Slam Ball Exercises – What Ball is Best?
We get a lot of enquiries from people wanting to buy a ball they can slam to the floor during their workouts. We get it: it’s one of the best ways to blast out your frustration!
But you do have to be careful which ball you buy if your intention is to do slamming exercises. Buy the wrong one and you’ll find the ball bouncing right back up and hitting you rather painfully in the face; we’ve had to dissuade a lot of people from buying a medicine ball for exactly this reason!
Before you make the leap into purchasing your new piece of equipment, let us take you on a whizz tour through the main types of weighted ball and what they’re best used for.
These are the balls you need for floor slams: non-roll, non-bounce weighted balls that are specifically designed for high-impact exercises. Typically made from high-quality rubber, slam balls have a durable outer shell that can withstand heavy impact and rough handling.
Slam balls have grown increasingly popular over recent years, and for good reason: they deliver a unique workout that’s fun, challenging and that develops full-body strength, cardio fitness and explosive power.
So these are huge versatile tools, with a wide variety of slam ball exercises designed to improve upper body, lower body and core strength, as well as flexibility, conditioning and joint integrity. They’re especially useful for strength training, plyometric exercises and high-intensity interval training (HIIT), with popular exercises including slams, overhead throws, chest passes and rotational throws.
However, it’s worth noting that slam balls are not suitable for all exercises, such as partner drills or wall ball exercises. Neither are they suitable for slamming on rough surfaces such as concrete or gravel.
Of course, you don’t have to slam them: you can use a slam ball to add resistance to exercises as diverse as overhead presses, squats and V-sits.
Our slam balls are designed with the user in mind. Their raised rubber texture helps you maintain a tight grip after every rep – you don’t have to worry about them slipping out of your hands – while the robust outer shell absorbs each impact. This lack of bounce means that you can perform explosive movements safely, without worrying about the ball bouncing back and causing injury.
Available in weights ranging from 2–30kg, there’s a slam ball in our catalogue to suit all fitness and experience levels, from beginners to advanced athletes. If you're new to using slam balls, start with a lighter weight and gradually increase as you become more comfortable with the movements.
These are definitely not for slamming!
Medicine balls are all about incorporating resistance into your exercises by adding weight to make them more challenging. For your core, use them in exercises like Russian twists, V sit-ups, crunches and rolling push-ups, where you support one hand at a time on the ball to add instability to the exercise. For your arms, try shoulder presses. For lower body, try squats – potentially throwing the ball into the air on the upward move and catching on the downward squat to make it even more challenging.
These aren’t designed for slamming to the floor either.
However, they are specially designed to be thrown against a wall or flat target, then caught on the rebound – for example, launching the ball from a deep squat up to a target and catching it as it returns.
If you try and use a medicine ball for this sort of exercise, it will come back (too) hard and fast. Use a wall ball and some of the impact and velocity is absorbed, plus they’re soft to handle so they’re nicer to catch.
The long and short of it, though: if it’s floor slams you’re after, the name says it all… it’s a slam ball you’ll need to buy.
-
Comment(s)
