Medicine Balls - Ideal For Home Workouts

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

What's a medicine ball? It's a smaller, more compact form of balance ball that expands your traditional number of exercise options by increasing resistance, balance, form and focus. Among the exercises you can do with a medicine ball:

• Squats
• Twists
• Sit-ups
• Crunches
• Lunges
• Much, Much More

How You Use Them

Medicine balls come in many different weight sizes from the 1 lb. to the 10 lb. Personally, I like the 4 lb medicine ball because you can work on posture and flexibility without over straining your muscles. You can also use it to help tighten and firm up your core as you do your crunches on your balance ball.

Imagine how you hold your body when you hold a ball in your hands. Consider the amount of balance it takes to do walking lunges while holding your upper body steady and holding a medicine ball between your hands.

Increasing the resistance and helping you return to a neutral body position between exercises is one the greatest benefits of a medicine ball. They aren't that expensive and they are the perfect addition to your home workout. I have a series of hand weights and a medicine ball and there are plenty of exercises that require a great deal more control when you use a medicine ball.

Is there a medicine ball in your home workout equipment?

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Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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