A medicine ball?  For many of us, the decision to include this old-school tool with the funny-sounding name into your fitness toolkit produces some questions.  What does this do and how is it different from any other kind of ball?  Well, for starters it has a unique history: the medicine ball has been used over many centuries by a variety of civilizations, and in the 21st century, by pugilists, Olympic athletes, and even American presidents, for a kind of strength training that’s easy and accessible. It’s been a part of the human history of using physical training to help individuals to the tough jobs and adapt to tough environmental pressures.

If you’ve never handled one before, here’s why so many have used this fitness tool.  The medicine ball is weighted.  It’s not like a volleyball or a basketball – it doesn’t airily glide around a room.  It’s like a bag of lead shot.

So what does this do for your body?  That’s where it gets interesting.  The weight of the medicine ball obviously can help you practice ‘resistance training’ (the kind of action where your body actually has to move weight rather than just moving itself) and just simple lunge or squat movements adapted to the use of a medicine ball illustrate the difference.

The benefits of resistance training are huge, and another kind of related exercise is also part of the medicine ball can help you do for yourself.  Some call it “plyometrics” or “explosive-reactive” power training.

The specifics of plyometrics are best defined by the pro trainers, but the essential idea comes down to momentum.  You get more of a training reaction when you have a “build up” – just like with a running jump, the athletic response from a higher-resistance activity tends to be greater – and that’s another way that the weighted medicine ball adds to your training responses.  Think of it this way: the potential energy caused by the weight of the ball falling is transferred into your responses and your workout.  And that’s why so many trainers advocate using resistance tools like the medicine ball for giving your fitness sessions a new dimension.  You can use them for weighted pick-ups, drags, presses, or all kinds of other activities, and benefit from the load that is inside – transferred through specific positioning to your muscular response!

Generally, the ball can also be used to develop your “core strength” – the strength of your abdominals, lower back, hips and spine.  Through “holding” or “throwing” positions, lots of muscle groups get a workout.  Or, holding the ball on a particular limb during exercise works just a specific muscle set.  You can practice throwing to get upper-body strength and re-activity, and possibly improve your bowling game!  And unlike bowling, using the medicine ball in a safe, sufficient space will help you learn to control a lot of weight.

So for a new way to work out with resistance, pick up a medicine ball and make it part of your routine.  You’ll gain balance, core strength, and upper body muscle tone (just to name a few)…and that’s good medicine you don’t need a prescription for!

Justin Stoltz.