Medicine balls and slam balls

Medicine ball - universal training equipment

Medicine balls are quite universal training equipment for many sport disciplines as well as rehabilitation centers. You can really develop explosiveness and strength using medicine ball workouts either at home or in a gym.

There are loads of medicine ball exercises for your abs, arms, shoulders and legs – whole body workout experience. What makes this weighted ball training so functional? Basically it has many usage options – you can throw, catch, lift, hold it and etc. The various movement methods make it really versatile. In addition, medicine balls have a wide selection of weights (standard 1 – 10kg) and models to choose from.

What are the types of medicine balls? Let's look at them together.

I am sure you have heard about wall balls, slam balls and medicine balls. They all have one common feature – they are all round weighted balls and serve the same purpose – strength training and rehabilitation. But nevertheless they do have different types of heavy balls that can vary from outside and inside material and stuffing.

The outer layer or shell can be made of artificial or genuine leather, PVC (basically really dense rubber), rubber etc. What is inside the medicine balls, you might wonder? The weighted ball is usually stuffed with textile rugs, air, sand or a combination/mixture of different materials/types of filling.

Types of medicine balls:

A slam ball is made of very durable rubber with a purpose of the constant throwing on the ground or a gym floor. It has to survive the heavy usage of the workout. This type of medicine ball will not bounce back from the floor, as it is filled with sand and no rebound will follow. So this makes it perfect for the throwing exercises with full strength and power (+ no need to worry you will be hit on the face with the ball;))

A wall ball is made of artificial or genuine leather and is stuffed with textile rugs (or some other „softer“ filling). These heavy training balls are bigger from the diameter than other types of medicine balls and also softer. Wall balls have a minimal rebound, but they won’t bounce back to your hands from the gym floor. Also the leather texture provides a really decent grip, so it sticks in your hands. Good for squats, abs and other exercises that require holding the medicine ball for extra weight.

A standard medicine ball is usually made of PVC, dense rubber and inflated with air. So everyone who has now been waiting for the ball to bounce – so here you go. This model will have a rebound – ideal for explosive and powerful exercises (throwing the ball against the wall with high intensity – you can really use the bouncing back to speed up the frequency of the repetition).