10 Best Medicine Ball Exercises for Full Body Workouts

A medicine ball exercise may help you build strength, speed, and flexibility while also burning calories. Medicine balls are great for full-body workouts, but knowing which exercises to incorporate can be difficult.

If you want to increase your fitness level and get in great shape, then this article will show you different exercises that use a medicine ball and can be done by anyone at any fitness level.

How to Use Medicine Balls in Your Workout

At first glance, a medicine ball may seem like a strange tool for your workout routine.

How can it help me lose weight? How will it fit into my current workout routine?

However, it would be best if you did not worry about any of those things because the following article will answer all of your questions and show you how to incorporate this unique piece of equipment into your fitness plan.

A Beginner's Guide to Using a Medicine Ball

If you are new to the world of  strength and resistance training, using a medicine ball is an excellent tool to use in your training, as it helps increase overall body coordination without placing too much stress on joints.

Medicine balls are an easy way to add resistance training into your workout routine.

But, how can you use them? How will they fit in with dumbbells and barbells? What size medicine ball should I start with? How do single-leg exercises prevent injuries before they happen? Think about these questions as well as others that may come up when reading this article.

Benefits of Using a Medicine Ball

A great way for beginners and advanced athletes alike, using a medicine ball can help you improve overall strength while focusing on specific muscle groups in certain areas of the body. Exercising your arms and back muscles will help you perform better during activities like pull-ups and  push-ups, which need arm stability while grabbing onto grips positioned high against walls for support.

Using Medicine Balls for the First Time

If you're a beginner and medicine balls are your first time using them, then there are some things that you should know before getting started. Medicine Balls come in all shapes and sizes, but the most commonly used medicine ball is about 8-12 inches in diameter.

The size of the medicine ball will depend on what level of fitness you're at - beginners may want to start with a lighter medicine ball, while more advanced exercisers might prefer something heavier. medicine balls are made from various materials, but the most popular medicine ball is a rubber medicine ball.

Additionally, medicine balls come with either dimpled or smooth surfaces, and they can be inflated or not. Finally, some medicine balls have handles that allow you to do things like slams for more advanced workouts, while other medicine balls don't have handles at all, which allows for easier gripping during sit-ups and push-ups.

Medicine balls also come in different colors depending on their brand - usually, lighter colored ones indicate an air-filled option. In contrast, darker colored options tend to be solid rubber medicine balls. These are great for getting an upper body workout, but they can also be used to challenge your core stability as well.

These workouts tend to burn more calories than doing the same exercises with weights because of all that stabilizing work you have to do when using them, which many people love about medicine balls. Also, if you're new to working out, I suggest beginning light and easy with medicine balls until you have a feel for how they relate to weights or your body weight before going heavy-duty.

The reason being is if someone picks up a medicine ball their first time trying them out and starts slamming it around without knowing how to use it properly, they could give themselves a pretty good injury.

Medicine balls are employed in various activities, from CrossFit workouts to core stability exercises that assist improve your trunk muscles.

Here are 10 of the best medicine ball exercises for full-body workouts.

1. Medicine Ball Push-Up

A ball may improve a great strength workout. Your chest, tris, and abs will all work harder, and holding the ball may be easier on your wrists than performing floor push-ups. The traditional push-up stance extends the wrists, causing discomfort and damage.

How to do it:

Step 1: Place your hands on the medicine ball's upper half, palms facing in. Point your fingers down and hold the ball firmly. Extend your legs behind you, feet hip-to-shoulder breadth. Make a straight line from head to heels by tucking your pelvis slightly.

Step 2: Lower your body to the ball. Throughout each repetition, compress the ball to reduce instability and stimulate maximum chest tension.

2. Advanced Variation: Alternating Push-ups with a Medicine Ball

Using one hand on the ball for push-ups promotes stability and helps identify weaker sides. It is a good variation when standard push-ups get too easy. It can also help you perfect the one-arm push-up.

How to do it:

Step 1: Place one hand on the medicine ball on top and the other on the floor nearby. Set your feet shoulder-width apart and do a push-up.

Step 2: Do a push-up, lowering your torso to the ball. As you push back up, swap hands on the ball and step to the opposite side.

Step 3: Push up the opposite side of the ball.

3. Medicine Ball Slam

The slam is a full-body workout that may be used as a CNS-priming warmup, an explosive power-boosting activity, or part of a conditioning circuit. Watch out for rebounds to the grill. It occurs often. The slam is also excellent for a hip hinge. Many believe it's all in the arms, but the strength is in the hips. Regain hip mobility and strength through your core.

How to do it:

Step 1: Hold the medicine ball in front of your chest with both hands.

Step 2: Raise the ball above, elbows bent. Contract your abs to keep your ribs down and your pelvis level. You may step on your toes to gain momentum.

Step 3: Steadily reversing the technique, bending the hips but maintaining the spine long slam the ball between your feet and get the rebound. Start the following rep with the rising ball.

4. Medicine Ball Russian Twist

Rotation is an important movement pattern for power development and general stability. The medicine ball makes them as natural as passing a basketball.

How to do it:

Step 1: Place the medicine ball between your hands in front of your chest. Raise your body and legs in a low V form, knees bent and heels lifted.

Step 2: Using your body to twist, tap the ball on the floor on each side. Keep your gaze ahead and compress the ball between your palms.

To make the workout easier or tougher, bend your arms more. Keep your feet still. It keeps the core engaged.

5. Overhead Squat

Overhead squats work your core — particularly your lower back — and place a greater strain on your stability than a traditional back squat. By holding the medicine ball over your head, you're also training your upper back, shoulders, and arms. With this squat variation, your range of motion will be altered, so pay close attention to your technique.

How to do it:

Step 1: Standing slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, maintain a straight over-the-head position for the duration of the action.

Step 2: Squat: Begin by bending your knees and pushing your hips back as if about to sit on a chair. When your thighs are parallel to the ground, come to a halt and check that your knees are not bowed inward.

Step 3: On the ascent, push through your heels, squeezing your glutes at the summit.

6. Single-Leg Deadlift

Single-leg deadlifts test your stability while isolating one leg at a time, which may help you correct any imbalances you might be experiencing.

How to do it:

Step 1: Put your feet together and hold the medicine ball straight out in front of you.

Step 2: Bend your hips, allowing your body to fall forward while keeping your right leg slightly bent, and extend your left leg straight out behind you while keeping your right leg slightly bent. Make sure your back is straight, your core is firm, your hips are square to the ground, and your neck is in a neutral position before you begin.

Step 3: To return to the upright posture, be sure that your torso is parallel to the ground. Then, perform three sets of ten repetitions on each side, three times each.

7. Side Lunge

Exercises that include movement from side to side are equally as vital as exercises involving front to back. For example, a lateral lunge is a terrific exercise to integrate into your workout routine.

How to do it:

Step 1: Holding the medicine ball at your breast, position yourself with your feet shoulder-width apart.

Step 2: Take a huge step to the right side of your body. When your foot touches the ground, bend your right knee and sit your hips back into a one-legged squat stance to complete the movement. Maintain the straightness of your left leg.

Step 3: Bring your right foot back into the starting position by pushing through it.

8. Medicine Ball Burpee Slam

This is one instance when the weighted version of a movement is superior to the bodyweight version. Anyone who has ever winced while witnessing a tired group class suck through burpees knows why.

How to do it:

Step 1: Stand shoulder-width behind the medicine ball. To start, squat down and squeeze the sides of the ball while jumping your feet out behind you.

Step 2: Then, jump your feet up to the sides of the ball and do a push-up. Lift the ball high with a long spine and a flat back, then crash it to the floor—one repetition.

Tip: Don't smash into that ball, or you'll be face down! So their first thought is to land on the ball and control it before they drop to their chests.

9. Skater Lunge

The ball not only increases resistance but also requires stability and response speed. So, in addition to helping skaters learn to control their bodies in motion and coordinate numerous muscle groups in multiple planes of motion, they may assist anybody to learn to control their bodies in motion.

How to do it:

Step 1: Sit on a medicine ball with your feet shoulder-width apart. Jump sideways with one leg, landing shoulder-width apart. Lie on your back and let the medicine ball pass between your legs. Soften the landing.

Step 2: Rebound to the opposite leg using the rebound effect. It would be best if you resembled an ice skater pushing off with one leg.

10. Toe touch

Finish it up with some additional abdominal training and a little more toe touching. Holding the medicine ball in your hands, lie on your back with your arms and legs outstretched and the medicine ball in your hands.  Lifting your arms and legs straight up to meet over your mid-body while engaging your core, crunch up to guarantee that they connect in the middle.

Slowly return to the starting position. Perform 12 to 15 repetitions on each side.

Wrapping Up

Doing these ten exercises consistently may help enhance your strength and power while using a medicine ball. You may avoid serious injury by following the necessary safety measures. Bear in mind that you should choose an exercise suited for your skill level and suitable for the routines you want to do.

These exercises are ideal for building endurance since you can do longer repetitions, and they are also excellent for overall fitness.

If you're looking for more endurance in your training,  ADABOLIC is a must-have recovery aid for any fitness enthusiast looking to boost their performance and recovery to break through plateaus and change their physique.