Medicine Ball Training – Exercises, Programming Guidelines, and More!

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Utilizing medicine ball throws in your training is a great way to transfer your general strength qualities into baseball specific power!

Power development is plane specific and medicine ball throws will allow you to train more “baseball specific” power by allowing you to work in planes (frontal, transverse) that are required by your sport (baseball).

Medicine Ball Drills and Weight Used

In the sections that follow, I have listed some of our favorite medicine ball drills, the weight we use, and a hyperlink video of each exercise.

Rotational Scoop Tosses

New York Mets Pitcher, Colin Holderman Performs Hook-Behind Medicine Ball Rotational Scoop Tosses
Medicine Ball ExerciseWeight UsedHyperlink Video
Forward Facing Scoop Toss6 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfZlZknuAXA
Rotational Scoop Toss6 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FpDi3cWbr4
Step-Back Rotational Scoop Toss6 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=535h9EjA-lY
Split-Stance Anti-Rotation Scoop Toss6 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_x1lB9jOQ4
Hook-Behind Rotational Scoop Toss6 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR5yy_YT-is
Cleveland Indians Outfielder, Chris Roller Performs Medicine Ball Step-Back Rotational Scoop Tosses

Rotational Shot Put Throws

Stanford Pitcher, Justin Moore Performs Medicine Ball Step-Back Shot-Put Throws
Medicine Ball ExerciseWeight UsedHyperlink Video
Half-Kneeling Anti-Rotation Shot-Put Throw4-6 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phJuGABLUIE
Forward Facing Rotational Shot Put Throw6 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lbp8Svu_Bo
Rotational Shot Put Throw6 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtzuEYn0DmY
Figure-8 Rotational Shot Put Throw6 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkF0k7hNKSk
Shuffle-Shuffle Rotational Shot Put Throw6 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yegd5XR0vIg
Step-Behind Rotational Shot Put Throw6 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwsq_LPOl_8
Kneeling Jump to Shot-Put Throw6 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbptopGym_8

Overhead Slams

Chicago White Sox Pitcher, Jacob Lindgren Performs Medicine Ball Split-Stance Overhead Slams
Medicine Ball ExerciseWeight UsedHyperlink Video
Overhead Slam10-12 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Cu-LY_gk0
Split-Stance Overhead Slam10-12 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgDt-ScD_H0
Overhead Recoiled Slam10-12 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1JteUcsRe4
Overhead Side-to-Side Slam10-12 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvDH8aniMOo
Split-Stance Overhead Side-to-Side Slam10-12 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jghcVFif8no
Figure-8 Overhead Recoiled Rollover Slam8-12 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ggK78spMpg
Single-Leg Overhead Slam8-12 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coQ76d0CcYw

Overhead Forward Throws

Cleveland Indians Outfielder, Chris Roller Performs Medicine Ball Crow Hop Overhead Forward Throws
Medicine Ball ExerciseWeight UsedHyperlink Video
Step-Into Overhead Forward Throw4-6 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPEKwG3SuAM
Crow Hop Overhead Forward Throw4-6 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yojUOsH6IGM

Throws for Distance & Height

Cleveland Indians Outfielder, Chris Roller Performs Medicine Ball Chest Pass for Distance
Medicine Ball ExerciseWeight UsedHyperlink Video
Backward Overhead Throw for Distance10-20 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzc5aGvOfrs
Forward Scoop Toss for Distance10-20 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPEYsRVChNE
Vertical Scoop Toss for Height10-20 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBFun7KvQ7M
Tall-Kneeling Chest Pass8-12 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCHQiCr1wzQ
Bent-Over Chest Pass into Ground8-12 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00EGnQSLKwo
Broad Jump to Chest Pass8-10 LBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKLzxr3e4Q4

Effort Level/Intent for Medicine Ball Throws

When performing your medicine ball throws this off-season your goal should be one of four things (depending on the exercise):

Throw the ball as far as you can

Throw the ball as high as you can

Throw the ball through the wall

Throw the ball through the floor

Remember, the goal with your medicine ball throws is to improve power output. You can’t do this by simply going through the motions on your medball work. LET IT RIP!

Our medball wall at the gym. A constant reminder to get after it, and LET IT RIP on our medball work!

Programming Medicine Ball Drills

We’ve had fantastic results over the past few years pairing rotational throws and overhead slams with a unilateral push or pull strength movement. The unilateral strength movement the athlete performs prior to the medball throw has done a good job of getting the athletes core to fire which improves output on the rotational throw or slam to follow. In addition, we will also pair our medicine ball throws with a mobility drill. Below I included an example of these two pairings.

Sample Medicine Ball Pairing #1

A1. Medicine Ball Figure-8 Overhead Recoiled Rollover Slam 4 sets x 4 reps/side
A2. Alt. Quad-Pull to Lateral Lunge to Thoracic Rotation 4 sets x 5 reps/side

Sample Medicine Ball Pairing #2

A1. Standing Single-Arm Landmine Press 3 sets x 6 reps/side
A2. Medicine Ball Figure-8 Rotational Shot-Put Throw 3 sets x 4 reps/side
New York Mets Pitcher, Colin Holderman Performs Medicine Ball Figure-8 Recoiled Rollover Slams Paired with Alt. Quad-Pull to Lateral Lunge with Thoracic Rotation

Rest/Recovery on Medicine Ball Throws

As far as recovery goes, when our athletes are performing Sample Medicine Ball Pairing #1 (Medicine Ball Throw + Mobility Drill) they will take 45-60 sec. rest. once they complete their A2. mobility drill. On Sample Medicine Ball Pairing #2 (Upper Body Strength Exercise + Medicine Ball Throw), our athletes will perform this superset during their workout. Rest will be 90 sec. – 2 minutes depending on how much time the athlete needs to fully recover.

Complete Medicine Ball Power Development Program

If you’re someone that’s looking for a complete medicine ball program that you can implement into your workouts this off-season check out our 16-Week Medicine Ball Power Development Program

With our Med Ball Manual, you’ll get 16 weeks of carefully progressed throws, slowly building to high velocity, high power variations that will teach your body how to produce force, and transmit it through the body, as quickly and efficiently as possible. This program is designed to supplement your existing training regiment and take out the guesswork so you can focus on ball-breaking displays of power! Click HERE for more information!

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