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Five medicine ball exercises you can do now to increase your functional core strengthCore Strength is more than just a buzzword. Athletes, especially basketball players, have long known the advantages of having a strong torso. After all, all your movements are powered by your torso – the abs and back working together to support the spine. Your torso is your body's center of power, so the stronger you are in that area, the easier it is for you. Following are five medicine ball exercises you can incorporate into your torso training. 1. Walking Lunge / Medicine Ball Twist – To perform a proper walking lunge, hold a medicine ball in front of your chest. Each time you lunge forward, rotate the ball over the lead knee and return to the center before driving up from the lunge position. Make sure your shoulders are rotating as well and the ball is staying in front of your chest. Do not just move the ball side to side. Adding this then rotational component to a traditional lunge will not only challenge your balance and body control but also will develop the strength and flexibility across your body. 2. Reverse Lunge / Overhead Reach – To perform a stationary reverse lunge, hold a medicine ball in front of your chest. Each time you drop back into the lunge position press the ball above the opposite shoulder of the foot that went back. Make sure your chest stays over the top of your front hip and does not begin to arch back excessively. Again, adding this rotational component will develop both flexibility and strength across your entire body. 3. Chop Lunge – Start with the medicine ball in both hands stretched out over one shoulder. In a diagonal pattern, take the ball across your body down to the ground on the outside of your foot. As you begin to bring the ball across, make sure your chest stays up and you drop your hips and bend your knees to get the ball down. It is also important you learn to pivot your outside foot. Both feet start straight ahead but as you drop and stretch across your body the outside foot will pivot inward until your toe is pointing toward the arch of your opposite foot. You should feel a strong stretch in the hip that the ball is going toward. This is a great strengthening exercise to develop the ability to stop in basketball. 4. Medicine Ball Slams – Start with the medicine ball in both hands stretched straight above your head. Reach up as high as you can, then snap both arms toward the ground with as much force as possible. Absorb the ball with your hands, allowing it to stretch you back into the start position. Try not to just use your arms. You will be able to generate a lot more force if you get your entire body into the exercise. This is a great upper body and core exercise. 5. Medicine Ball Push-ups – There is a variety of different ways you can incorporate a medicine ball into a push-up movement. The instability of a ball engages way more muscular recruitment to maintain joint stability and balance. In the beginning, place one hand on the ball and one hand on the floor and perform a traditional push-up. As you get stronger you can try placing both hands on the ball and maintain your balance directly over the ball. Again, this is a great way to develop both upper body strength and core strength at the same time.
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