Medicine Balls are everywhere. They have exploded onto the strength training scene allowing any athlete or weekly warrior to train for strength, power, balance and core stability. This modality can be used in a variety of settings and very popular amongst transfer sports such as baseball, softball, tennis and golf.
There are hundreds of medicine ball exercises out there which can benefit an athlete, but if you do not create drills that reinforce high level movement patterns, you may fall into some faulty mechanics!
Some of these Med ball drills claim that to directly transfer to sport. This may be the case in terms of stability, balance and rate of force production, but NOT for training high level movement patterns. If you’re training poor movement patterns in the weight room, you will be reinforcing poor movement patterns on the field!
MB Shuffle Throw 1: Impairs HLT Patterns – NOT GREAT!
Lets take a standard medicine ball shuffle throw against the wall. If you have no idea of what the sequence or hip action is supposed to be during throwing, then this drill will not reinforce proper movement pattern habits.
Back Foot Comes Off The Ground Too Early
This drill should not be used for throwing because it causes the foot to come off the ground early which can lead to a decrease in velocity during an actual throw. With the foot coming off the ground, there is no high level back hip movement. The Med Ball is just being pushed forward, so there is no sense of delay or a feeling of letting the ball stay behind your body as you move forward. This reinforces poor throwing mechanics!
Arm Path Creates a Pushing Motion
This drill also causes the arms to push the Med Ball, leading to a “Dart” Throw. This impairs the ability to create efficient thoracic extension because the trunk is pushing forward. There’s also no feeling of letting the ball stay behind the body as the hips turn or rotate towards the target. There’s no delay and no resistance being created between the hips and torso!
MB Shuffle Throw 2: Reinforces Proper HLT Patterns – GOOD!
How about implementing a drill where the sequence and high level movement pattern of throwing is being trained. With this drill, the body is closely shadowing what is actually being done during a throw.
You can see how similar the Med Ball Drill is to the high level movement pattern below. This has to be trained and reinforced!
Poor movement patterns during the MB throw will show poor glute activation, limited hip extension and poor direction (mostly spinning on the back foot or rotating), something that is the most common mistake in hitting and throwing.
If I am trying to teach high level movement patterns at the hip, then it has to be performed a certain way. This drill can be used specifically for all throwing athletes but must focus on glute activation and proper back hip action and direction.
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