Medicine Ball Slams

Contents

1. How To Do Medicine Ball Slams ?

2. Benefits

3. Step-By-Step Instructions

4. Which Muscles Medicine Ball Slam Works?

The slam ball, otherwise known as a medicine ball, is a highly useful and versatile workout tool. It allows you to provide resistance and added weight while performing dynamic movements. These challenging movements will target your body head to toe, and force your heart rate to skyrocket.

How To Do Medicine Ball Slams ?

On the surface, medicine ball slams may look easy. But doing them incorrectly can cause muscle pull and pain. To avoid that, here’s a step by step guide on how to do medicine ball slams:

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, and hold a 4-6 pound medicine ball in your hand.

• Lift the medicinal ball overhead with your arms extended.

• Look straight ahead and inhale.

• Bend forward at the waist and use your core muscles to throw the ball down in front of your feet with as much force as possible. Contract the abdomen effectively and exhale while doing the exercise.

• Let the arms follow through the movement to prevent falling.

• In the end, the heels should be on the floor and knees slightly bent.

• If it is a bouncy ball, let the ball bounce back, and you catch it. If the ball does not bounce, then keep your abdomen contracted and pick up the ball.

• Lift the ball back to the starting position, inhale, and slam

Benefits

Medicine ball slams really do hit just about every major muscle group, making them an excellent addition to high-intensity workout routines. In just your upper body, your shoulders, chest, biceps, triceps, and upper back are all involved in the lifting and throwing phases of the exercise

Full-Body Workout - Even though the movement looks upper-body focused, your lower body and core also have to engage to provide the power and spring for the lift and throw. Medicine ball slams require a coordinated effort between your upper and lower body to maintain the flow of the exercise. This exercise requires your core muscles—including your glutes, abdominals, low back, spinal erectors, and even your rotator cuffs—to work together to power the movement. Done regularly, this means medicine ball slams can help enhance core strength and stability

Increasing Agility - Whether you're an athlete who needs agility on the court or field, or you just want to move more smoothly through life, improved coordination powered by enhanced core stability and strength can help you adjust to unexpected physical challenges or barriers you might face throughout the day. For instance, if you have to run to pick up a soccer ball before it rolls into the street, or if you want to catch your balance before you fall, being able to remain in control of your limbs while using your core can help prevent injury.

Increased Metabolism - Medicine ball slams can also really torch your metabolism. Incorporating powerful, full-body, repetitive exercises into your routine means your cardiovascular system has to work harder to provide oxygen to your working muscles, particularly when performing the exercise for a sustained period of time, like a 60-second circuit.

Step-By-Step Instructions

• To start, stand tall with your feet roughly shoulder-width apart, your knees and hips slightly bent, holding a medicine ball in both hands at your torso. Engage your core, drawing your abs toward your spine and rolling your shoulders back to start with perfect posture.

• Squat down slightly to load the spring. Then, in one powerful motion, inhale and press through your heels before rising up on the balls of your feet. Extend your knees and hips as you rise to power the upward swing of your arms and lift the medicine ball overhead. The ball should be almost straight overhead with your arms extended at the height of the movement. Keep your arms straight, not leaning back so the ball is behind you.

• Use your core and your arms to slam the medicine ball straight down between your feet with as much force as you can. Press your hips back and bend your knees to further power the slam. Exhale as you slam the ball down.

• Squat down to pick up the ball from the floor, then immediately move into the next slam by powerfully using your calves, quads, hamstrings, and glutes to rise up to standing. Come up on the balls of your feet again as you lift the medicine ball overhead.

• Continue for a full set of slams (either a number of reps or a time interval).

Which Muscles Medicine Ball Slam Works?

Medicine ball slams work the abs, deltoids (shoulders), biceps and triceps (arms), lats (upper back), glutes (hips), quads, hamstrings, and calves (legs). It is basically a full-body workout and has many benefits. Let’s take a quick look at what those benefits are.