How To Do Medicine Ball Overhead Slams

By: Chris Freytag, CPT


Chris Freytag demonstrating a medicine ball slam wearing a black top and workout pants

Medicine Ball Overheard Slam is a great total body exercise to fire up the back, shoulders, core and even the glutes and legs. The downward force of the medicine ball is all strength generated from your core, which are the muscles that protect your lower back and inner organs. This is metabolically demanding, so you will also be getting in a bit of cardio and burning fat. For one of the best overall strength exercises around, you should learn how to do Medicine Ball Overhead Slam.

Learn how to the Medicine Ball Overhead Slam will not only improve overall body strength, but it will also help you prevent injury in the future. If you’re looking to maintain good posture so that you can sit up straighter and walker taller, this is the exercise for you!

Medicine Ball Overhead Slam may look scary, but it is definitely an exercise anyone can learn. It will all depend on the weight of the ball you use. Start with something lighter, maybe 5 or 8 pounds and then work your way up to a 10 or 12 pound ball.. Medicine Balls are extremely versatile and you can tailor their resistance to best fit your strength. If you are unsure how to use the medicine ball, read our blog: Medicine Ball Workouts. Before you get started, here are our tips on how to perfect the Medicine Ball Overhead Slam: Keep your abs tight and your feet grounded to the floor for stability and control.

Looking for a way to incorporate this exercise into a more robust routine? Check out our quick and effective 20-Minute Total Body Medicine Ball Workout!

Here are the steps to performing Medicine Ball Overhead Slam:

1) Stand with feet hip width apart, knees slightly bent and hold the medicine ball with two hands directly overhead.

2) Slam the ball to the ground in front of you as hard as you can, engaging your abs, glutes and upper back.

3) Catch the ball after one bounce and raise it back overhead. Repeat for desired number of repetitions.

Targets: back, shoulders, core

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