Medicine Ball Exercises that AREN'T Wall Balls

What's up, Fringe Fam? We hope your New Year is going swimmingly - this year is already flying by and we're in the midst of some crazy times over here at Fringe Sport. If you haven't heard, (umm... you need to subscribe to our email newsletter!!) we're MOVING!

This is no small feat. It's madness, if you will. We're moving our warehouse, all of our inventory, and everything inside of Fringe HQ to a new, better set-up so we can continue to help you improve your lives through strength, which is why we're running a MASSIVE sale through 1/30/22. We can confidently say that these just might be our deepest discounts EVER, so make sure you snag something if anything you see on our site tickles your fancy. We can't promise you'll see prices this low ever again!!

Anyway, back to it. Today, we're gathered here to talk about the infamous medicine ball.

A sneaky piece of workout gear, the med ball. We all know how quickly wall balls can sneak up on you, blow up your legs, and leave your shoulders on fire (thanks, Karen).

But, a medicine ball, commonly called a wall ball because of the exercise, is underrated for other means of training. In a CrossFit Level 1 Certification, the med ball clean is one of the first movements covered because while it seems quite simple, there's more technique to it than one might think. The same goes for quite a few other medicine ball exercises.

In the past, a few of our previous Fringe Fam employees, Ricky and Orion, have broken down a few other exercises you can add into your training to shake things up and train a little differently with a simple medicine ball. Let's get the first of these movements on the table:

Ahhh, the med ball death march. This is tougher than it looks. Trust us - get going through these for a while and your shoulders and hamstrings will be talkin' back to you. The med ball death march is great for warming up, but also for general conditioning and throwing a new and challenging movement into your training. If your med ball is heavy enough, you'll start to feel these as if they were a ground to overhead movement paired with an RDL or single leg deadlift. This is great for shoulders and working hamstrings, along with coordination to make sure each part of the movement is executed correctly with the right timing.

Next up:

Medicine Ball overhead lunges. PHEW! Lunges can be hard enough on their own, but thrown in a med ball at your chest or overhead, and you're in for a challenging treat. Overhead med ball lunges are great for challenging your shoulders, creating shoulder stability, which in turn creates core stability as you work to keep the med ball overhead and balanced while the lower half of your body works through the lunges.

These might be more challenging than they look, and that's okay if they're not easy for you at first. Not only does it take mental focus to keep the ball stable and overhead as you lunge, but the med ball adds extra weight to your lunges. If you're struggling with these at first, try a med ball lunge while the med ball is either at your chest in a goblet hold or while you're giving it a big 'ole hug. This can help you create strength in your core and legs that will in turn lead you to be able to successfully implement med ball overhead lunges in your training in the future.

Last, but certainly not least and potentially the most challenging:

The med ball split jerk slam. PHEW, what a mouth full. This exercise is great for working stabilizer muscles you never even knew you had, and can be fun to throw into your training every now and then to work on your coordination, balance, and better and stronger positioning for your split jerk.

This one is best done with a partner, so you can have someone to throw the ball back to you and catch your slams. The idea is to have your partner toss the ball up, over your head, while you're in a split jerk landing position to challenge your stabilizer muscles as you reach for and catch the toss. These are SNEAKY, and work not only muscles you didn't know you had, but you brain and coordination and balance, too. All good things!

Give these movements a try in your next workout. If you don't have a medicine ball in your arsenal, what are you doing? Get one HERE. 

As always, Fringe Fam, lift heavy, lift happy :)