Medicine Ball Slams!

When I first got serious about training it was all about losing fat. Soon after I'd been consistently hitting the gym, I realized how much I needed those sessions, not just for fat loss but also for stress relief! One by one, the reasons I needed to be there out-weighed the reasons I wanted to skip, and so it became a critical part of my life. For the first quarter of this year I've had a lot of stress, including multiple hospital and rehab visits for my little 81 year old Dad to the illness and loss of our sweet dog Gracie. My primary job is sedentary right now and I've missed multiple workouts and my eating has been sporadic at best. I think it's time for some medicine ball slams!

If you don’t have a medicine ball, I would suggest you add one to your fitness tool kit. You can get the soft-sided balls at Target now for a great price and they frequently run them on sale. Dicks Sporting Goods and Sports Authority also have some, and if you want a really big one I’d go for the Dynamax. We have a 20lb one from Muscle Driver USA.

A soft-sided ball will allow you to do any of the med ball exercises in which you hold the ball in one or both hands. They are easy on the hands and have a non-slip grip. You can do slams on the ground and partner throws. If you want to do throws against a wall and have it bounce back, you want the hard ball. But actually I think if you’re only going to get one to start off with you’d want it to be soft, because you could grab an old basketball or volleyball to do wall slams and other bouncing exercises.

They come in several sizes and an average one to start with is a 6 pounder. If you’ve been exercising a while it might seem light, until you’ve held it in the air during rotation lunges, and then 6 pounds can seem pretty heavy! If you’re new to exercising you could start with a 4 pound ball, but I’m hard pressed to come up with a reason to go lower than that unless you’re going through rehab with a shoulder injury or have been given specific instructions such as post breast cancer surgery. If you are really conditioned, go with an 8 or 10 lb ball knowing you could graduate quickly to 12 and up for certain exercises.

There are a million things you can do with a med ball, but back to the slams. Here it is, very complex, are you ready? You will hold the ball overhead. Don't lock your elbows or your knees. With as much force as you can muster, you will bring your arms down fast and slam the ball into the floor as hard as you possibly can. That’s one rep. Sound too easy or simple? Just try one! Not only is it a great stress release, but it will work your arms, your shoulders, your upper back and core. Play with your form and engage your quads too. You will get your heart rate up. The heavier the ball, the more fun the slam.

Here are some tips on med ball slams:

Incorporate them into your interval training, such as 30 seconds of slams combined with 30 seconds of jump squats.

Do 20 slams for time, and then try to beat your time.

Do slams for a set amount of time, then try to do more slams in that same amount of time.

Brace your abs and use your entire torso to get that ball to the ground with as much force as possible.

Vary your leg positioning, such as stepping forward with one leg and slamming the ball. Switch legs.

Incorporate a wood chop effect. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and slam the ball just above and outside of your left little toe. Do the same on the right.

Grunt or growl really loud when you do them. The more barbaric you sound, the better the stress relief.

Watch out for small animals you call pets.

Do it outside. Concrete is best. You can't get the full effect if it's hitting grass.

Put a picture of someone who bugs you on the ground and try to hit it.

Do some slams in the garage before entering the house when you get home from work.

Use a med ball slam to kill a spider.

Be sure to do them while your neighbor is grilling out or having a party on his deck.

Let me know your favorite exercises to do with a medicine ball!

Home Gym Workout

Recently I had Branda Polk and our good friend Michelle over for a workout in our make-shift home gym in the garage. I've known Branda for a long time now and she's a fab trainer and friend. Michelle and I met through her, really hit it off and we get to train together about once a month via one of Branda's tough concoctions!

Now to put our workout together. We had some parameters and a few limitations. They both wanted to work on the TRX, so we had to include that. We only had 1 hour total. There were 3 of us. Michelle does not have kettlebell experience yet. It was blazing hot. My space is small and my equipment limited. How to get in the most work, expose them to the TRX and keep us all moving? Hmmm...

Not fancy, but it works!

I penciled out a workout that would be sure to include every major muscle group. I was excited so it turned out to be 12 different exercises! Then I arranged the exercises into 4 mini-circuits. Each mini-circuit would have 3 exercises, one for upper body, one for lower body and one for core. Since there were 3 of us, we would do stations for time. This means we each started out on one of the three exercises, worked for a set amount of time, then rotated until we'd done each exercise twice. We did this for each one of the circuits. Allowing for transition, it timed out for about a 48 minute workout. Not bad.

Equipment included the TRX, the ValSlides, the 20 pound soft-sided medicine ball, an upright roman chair for leg raises, kettlebells and dumbbells and the GymBoss.

The TRX Suspension Training System is a unique system that can be used anywhere, but we keep it hanging from a beam in our garage. We have a rubber mat underneath for foot traction and you can easily get a full body workout with it alone. Now I'm rethinking the word easily I just put in that sentence because it's challenging, but you know what I mean. For this workout we concentrated on inverted rows, atomic push-ups, side plank and balance lunges using the TRX.

Look at that wall that needs to be painted. I'm calling the builder.

Oh wait, he is the builder.

I love our 20 pound soft-sided medicine ball by Dynamax. It's huge! We used it for slams, which really works your core and arms, not to mention it is a great stress reliever! We found this big one at MuscleDriver USA. For a smaller version that is more practical check out my GFWK Amazon Store.

The ValSlides are too cool. Let me tell you guys, they are not just for girls. One of the last times I used them I was sore for days. You can use them in all sorts of ways under your feet or under your hands. This is one type of unstable surface training that works. They are one of the most inexpensive things you can add to your equipment and they are totally portable. For this we used them to do a lateral type lunge with a punch. While one leg works to keep from sliding, you slide the other leg back at an angle and throw a punch! I've also used them under my feet for all types of squats and lunges, mountain climbers and walking with my arms in plank. Under your hands you can do a run (like a bear crawl), extended plank, and other core work. Crazy fun!

Since Michelle had not used kettlebells before, I adapted a few moves I've learned from Anthony Diluglio of Art of Strength from my Providence DVD. We held a kettlebell goblet style for squats. We also did single-arm overhead presses, but sitting on the floor with legs stretched out wide. You should try this. It totally takes your lower body out of the equation so you can't use it for assistance. Really tough. Then we used them for tactical lunges. These are reverse lunges in which you pass the kettlebell under your bent knee to the other hand each time you lunge. This lunge is challenging not only for balance but also because you have to go deep if your arms are short in comparison to your torso. Not that mine are, I'm just saying...

Jimmy got the upright roman chair for Father's Day. It includes bars for pull-ups, dips and padding on the back so you can do leg raises. It's really been a helpful, compact piece of equipment to have around. We found it at Dick's Sporting Goods.

We got in a great, fun workout with three people literally in a double garage. Oh, I forgot to mention that until you've used the TRX a few times it's tricky to get your feet in it right for certain moves when you're on a timer. So we brought Jimmy out to be the atomic push-up helper boy. He even made us all protein shakes afterwards. Gotta love that guy.

What type of workouts do you do at home? What equipment do you use? Would love to hear your ideas and suggestions.

This post uses affiliate links with the exception of the link to Branda Polk. Branda is a personal trainer and friend. Please see my disclosure statement.

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