Layering Medicine Ball Drills

Laying medicine ball drills for enhancing rotational power development.

Laying medicine ball drills teaches athletes how to transition from the foundational level drills to more advanced level drills.

Each progression builds on one another and teaches athletes how to self-organize their body in a manner they can demonstrate competency in the positions and execution of the movements. We want them to demonstrate efficient mechanics without coaching or thinking about the task at hand.

Using the shotput throw as an example, we start the athlete from a half-kneeling position progressing them to split stance> shotput> band resisted> shuffle.

I’m this video we have an athlete performing a band-resisted rotational shotput throw. There is a couple different way we can perform the band resisted variation, as the resistance can be placed in the front or the back side of the athlete depending on what deficiency/limitation we’re working on addressing with them.

In this case, the band is resisting the athlete from loading into the backside of the body. Ground connection, hip and torso loading/separation are all important factors when it comes down to delivery high velocity outputs. The position of the band is pulling the athlete forward, which forced them to create a more effective load into the back hip to store and release energy to deliver the medicine ball throw in an efficient and forceful manner.

All these drills have purpose to teach athletes how to create effective hip and shoulder separation- as the upper back rotates clockwise, the pelvis rotates counter-clockwise. This is crucial rotational athletes that need to create throwing and hitting power and velocity at high outputs. These drills are effective when the strategy is performed correctly and the athlete learns how to create effective hip and torso loading, and force transfer that can be turned into increased power and velocity outputs.

Contact: Kip Steingart, Owner Top Performance Strength
Email: support@topperformancestrength.org
Cell: (847)542-5213
Website: www.topperformancestrength.net

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Kip Steingart

Kip Steingart is a certified personal trainer (NASM). He helps athletes of all sports achieve their goals at Top Performance Strength.

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