legs, hips and back are powerfully extended to release the stone at a predetermined height (over a bar or onto a platform).  For more detailed information on technique take a look at this article on Atlas Stone Training for Beginner Strongman Competitors.  There is also some great instruction from Derek Boyer on basic stone lift technique using Dead Ball in the video below:

Shouldering:  Shouldering begins in the same manner as the stone lift, but instead of releasing the stone in front of the body after lapping, it is rolled up the chest and onto one shoulder.

Medicine Ball Cleans

A clean is a fantastic exercise that can be used for strength speed training or getting the medicine ball into position for another exercise.  Cleans require you to overcome resistance quickly and catch the ball in a strong position.  Dead Balls are well suited to this clean variation as they can easily and safely be dropped, much like a bummer plates.  An additional benefit is that the Dead Balls will be much harder to control than a barbell and require greater contribution from the upper body, so don’t expected to use as much weight.

Dead ball clean

Technique Points

  • Stand with the medicine ball between your feet.
  • Squat down, maintaining neutral spine, and hold the sides of the ball, pushing your hands underneath it and keeping your arms straight.
  • Rapidly extend your legs and hips to pull the ball up, still keeping your arms straight at this point.
  • Squat back underneath the ball and rotate your hands in the opposite direction so that you catch the medicine ball at your chest (arms bent) with fingers pointing up.

The clean instruction begins around 2:30 in the first video below:

Training for Speed and Power

As mentioned in the previous section, speed sits on the far right end of the velocity side of the force velocity curve, whereas power has contributions from both.

Muscle force velocity curve

If we think about the force velocity curve, medicine ball training is useful for developing speed strength and ballistic strength. Medicine ball throws are among the exercises that can be used to train rapidity in the stretch shortening cycle (SSC) of muscles, a quality that is crucial for ballistic activities and the expression of strength.

The SSC involves a resisted stretch (eccentric), then a briefly a balanced state (amortisation) followed by shortening phase (concentric).  This helps you store and utilise the energy from the eccentric phase, much like a spring, provided the amortisation phase is not too long.

So, if we were to simply look at throwing a ball the phases would be as follows: the torso would rotate stretching the oblique and crooking the arm, the torso would begin to rotate back, shortening whilst the shoulder is still being stretched, then it powerfully shortens utilising the stretch energy.  After the ball is released the rotor cuff decelerates the shoulder preventing it going with the ball.  This may or many nor involve another SSC (depending on technique used), but it is important to be aware of from an injury prevention stand point.

If we broke this movement down to train different aspect of it, we could use the side throw against a wall to train the SSC of the torso, concentric and eccentric chest pass to train the SSC of the shoulder and eccentric only to improve the deceleration of the shoulder joint at the end.

Medicine balls can be thrown in any direction to develop speed or power through all planes (a great way not only to prepare any sport that requires throws in many directions such as basketball but excellent cross-training and injury proofing for a wide variety of sports).  The exercises below are variations on medicine ball throws that require movement through different planes and focus on different parts of the body.

Which medicine balls?

All of the types of medicine balls mentioned in the  introduction are suitable for speed and power training, however the choice of medicine ball for any given exercise will be dictated largely by the weight you want to use and whether or not it requires bounce.  The weight of medicine ball will depend on the part of the force-velocity curve you intend to work, but with both speed and power training you want to be moving fast so avoid going too heavy and slowing the movements down.

Slams

Medicine ball slams are an excellent power exercise that involve rapid shoulder, truck and hip flexion.  Slams may be useful for improving the speed of shoulder extension so swimmers, strikers and throwers may all gain performance benefits from increased shoulder extension speed.   You want to be sure to use a medicine ball that can withstand being thrown into the ground repeatedly so Dead Balls are the best option.

Dead ball slams

Technique Points

  • Pick up the medicine ball up and raise it over your head with arms extended.
  • Throw the ball into the ground as hard as you possibly can.
  • You may want to try to get the ball to bounce, even slightly depending on the type of ball you're using, and attempt to catch it on the first bounce.

Wall Ball

The wall ball exercise involves a squat and overhead throw so is great for developing full body power or speed. One of the benefits of the wall ball exercise is that you can maintain the same work rate by aiming for a target, this means it is very scalable.

Wall ball exercise

  • Hold the ball at your chest and squat down.
  • Extend hips and legs rapidly while you throw the ball up.
  • As you catch the ball you can return to the start position to go straight into the next rep.

Chest Pass

The chest pass focuses on upper body horizontal pushing power.  This may be a useful variation to complement traditional horizontal pushing movement pattern, such as bench press.

The chest pass can also be performed in a super set with a maximal horizontal pushing strength lift such as bench press, this will allow you to train both end of the force velocity curve.  Additionally, this will allow you to take advantage of a phenomenon known as post-activation potentiation (PAP).  The idea behind PAP is that performing a heavy set maximal set will increase the performance of a lighter maximal set - so it’s a great way to train strength and power or speed at the same time. Sticking and collision sports in particular will benefit from this type of exercise combination.

Medicine ball chest pass

Technique Points and Variations

  • Hold the medicine ball with both hands at chest height.
  • Throw the medicine ball as hard/fast as you can directly in front of you (possibly to a wall or partner).
  • Catch, absorbing the shock by flexing your arms - leaving the arms out after every throw will allow you to decelerate it over a greater distance.
  • With light weights this can also be used as part of shoulder rehab.
  • You may isolate the concentric and eccentric phases.

Side Throw

The side throw focuses on transverse rotational power, using the trunk and hips.  Rotational power is often overlooked and is especially important for striking, throwing and rapid change of direction.  Having strong hips rotators may be useful in preventing non-contract ACL injuries.

Medicine ball side throw

Technique Points

  • Stand facing 90 degrees away from your target, holding the ball in both hands.
  • Rotate at the hips and throw the ball sideways as hard/fast as you can, extending the arms - as with the chest pass leaving the arms out after every throw will allow you to decelerate over greater distance on the catch.
  • Catch, absorbing shock by rotating your hips back to the start position and flexing your arms.

Overhead Back Throw

The overhead back throw is a great movement because it requires triple extension for power generation, making it particularly useful as a complement to jumping and sprinting.  This exercise also works well when combined with strength exercises such as deadlifts or squats.  Again, this will take advantage of PAP and help you develop both speed and strength.

Medicine ball overhead back throw

Technique Points

  • Hold the medicine ball in both hands in front of you, starting with some hip and knee flexion.
  • Throw the medicine ball back over your head as far as you can.
  • Don't be afraid to leave the ground when performing the throw.

Sit Up Throw

Sit up throws require rapid trunk flexion.  Rapid trunk flexion is very important for grappling sports like Judo and this exercise maybe useful for increase the power of shoulder throws.

Medicine ball sit up throw

Technique Points

  • Start by lying on your back holding the medicine ball in both hands at your chest or behind your head (the latter will be more difficult).
  • Bent knees is the easiest variation, straight legs the more difficult, in either variation to avoid feet lifting (overuse of hip flexors) dig your heels into the ground.
  • Sit up rapidly and throw the ball forward.
  • Catch and control your lower back to the start position.

Russian Twist Throw

This is a challenging exercise that isolates you abdominals, forcing them to control and produce rotational force.  This a variation of the side throw that places more emphasis on the abdominals (rather than the hips).

Medicine ball Russian twist throw

Technique Points

  • Start in a seated position, knees bent, holding the medicine ball in both hands at one hip (feet off the ground will make it more difficult).
  • Throw the medicine ball across your body, rotating at the waist as you do so.
  • Catch and absorb the shock by rotating back to the start position.

Training for General Conditioning

Medicine balls are a fantastic conditioning tool, either on their own or used with other equipment - the versatility of the medicine ball means you can get creative and have a lot of fun with it, and you're only limited by your imagination when it comes to using it for conditioning.

Medicine ball shoulder squat

Which medicine balls?

Any of the types of medicine balls can be used for conditioning and the choice will depend on what is going to be most useful for the exercises you wish to use.

Exercises

Any of the exercises mentioned previously, as well as those in the next section, can be used for conditioning - it's just a matter of deciding what's appropriate and working with a weight that will allow you to maintain good technique for the time or number of reps you wish to perform.  For example, performing a more technical exercise such as heavy atlas stone type lifts for high repetitions at the end of a session when you're fatigued may not be a great idea, something less technical such as wall balls would likely be safer.

Medicine ball push up

Examples of Medicine Ball Conditioning Routines

As mentioned above, you're really only limited by your imagination in terms of using medicine balls for conditioning and the fact that medicine balls are able to be thrown easily and are well-suited to complexes can add some versatility and a fun element to conditioning routines.  The following are just a few examples of how medicine balls can be used in conditioning routines to give you some ideas.

Dead Ball clean and throw, as many reps as possible in 5 minutes.

Overhead back throw and sprint.

Squat and jump thruster.

Medicine ball conditioning for basketball (exercises start at 3:15).

Medicine ball conditioning for MMA.

Partner conditioning routine.

More Medicine Ball Exercises

For even more medicine ball exercises you can find a detailed catalogue with photos on the Dynamax website and the Dynamax YouTube Channel has countless videos.

The following photos also show some exercises you are probably already familiar with using medicine balls for loading:

Medicine ball deadlift Deadlift

Medicine ball single leg deadlift Single leg deadlift

Medicine ball jump squat Jump squat

Medicine ball good morning Good morning

Lunge Lunge

Medicine ball lateral lunge Lateral lunge

Conclusion

Hopefully this article has provided you with information on a range of medicine ball exercises and their application in order for you to optimise your training outcomes.  For more information you can visit the Iron Edge website and YouTube channel.

Iron Edge medicine ball rack

*********************Once again a huge thank-you to James Ross for his assistance with this article, in particular the sports science side of things***********************