FELIPE ALVARES
Standard exercises can often become monotonous, causing a client to lose interest in training and wander off from exercise and health goals. Keeping up the enthusiasm during exercise can be a task, but if you update your knowledge about equipment and their functionality in the gym, you’ll have a houseful of members raring to take on any exercise you throw their way! Over the past two decades, medicine balls have become essential equipment for any health club and even in many home gyms, with a range of types and sizes. The medicine ball is so versatile that it can be used for functional movement and resistance training as well as cardiorespiratory training.
Reactivity and coordination are a feature of most medicine-ball exercises. Whenever you throw, catch or move a medicine ball, there is very little other than your own body that is responsible for controlling the speed and direction of the movement. These characteristics of medicine ball training inherently create a higher level of focus and sense of being in the moment - the essence of mindfulness. This type of fitness experience is ideal for sportspersons as well as the ageing individual who needs to pay attention to mental alertness.
Movement-based training where stability or mobility in a specific area of the body is developed is another aspect of medicine ball exercises. External load can be added and a stimulus created for strength gains and increased movement speed to develop bodily control with the help of a well-structured medicine ball routine. Bend and lift, lunge, push and pull, and rotation are medicine ball exercises that a fitness trainer can play around with to keep the intensity high with medicine ball exercises.
Cardio-respiratory training using a medicine ball can include phases such as aerobic base, aerobic efficiency, anaerobic endurance, and finally anaerobic power. This moves away from programming based on maximal heart rate and allows for a more individualized approach to exercise intensity using an individual’s unique metabolic markers for changes in fuel sources during physical activity. These training schedules would be most ideal for all of those who are bored sick with the regular cardio machines in a gym.
A medicine ball workout can be designed using high-demand (power), lower-demand (load) and everyday movements. The weight of the medicine ball can be varied to suit member requirement and increased with progression in strength and ability. Mix up a workout using the under-utilized medicine ball, and watch yourself, along with your members, enjoy the fun in exercising.
