Medicine Ball Madness by Mark-Anthony Bailey

An ongoing series of medicine ball exercises......

In today’s technology driven world we are amazed each year as the new generation of exercise machines hit the market. Machines can do everything from count your reps for you to letting you know what range of motion you are working in. In fact, in many commercial gyms sales reps push the fact that their facilities boast the newest, most advanced machines around. Indeed, machines do offer several advantages to the weight trainer. Ease of use, safety issues, rapid weight adjustments are just some of the attractions that machines offer. Unfortunately, as a result of the machine craze, some tried and true methods of training have been almost forgotten. During the past year medicine ball workouts have experienced resurgence jumping from the university strength & conditioning rooms to the commercial gyms, and there is good reason for this.

The medicine ball offers a perfectly balanced means of moving against resistance in an almost unlimited number of directions. It effectively addresses issues of functional strength, balance, and flexibility; all being extremely useful to any strength athlete. The ability to use the ball in so many directions and cut across all planes of movement allows the athlete to train in larger and more natural ranges of motion. These options would not be available to strength athletes using free-weights and machines alone. The unique ROM allows the athlete to develop a greater range of dynamic strength, increases flexibility, and also permits the athlete to train around previous injuries. Use of the medicine ball should not be seen as only a means of addressing established training issues (imbalance, inflexibility, injury), but also as a staple in a well-rounded training program.

Here is the first installment is a series of medicine ball exercises.

The Wood Chop.

Similar to taking an axe and chopping firewood, this movement is an excellent exercise to develop overall rotational flexibility and is also an excellent warm-up exercise. Because it breaks through all planes of movement and involves the muscle in the shoulder, lower back, hips and lower trunk, the wood chop is an exercise that can train many muscles in a manner that most machines miss. With that being said, you must also realize that because it is not a traditional movement it will take some practice to perfect the motion and reap the benefits. Take your time and always keep the ball under total control; never allow momentum to take over. Also realize that you will not feel the 'pump' that you normally would with a traditional movement. This exercise is used to increase flexibility and for injury prevention/rehabilitation, not to build large amounts of muscle.

 

Mark-Anthony Bailey is the Editor-in-Chief of MostMuscle.com. As an Exercise Physiologist and competitive natural bodybuilder, his goals have been to ensure that his clients get the latest information on training techniques, nutritional guidelines and lifestyle modifications needed to obtain optimal health. He can be contacted at: markanthony@mostmuscle.com