Don’t (T)-Bag the Medicine Balls
By Jim Wendler
For EliteFTS

The medicine ball is probably the one of the most misused piece of equipment in the weight room for athletes. The main culprit is people doing exercises with the med ball that can be done as easily with a barbell or dumbbell. For example, I was at a university and the strength coach told me that he liked to do triceps extensions with med balls. I didn’t know what to say, so I blurted out, “I don’t do triceps extensions with med balls.” Pretty dumb answer but what does one expect? You get the point. The med ball is designed to be abused and thrown. It is designed to do things that a barbell or dumbbell (or now kettlebell) can’t do. So here’s a list of a couple of different ways that a medicine ball can be used.

The Bob Youngs Conditioning Test

Bob didn’t make this up, but Dave Tate has his “Tate Presses” and JM Blakely has his “JM Presses” so why shouldn’t Bob have something that bears his name? Plus, this is where I first learned about this, so let’s all raise a pint in honor of Bob. The basic premise behind this is to simply take a medicine ball, go outside, throw it, walk to the ball, pick it up and throw it again. Repeat as necessary. If you are really in shape, you can jog to the ball.

Here are some guidelines:

Use time as a guideline – Start with 5 minutes and work up from there. Once you are able to get to 15 minutes, your conditioning level is probably up to par. I would add 2-3 minutes per workout.

Use a comfortably weighted ball – When doing the Bob Youngs Conditioning Test the ball doesn’t have to be heavy. A 15-25lbs ball is usually used.

Variety of throws – I will advise you to use a variety of different throws when doing this but once you get tired, you will only use the chest pass. Trust me. But you can use the overhead forward, overhead backward and side throws during the workout.

Times per week – This kind of work is best done during a conditioning phase and should be done at least 2 times per week. You can do it on an off day or after a workout. I wouldn’t do this more than 3 times per week.

Abdominal Training

You ever see people do sit-ups with medicine balls? The best part is that they will do a sit-up, stop, and then throw the med ball to their partner. What the hell is that? That never made any sense to me. So here are some better ways to train your abs with a medicine ball.

Med ball sit-ups – Assume a sit-up position, place the medicine ball over your head and “throw” the medicine ball to your partner with your abs, not your arms. You have to concentrate on this part of the exercise because you will have a tendency to use your arms too much.

Med ball throw downs – This is great for young athletes because it’s fun to do. Place a med ball overhead, rise up on the toes, stretch your arms overhead and slam the ball into the ground. Do this for 10-15 continuous reps. Tell your athletes to try to break the med balls. This will make you more sore than you think.

Med ball side toss – Stand sideways to a sturdy wall (or partner) and with straight arms, throw the ball into the wall. The ball will be at about stomach/chest height and is a great way to train your obliques. The great thing about doing these against a wall is that you don’t have to throw the ball perfectly; you just have to concentrate on good form and throwing hard and fast. With a partner, the athletes get too wrapped up in making a perfect throw.

Partner Back to Back- These are done by having two athletes stand back to back and twisting side to side, handing the ball to each other.

Med ball on a rope - Take a medicine ball and attach a rope to it. Now you can perform the following exercises while holding onto the rope.

• Throw downs – (see above)
• Hammer throws – Spin the ball around your body (counter clockwise or vice versa) several times and throw it over your shoulder.
• Two arm swings – Spin the ball around your body. These can be done with your arms up high or brought a little lower. Try to keep your arms relatively straight.
• Single arms swings – Same as the two arm swings but use one arm


Med Ball Throwing

Now here is where the med ball can really make a difference. This is great for all level of athletes because it’s fun to do and it’s easy to teach. All you have to do is to tell them to throw far. I should point out that these throws should be done with a ball light enough to be explosive with but heavy enough where you don’t feel like you are throwing a wiffle ball. 

Overhead and backwards – Keeping your arms straight, let the ball swing between your legs and toss the ball overhead. This can be done for height or distance. Focus on driving your feet and body through the ground as you throw the ball.

Overhead and forward – This is similar to how one would throw a basketball. This is not done for height (obviously) but for distance. This will kill your abs, shoulders and lats.

Chest pass – Pretty standard but can be done with a different foot forward or both feet side by side.

Single arm med ball throws – These can only be done with a med ball that has a built in handle. These are awesome for overhead and backward throws.

Med ball pendulum swing – Hang a med ball from the ceiling using a rope and perform chest passes and overhead and forward throws. The ball is obviously going to swing back to you. This will take some time to set up (and some ingenuity) but would be great for those that don’t have a sturdy wall or partner. If your ceiling is too low, try doing these on your knees or seated. These can also be done using one arm.


So there are a few good medicine ball exercises that are pretty specific to the med ball. Abdominal work would be great to do on an off day or after your training. The med ball throwing would be great to do on any dynamic effort day, probably after your first two movements of the day. The bottom line is that the medicine ball is a fun and different way to train. Because the medicine ball is designed to be thrown and abused, use it in this manner. You don’t buy a Lamborghini to drive to church so don’t use a med ball for something that can easily be done by a barbell or dumbbell.

Check out this link for more information on purchasing medicine balls:

Medicine Balls