Pat Mediate, M.Ed, C.S.C.S. and Avery Faigenbaum, Ed.D., C.S.C.S. are leaders in the field of strength and conditioning. Pat Mediate is a Physical Education teacher at Greenwich High School in Greenwich Connecticut and Personal trainer. Avery Faigenbaum is an associate professor in the department of Health and Exercise Science at the College of New Jersey with years of experience in the weight room and on the playing field, they are well-recognized for their creative and unique fitness programs. Pat and Avery lecture across the country to schools and fitness organizations and are the authors of Medicine Ball Training for All. Pat and Avery currently serve on the Board of Directors of the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
Unlike other types of equipment, medicine ball training provides children, adults and seniors with the opportunity to strengthen their bodies through dynamic movements that require balance and coordination. Not only are medicine balls inexpensive and safe to use, but medicine ball training is fun! Furthermore, body weight exercises such as pull-ups may be too challenging for some individuals who are sedentary or overweight. Since medicine balls come in a variety of shapes and sizes, all participants can start at safe levels and gradually progress as needed. Medicine balls can be used by personal trainers as part of individualized workout sessions or by teachers and coaches in a group setting with a large number of people exercise simultaneously.
Unlike weight machines that train individual muscles or muscle groups, medicine ball exercises train the body to function as a unit instead of separate parts. For example, when you swing a baseball bat you don't think about each individual muscle, but rather all the muscles involved in creating a fluid swing. It is the creation of so-called ‚ 'functional' movements that mimic natural body positions and movement speeds that occur in daily life and game situations that make medicine ball training so valuable.
Medicine ball training also requires participants to use their mind as well as their body. Some medicine ball exercises are complex and require children to think about what they are doing and how they are moving. Medicine ball exercises can be cognitively stimulating and can result in real learning through task oriented approaches that enable youth to discover the answer by achieving a task on their own. For example, performing a lunging movement while moving a medicine ball in different positions causes the body to reach outside of its 'inner balance zone.' Through a constant interplay of imbalance and balance, a movement such as a medicine ball walk can aid the body in controlling its center of gravity. How far can you walk and still maintain dynamic balance if you add rotational and diagonal medicine ball movements? Each individual creates the answer to this task on their own, thus learning the movement forever. With a few medicine balls of different weight and sizes and a little creativity, conditioning programs can be designed for beginners as well as elite athletes.
Medicine ball training can be used as a stand-alone conditioning program or incorporated into a fitness workout or physical education class. Regardless of how it is used, the following basic principles are fundamental to the development of medicine ball training programs. These training principles can be easily remembered as the P.R.O.S., progression, regularity, overload and specificity.
P is for progression. In order to continually make gains in strength, power and local muscular endurance, youth must gradually and progressively place greater demands on their body. This does not mean that heavier medicine balls need to be used every workout, but overtime the exercise session should become more challenging by increasing the weight of the ball or altering the number of sets and repetitions. Changing other program variables such as the choice of exercise, speed of movement or distance between training partners (or the wall) is also important. For example, progressing from a traditional push-up exercise on the floor to a push-up with both hands on a leather medicine ball can add a new and challenging dimension to a training program.
R is for regularity. Medicine ball exercises should be performed at least twice per week on nonconsecutive days. While training once per week might maintain muscle strength, a training frequency of two to four times per week per is recommended to optimize gains in muscular performance. We suggest alternating training days with periods of active rest to allow for adequate recovery between training sessions and reduce the likelihood of overtraining. Adequate recovery between exercise sessions is vital for maximizing training-induced adaptations. Depending on individual goals, exercise tolerance, movement quality and time available for training, the frequency can be increased. If an individual strength trains on two consecutive days, different muscle groups should be trained each day to avoid overtraining.
O is for overload. This age-old principle means that the demands placed on the musculoskeletal system must be greater than that to which it is normally accustomed. So the medicine balls should be challenging, but not so heavy that repetitions, training speed and exercise technique are sacrificed.
S is for specificity. This common-sense principle refers to the distinct adaptations that take place as a result of a training program. Simply stated, if youth only perform medicine ball exercises for their upper body their lower body won’t get stronger. Furthermore, the adaptations that take place in a muscle or muscle group will be as simple or as complex as the stress placed on them. For example, since sports require multi-joint and multi-planar movements (e.g., frontal, sagittal and transverse planes), it seems prudent for young athletes to perform complex medicine ball exercises that closely mimic the movements of their sport. The specificity principle can also be applied to the design of medicine ball training programs for individuals who want to enhance their abilities to perform activities of daily life that also require multi-joint and multi-planar movements.