Medicine ball
Encyclopedia
Ball
A ball is a round, usually spherical but sometimes ovoid, object with various uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for simpler activities, such as catch, marbles and juggling...
roughly the diameter of the shoulders (approx. 14 inches). Often used for rehabilitation
Physical therapy
Physical therapy , often abbreviated PT, is a health care profession. Physical therapy is concerned with identifying and maximizing quality of life and movement potential within the spheres of promotion, prevention, diagnosis, treatment/intervention,and rehabilitation...
and strength training
Strength training
Strength training is the use of resistance to muscular contraction to build the strength, anaerobic endurance, and size of skeletal muscles. There are many different methods of strength training, the most common being the use of gravity or elastic/hydraulic forces to oppose muscle contraction...
, it serves an important role in the field of sports medicine
Sports medicine
Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with physical fitness, treatment and prevention of injuries related to sports and exercise...
. It should not be confused with the larger, inflated exercise ball.
Medicine balls are usually sold as 2–25 lb (0.90718474–11.3 kg) balls and are used effectively in plyometric
Plyometrics
Plyometrics is a type of exercise training designed to produce fast, powerful movements, and improve the functions of the nervous system, generally for the purpose of improving performance in sports. Plyometric exercises may also be referred to as explosive exercises...
weight training
Weight training
Weight training is a common type of strength training for developing the strength and size of skeletal muscles. It uses the weight force of gravity to oppose the force generated by muscle through concentric or eccentric contraction...
to increase explosive power in athletes in all sports. Some medicine balls are in the form of weighted basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
s.
History
Medicine ball training is one of the oldest forms of strength and conditioning training – the first reference to wrestlers training with sand filled bladders appears in Persia nearly 3000 years ago. In ancient GreeceAncient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
the physician Hippocrates
Hippocrates
Hippocrates of Cos or Hippokrates of Kos was an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles , and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine...
had them sewn out of animal skins and stuffed with sand. His patients threw them back and forth for injury prevention and rehabilitation.
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the words "health" and "medicine" were synonymous. The so-called "Four Horsemen of Fitness" were the dumbbell
Dumbbell
The dumbbell, a type of free weight, is a piece of equipment used in weight training. It can be used individually or in pairs .-History:...
, the Indian club, the wand
Wand
A wand is a thin, straight, hand-held stick of wood, stone, ivory, or metal. Generally, in modern language, wands are ceremonial and/or have associations with magic but there have been other uses, all stemming from the original meaning as a synonym of rod and virge, both of which had a similar...
and the medicine ball. This is where the beginnings of the modern medicine ball originate.
A 1914 audio exists of Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson (boxer)
John Arthur Johnson , nicknamed the “Galveston Giant,” was an American boxer. At the height of the Jim Crow era, Johnson became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion...
delivering a simple exercise routine using a Medicine ball.
Uses
Medicine balls are used by boxing professionals to improve the strength of abdominal muscles. This is done by dropping the ball onto the abdomen of the boxer, simulating a punch coming from an opponent. Other athletes use medicine balls to increase their core strength. One common activity is to have athletes hold the ball against their chest and thrust it at another athlete, who catches it against their chest. This strengthens arm, chest, and leg muscles.Medicine ball throws are also implemented as part of the SPARQ rating, a test of sport-specific athleticism, to assess core strength, total body power and coordination. Different tests involve an athlete throwing the ball behind them and over their head as far as they can, or kneeling and pushing the ball out from their chest for maximum distance.
They are also extensively used by secondary schools as a fitness aid. Example exercises include: lifting the ball or performing different exercises (such as sit-up
Sit-up (exercise)
The sit-up is a strength training exercise commonly performed with the aim of strengthening the hip flexors and abdominal muscles. It begins with lying with the back on the floor, typically with the arms across the chest or hands behind the head and the knees bent in an attempt to reduce stress on...
s and leg raises) with the ball in order to increase the stress on a particular muscle.
A medicine ball is also commonly used by athletes who have sustained an injury and seek rehabilitation. In most cases, throwing the ball at others would cause injury due to the ball's considerable mass.
Construction
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
or vinyl
Vinyl
A vinyl compound is any organic compound that contains a vinyl group ,which are derivatives of ethene, CH2=CH2, with one hydrogen atom replaced with some other group...
covered nylon
Nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers known generically as polyamides, first produced on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station...
cloth, and filled with impact absorbing materials to give them weight. Vinyl covered medicine balls typically are sand filled and are not used for exercises requiring bouncing. Sand or steel shot filled neoprene bags are also used for medicine ball exercises not requiring bouncing.
Some medicine balls have an inner half sphere of dense material in varying thicknesses and seamed together with an outer rubber
Rubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
shell. Other medicine balls have a thin rubber bladder
Bladder
Bladder usually refers to an anatomical hollow organBladder may also refer to:-Biology:* Urinary bladder in humans** Urinary bladder ** Bladder control; see Urinary incontinence** Artificial urinary bladder, in humans...
covered by a thick rubber outer surface. Medicine balls that are constructed with an inner rubber bladder and rubber outer surface incorporate an air valve to pump up the ball and increase the bounce. The outer rubber surface has indented designs for easy handling. Over time the rubber surface may wear down if the medicine ball has been used on rough surfaces.
Other types of medicine ball include balls made of gel
Gel
A gel is a solid, jelly-like material that can have properties ranging from soft and weak to hard and tough. Gels are defined as a substantially dilute cross-linked system, which exhibits no flow when in the steady-state...
-filled polyvinyl chloride
Polyvinyl chloride
Polyvinyl chloride, commonly abbreviated PVC, is a thermoplastic polymer. It is a vinyl polymer constructed of repeating vinyl groups having one hydrogen replaced by chloride. Polyvinyl chloride is the third most widely produced plastic, after polyethylene and polypropylene. PVC is widely used in...
shells, balls made of solid polyurethane
Polyurethane
A polyurethane is any polymer composed of a chain of organic units joined by carbamate links. Polyurethane polymers are formed through step-growth polymerization, by reacting a monomer with another monomer in the presence of a catalyst.Polyurethanes are...
, and neoprene bags filled with sand or steel shot. The materials can vary depending on the desired weight and density.
A basketball can be filled with sand, stitched shut, and used as an effective low-price medicine ball where resources are scarce, and is popular in, for example, home "garage" gymnasia.
Variations
Some producers of medicine balls incorporate handles on or into the ball. One or two handles may be molded into the ball, thereby changing the shape from a sphere. Handles may serve also as a strap for hand security and attach/unattach to the surface of the ball. A handle may also be an attachable rod that is screwed into the ball.The handle allows the user to grasp the ball either with one or two hands and swing the ball in movements with the weight placed further from the body. Handles that are incorporated into the ball allow the user a closed grip compared to an open grip of a large diameter ball. The user may also put the handle around their foot and complete exercises with added weight to the lower body.
A second variation is an attached rope through middle of the ball. The ball may be hollow with the rope secured at each end of the ball or the ball may be solid with the rope molded into the construction of the ball. These are known as powerballs, slamballs or tornado balls. The user grasps the rope along any length and swings and rotates the ball overheard or around the body. The ball can also be chopped or slammed against the ground or a wall.
A recent variation is the SandBell and SteelBell where the neoprene filled bag itself serves as a "handle" and adds a grip strength challenge to exercises along with a core stabilization challenge due the shifting fill material. In addition, the soft pliable bags offer a safe alternative for partner medicine ball exercises.
A user can convert a traditional medicine ball in a powerball by placing it inside a mesh bag cinched closed by a large rope used as a handle. The rope length should allow the user to wrap the rope around the hand for security.
The greater the distance the weight is from the body the greater the core
Core (anatomy)
In anatomy, the core refers, in its most general of definitions, to the body minus the legs and arms. Functional movements are highly dependent on the core, and lack of core development can result in a predisposition to injury...
strength and power
Power (physics)
In physics, power is the rate at which energy is transferred, used, or transformed. For example, the rate at which a light bulb transforms electrical energy into heat and light is measured in watts—the more wattage, the more power, or equivalently the more electrical energy is used per unit...
required to complete the exercises.