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Medicine Balls: A Prescription for Athletic Success
Medicine Balls have been used in the training and preparation of athletes for centuries. From the ancient Greeks to the boxing and physical culture studios of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, athletes have enjoyed the benefits of medicine ball training.
The true value of this training implement is its diversity of uses. This month's column will focus on one of those uses: the development of sport specific power.
Power can be simply defined as a combination of strength and speed. In other words, power involves the application of force in the shortest amount of time possible, or work performed during a specific period of time.
While absolute strength (the maximum amount of force possible, irregardless of the time frame in which it is produced) is important for sport performance, it is some aspect of power which is needed to perform in sport competition. Power dominated sports include football, hockey, basketball, baseball, tennis, wrestling, Olympic lifting, and the sprints, throws and jumps events of track and field. This list is hardly all-inclusive. In fact, even endurance sports like cycling demand a certain degree of power for optimum performance.
Power has traditionally been developed via explosive lifting exercises like the classical lifts (clean and jerk, snatch) and their derivatives. In addition, plyometric training has successfully been utilized to develop athletic power.
Medicine ball training can be utilized as a form of plyometric training, although many countries distinguish between the two forms of conditioning. Irregardless of terminology, medicine ball training can be an effective tool for developing the athletic quality of power.
One advantage of medballs revolves around the fact that there exists no need to decelerate the training movement. Utilizing throws and puts allows the athlete to develop maximum force through a full range of motion. This is not possible with conventional weight training due to the fact that the bar or dumbbell must be decelerated towards the completion of the movement. Otherwise, the potential for injury is great. On the other hand, an athlete can launch a medicine ball, releasing the weighted implement without having to slow down or decelerate the action. This in itself is more specific to the activities of sport. A boxer does not think of slowing down the speed of his punch prior to contact with his opponent. He often visualizes "punching through his opponent". Deceleration of his fist would diminish the force delivery and produce an inefficient movement. In much the same manner, a baseball player does not try to slow his bat speed while trying to hit a pitch. If he did, the decrease in bat speed would cause less force to be imparted to the oncoming ball and the ball would not travel as far. The same holds true for the golf drive or the shot put.
As you can see, maximum force development is ballistic in nature. It lacks a deceleration phase. It must involve a high rate of force development, which can be thought of as producing force as quickly as possible. A high RFD (Rate of Force Development) is a characteristic of must successful sport actions.
Another advantage to training with medballs is the ability to work with different loads, just as with other forms of resistance training. As such, the principle of overload can be achieved via a systematic, periodized progression as the athlete's abilities improve.
In addition, the various weighted medballs can be thrown, putted or launched from an endless variety of sport specific postures and biomechanical positions. The principle of Specificity can thus be incorporated into the athlete's training.
Medicine balls can be thrown against a wall or with a partner or partners. The act of catching a powerfully delivered throw is also a great stimulus for training the core muscles to act as shock absorbers or decelerators. As such, the concept of force acceptance, or force reduction can be applied to the athlete's training.
Medicine ball drills can be structured to match the metabolic needs of the sport as well. The number of throws, the grouping of the repetitions and the rest intervals between individual throws and groups of throws (sets) can all be arranged to mimic the work: relief time frames inherent in the particular sport or sport activity in which the athlete is preparing to compete.
As with any form of training and conditioning, medicine ball work should be periodized in terms of volume, intensity and frequency of training, In addition, due to the high degree of CNS stimulation and considerable forces imposed upon the athlete's body during this type of conditioning work, medicine ball training must be integrated into the total program with respect to the other training activities. These activities may include, but not be limited to: other forms of resistance training (i.e. weights); speed, quickness and agility drills; and tactical and sport skill work. It is important to remember that stress is cumulative: no one training stimulus exists within a vacuum. It is the total combined stimulus, or stress, that impacts on the athlete's ability to recover and make the adaptations that we hope to achieve.
For more information on medicine ball training and its application to sports performance enhancement, feel free to contact O.P.T.I. Sports & Fitness Clinic for an upcoming list of seminars and a list of written resources that deal with the topic.
Richard C. Lansky, CSCS
Clinic Director
TRAINING TIP OF THE MONTH ARCHIVE
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