Sports & Fitness With A Medicine Ball

Ranging in size from 1 to 30 pounds, medicine balls were first used in ancient Greece and Egypt. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, used heavy padded balls made from animal skins and stuffed with sand to treat his patients. Walk into any gym and you'll see exercisers of all abilities tossing and catching medicine balls as well as using them for resistance training.

For Strong Muscles

Medicine balls function the same as free weights and weight machines for any athlete. When you ask your muscles to work harder, they respond by gaining mass and growing stronger. Some medicine ball exercises target specific muscles, such as the seated trunk rotation. In this exercise, you work your abdominal muscles by sitting on the floor with your legs extended and your knees slightly bent and twist from side to side while holding a medicine ball.

Other exercises, such as passing and catching a medicine ball with a partner, work your abs, back, butt, hips, chest and shoulders. To throw the ball, keep your stomach pulled in and your hips forward. Step into a forward lunge and push the ball away from your chest toward your partner. Catch the ball in a standing position, with your feet hip-width apart and arms outstretched in front of your body. Once you catch the ball, allow it to decelerate toward your chest.

For Endurance

Once you have mastered the techniques for an exercise, doing it with a medicine ball adds a degree of difficulty that increases your endurance for any sport. For instance, your heart rate will increase and your breathing will be more rapid when you do pushups by holding on to a medicine ball, because all of your body's muscles are involved in helping you maintain your balance. Use a ball with handles to reduce the pressure on your wrists. And be sure to use slow and controlled movements to counter the instability of the ball, the American Council on Exercise instructs.

For Performance

Plyometric training relies on short bursts of intense activity to increase the power acceleration and strength of your muscles, an important ability in many sports. Jumping provides plyometric exercise for your legs, and medicine balls provide plyometric exercise for your upper body. According to the College of Sports Medicine, throwing and catching a medicine ball stretches and shortens, or contracts, your muscles to provide a plyometric benefit.

Precautions

Learning the technique of using a medicine ball takes a bit of time. Before you launch into any exercise, practice slowly before increasing your intensity or pace. Choose a ball that is heavy enough to give your muscles an additional workout, but not so heavy that you lose control or become sloppy with your technique. For exercises involving a partner, make sure that your partner matches you in skill and endurance. Make sure, too, that you both check on your partner's readiness before tossing the ball.