Medicine Balls

MEDICINE BALL BENEFITS

WEIGHT LIFTING TERMINOLOGY

REPS- Reps is short for repetitions. It refers to how many of the same exercise you do at any one time.

SETS- Sets are how many times you will repeat your reps. For example, you might to ten squats, three times with a 30-second rest between each set. In other words, you'll do 3 sets of 10 reps.

Weight training is split up into reps and sets because it's important to allow the muscles to rest in between dynamic exercises. By resting in between your sets, you can continue to work the muscle to exhaustion. Working the muscle to exhaustion may sound painful, and it might be when you first start training, but it's how you can strengthen the muscle. By exhausting the muscle, the tissues become torn and must repair itself, becoming stronger and more resilient.

How many reps and sets you'll want to do depends on the results you want. To build muscle you'll want to go for a heavier weight and fewer reps. For muscle endurance, you'll want a lighter weight for more reps.

A BRAND YOU CAN TRUST

Medicine Ball Exercises

Medicine Ball Lunge Twist

This is a good dynamic exercise that predominantly works the glutes, quads and hamstrings. You will also find that this exercise will work your core. To begin this exercise, stand up straight and hold the medicine ball in front of you - ensure you keep your elbows bent at 90 degrees. Then stride forward with your right foot, as you step forward, lower your body whist bending both your knees. Your knees should be at a 90 degree angle, it should almost look like you're kneeling on your back knee, but instead it's hovering above the ground.

Now, slowly twist your torso to one side. As you do this, keep your core engaged and squeeze your glutes to maximise this workout's effect. Twist your torso back to the middle with a slow and controlled movement, keeping weight of the medicine ball steady. Then return to the starting position. Alternate between stepping forward with your left and right foot for this exercise. This ensures you build your muscles evenly and prevents a visual imbalance.

Medicine Ball Russian Twists

This iconic exercise puts your core through its paces. You can start by sitting down on the floor, hold the medicine ball directly in front of your chest. After this, lean back so that your torso and back is at a 45 degree angle to the ground. If you're a beginner with this exercise, keep your feet flat on the floor and extend them so you can get a feel for the movement.

If not, keep your legs raised above the ground with a slight bend in your knees. Then, use your core to twist to the left, return back to the centre and then twist to the right. This counts as a single rep, do at least three sets with 8 - 16 reps to really reap the benefits.

Medicine Ball Leg Raises

Most core exercises will only tone one part of your abdominals, but this exercise is a great one for engaging every part of your abdominals. To start, put the medicine ball in between your feet or your ankles. Then proceed to lie flat on the ground with your arms at your sides. Lift the medicine ball off the ground with your feet. Keep your legs straight as you do this and squeeze the ball, this will help core engagement.

When you do this movement, use your hips as a hinge. You should really feel your core putting in the work here. As you lower your legs make sure they don't touch the ground. As your legs get close to the floor use your core to lift them back up again, then you will have completed one rep. If you are having trouble keeping your feet off the floor, put both of your hands beneath your glutes. It provides extra leverage for your lumbar spine and gives your abs a shorter range of movement. Once you've gotten used to this exercises, you may discontinue this method.