Vishy Dadsetan

Slam Medicine Ball -  Add a rope to anything and your fun factor jumps. A tree is a tree until you hang a rope to it and swing over and jump into a cool pond in a hot summer afternoon.

Medicine ball is great. But add a rope to it and your definition of aerobics and fun may change to Oh My God, what did I get myself into?

Don’t get excited yet.

Lets take it from the top, slowly.  When you rotate your body, you engage your core. Rotate your body fast enough to get a good hard slam on the wall or on the ground, your core engagement goes through the roof. Keep this up for a few minutes and your lungs can go on fire. In a good way.

But all is not well in the land of Oz. The wizard has some tips for you.

Trunk rotation comes from six major and distinct points. Your ankle, then your knee, then hips, your lower part of your spine, your upper part of your spine and your neck. In the rotation with slam medicine ball, you also engage your shoulder joint.

Wow, leave it to me to change a simple exercise into a complicated affair and take all the fun out of it.

Why do I do this?

I have seen too many injuries that could be prevented with a bit of understanding. And believe me, injury is not fun at all.

So, stay with me.

Slam Medicine Ball Rotation Tips

Out of the six possible rotational points, only two are really designed for rotation. Your upper part of your spine and your neck. If you force rotation to other points you can strain and possibly injure them. At the very list you create weakness.

To create rotation awareness, you really need a coach, but do the following exercise very very slowly and with minimal force.

Stand  with feet hip-width apart. Tighten your body from ankle up and then rotate slowly only allow rotation at your ankle. You’ll notice that your ankles don’t like this at all.  Now allow your knees to follow but keep your hips and torso in the same line. This shifts the rotation to your knees and they will begin to protest. You get the picture.

The only productive rotation comes from keeping your ankle, your knee and your hip aligned and more or less locked and rotating your shoulder to engage your core.  A simple way of doing this is to use your slam medicine ball on a seated position with your knees bent and your heels on the ground or better yet your feet off the ground to allow free movement if the ankle and knee.

In a standing position unless you learn how to rotate your feet as you slam, you risk injury.

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Three safety conditions should be met working with superbands resistance training.

Elastic band quality – Ultra violet, weather and use impact the band. If you notice discoloration in the band, pay closer attention to it. You may find that the band is pealing or tiny breaks on it. This usually happens before the band snaps.

Keep your bands in their protective cover and besides your visual inspection, run your hand over the band looking for cuts nicks and tears.

Appropriate tension – As you stretch the band the tension increases. Often if not always your legs are stronger than your arms.  The appropriate tension that creates enough resistance for your legs often creates an injury level overload for your arms.  For aerobics type exercises you choose a load appropriate for your arms and use your body weight for the additional necessary resistance to work your legs. This can only take you so far.

Core tension – Sagging belly ( not as in fat, but as in lost abs tension) creates tremendous amount of load on your lower back. Keep your abs tight to protect your lower back.

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Superbands are one of the most effective exercise tools in your arsenal. They are extra strong resistance bands for  heavy duty use.  They are relatively simple to use which does not mean you cannot make mistakes with them. But the mistakes are easy to remedy once you understand a simple principle.

As you stretch the band the resistance increases. For example in superband overhead squat, standing up creates the maximum load and with an extended shoulder, your strength is limited to how strong your shoulder stabilizers are. And I guarantee that they are not as strong as your legs.

What does this mean?  Decide if you want to work your shoulders or your legs. If you want to work your legs, choose the appropriate band that will not allow you to extend your arm. And if you choose your shoulder, choose lighter band but then do a full squat to get your quads involved.

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But there is more to medicine ball than ab exercise. Click on the image below for details.

Your abs are a very small muscle group and they do not burn a lot of calories. If you are looking to lose weight, ab exercise equipment is the last thing you want. Instead, try some whole body exercises like squats, push up and pull ups.