Medicine Balls - Ideal For Home Workoutsby Heather Long | More from this Blogger 18 Sep 2006 08:30 AM 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:
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? Related Articles: Week 2 of the Fitness Magazine You Can Do It Challenge 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. Relevantfitness tags family | holidays | Food | weight loss | parenting | children | relationships | ideas | pregnancy | Kids User Comments lany (300) 18 Sep 2006 06:33 PMMy favorite exercises with the medicine ball are ab crunches on the decline bench. You need a partner, but lay back on the decline holding the medicine ball. Crunch up, and hold the ball out in front of you. As you lift, toss the ball to your partner. Your partner tosses it back to you, lower back to the bench, still holding the ball out front, and repeat. Fun and effective! lany www.locate-a-trainer.com  Lisa P (24013) 02 Dec 2007 04:29 PMI love these! Just lying on the floor and tossing one in the air (and catching it before it smacks you in the face) can be a great triceps workout. (You know - that part of the arm that turns into wings on old ladies ;-)  Heather Long (16954) 03 Dec 2007 10:43 AMI love my medicine ball, I particular like using it for sit ups. But that's a great idea, Lisa! Community Tags core strength, equipment, home workouts, medicine balls, strength and flexibility Discuss this article
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