WHY DOING BALL SLAMS?
Medicine Ball Slams are functional and athletic full-body exercises:
An excellent form of upper body plyometric training designed to enhance overall power and strength while developing agility and reaction time.
Burn some serious calories, as your heart rate will be up during the exercise improving cardiovascular conditioning.
Develops multi-directional core strength.
Improves eye and body coordination and also upper and lower body awareness.
Pro Tip: Slams are an excellent choice to include in a high-intensity interval training routine or to add as a cardiovascular "finisher" to the end of a strength training workout or set.
With all these benefits Ball Slams can help enhance overall athletic and sports performance.
HOW TO ACTUALLY DO BALL SLAMS SAFELY
✔️Start with feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent. Hold a medicine ball or slam ball firmly in your hands.
✔️Lift the ball almost straight overhead with arms extended.
✔️Look straight ahead, inhale, and engage your core. As you exhale, bend forward at the waist and use core muscles to throw the ball down in front of you with as much force as possible.
✔️Let the arms follow through the movement. In the end, heels should be on the floor and knees slightly bent.
✔️Let the ball bounce off the floor and catch it on the return. If the ball does not bounce, then keep your abs contracted, lower into a squat, and pick up the ball using your legs.
✔️Lift the ball back to the starting position, inhale, and keeping slamming!
COMMON MISTAKES
❌Using Too Much Weight: You may want to grab the 30-pound medicine ball right away, but you should note that more weight isn't always better. The point of the medicine ball slam is to engage your entire body in slamming the ball with as much velocity and force as you can. So take easy, get your technique right, and then progressively work through the heavier ones.
❌ Doing Too Much Too Soon: Be sure to take proper rest between each set, ideally 40sec (intermediate or advanced) to 1min to 1:30min (beginners), so that you can do each set with maximum power and proper technique.
❌Not Using Enough Force as You Throw the Ball: Each individual slam should be performed with as much power, strength, speed, and control as you can muster. The goal should be to "break the ball" when it hits the floor.
Pro Tip: if you are just starting doing this exercise you may want to limit yourself to lower repetitions, I would say 10 reps maximum. For example, do 5 sets of 6 reps, and in the following week try to increase the number of reps, like 3 or 4 sets of 10 reps.
PRECAUTIONS
❗ Before beginning the Medicine Ball Slam, check the bounciness and weight of the ball.
❗ If you are using a bouncy ball, it can bounce back to your face, you sure won’t going to like it!
❗ Do not throw the ball straight down, always throw it a bit forward.
❗ Individuals with lower back pain or shoulder pain should approach the exercise with some caution.
Pro Tip: Avoid using more than 8lbs Ball in the first go. Beginners should look for a Light Sand-filled Slam Ball or a Medicine Ball that won’t bounce back, so you can work on your reaction time separately.
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