Exercise Tutorial: Medicine Ball Slams
Table of Contents
What Are Medicine Ball Slams
Medicine Ball Slams, also referred to as Med Ball Slams or MB Slams, is a classic exercise that has been around for years. Why is a classic, and still done by numerous athletes and individuals today? Because it’s simple and it works. The Med Ball Slam is a powerful full body movement to build full body strength and power to make you more explosive. It also is a great exercise to burn calories, fat and tone lean muscle, all while raising your heart rate.
How to Do Medicine Ball Slams
Begin by standing in a comfortable athletic stance (feet about shoulder width apart and a slight bend in the knee) while holding the med ball in front of you with both hands.
Inhale and brace your core
Extend your hips, ankles and knees as your raise up onto your toes while raising the MB up over your head with arms extended
Hinge forward at the hips and use your core and arms to slam the ball down towards the ground between your feet. Press your hips back and bend the knees in a semi squat to further power the slam. Exhale as you slam the ball down
Squat down to pick up the ball and use your legs to power yourself up to return to standing position, immediately moving into the next slam by going up onto your toes with the med ball overhead
Medicine Ball Slams Form
Maintaining good form is so crucial to reduce risks of injuries, especially when performing exercises under high intensity and fatigue. Here are some things to keep in mind:
Make sure your hips, knees and ankles are aligned. Drive those knees over your toes and don’t let them cave in
Maintain a neutral spine. Throughout this movement we want to maintain a nice flat back. It’s common when we slam the ball down and go to pick it up when tired that we round our upper back. We want to avoid this as much as possible.
Keep shoulders down and back
Focus on that triple extension. When bringing the MB up over our head
As we use our arms and core to slam the ball down, the momentum also causes us to lower into a squat. Maintain the above key features when doing so. The force you put into the slam will have it almost bouncing back up to your hands for you to catch, so you shouldn’t have to pick it up from the ground each and every time.
Medicine Ball Slams Benefits
There are so many benefits to adding the Medicine Ball Slam to your workout that you’ll want to start doing them ASAP! Some include:
Improves muscular strength and power
Improves muscular endurance
Improves cardiovascular fitness
Improves athletic performance
Can be incorporated into circuit training and HIIT workouts
Strengthen your core
Medicine Ball Slams Worked
Shoulders
Abdominals
Triceps
Calves
Latsissimus Dorsi
Glutes
Quadriceps
Hamstrings
Why Is The Medicine Ball Slam Useful
The Med Ball Slam is useful because it works the entire body, utilizing your upper and lower body as well as the core to slam the ball down to the ground explosively. This is a fantastic exercise that nearly anyone can do.
For beginners, you can start off by using a lighter MB or performing less reps to ensure you are implementing proper form and building strength in this position. Once you’ve mastered this you can work your way up to perform more reps. For the more experienced clients, you can increase your intensity by using a heavier MB, completing more reps or by trying a variation.
The MB Slam is also useful because it’s a functional movement can that transfer to other sports and exercises as well as everyday tasks such as picking something up off the ground. It’s also great for overall conditioning as it quickly raises your heart rate while simultaneously building strength and power.
Medicine Ball Slams Variations
Medicine Ball Wall Slams
The Medicine Ball Wall Slams, also known as Medicine Ball Throws, are a great variation to provide variety to your workout. To complete this exercise, set up similarly to the traditional slam, the difference being we’ll be standing with our side facing the wall about a 2-3ft away from the wall. We are going to hold the ball to our side furthest from the wall at about hip level. The slam comes from rotating the hips.
So, we are going to transfer the weight off that outside leg, rotating our shoulders with our hips to power that ball towards the wall, pivoting with our inside foot towards the wall. Depending on your distance away from the wall, you can catch it and reload that outside hip or let the ball fall to the ground before going into the next rep. Complete desired number on this side before switching.
Medicine Ball Slams Substitute
Not allowed to slam weights or med balls on the floor at your dumb or at home? Try out these substitutes:
Med Ball False Slams – you perform these the same way as the traditional slam, you just don’t actually let go of the ball. Make the motion of slamming the ball down while maintaining grip and control of the MB
Dumbbell False Slams – similar to the MB False Slam, produce the same movement while not letting go of the weights. To perform this substitute, hold two light dumbbells overhead and bringing them down along sides. Do so with caution!
