Improving Stomach and Core Muscles No 32 - Using a Medicine Ball

Stomach and core muscles are probably one of the most important muscles we have for supporting our martial art training:

1. They are an important part of our body-core maneuverability.

2. A main component as our core stabilizer.

3. Important for protecting our internal organs against body blows.

There are many ways to improve and train our stomach muscles, in the upcoming articles we will go over some of them.

Drill:

A few 'Drills and Tips" back we covered a pretty similar exercise… But today it's going to be a bit more dynamic. Lying on our backs on the floor whilst holding a medicine ball in our hands, we role back 'rocking' our legs just over our head. Then we swing back throwing the ball up in the air using the swinging motion to catapult the ball as high as we can. We catch the ball while staying in the sit up position which the ball was thrown at, and then go down for another repetition.

Tips:

1. The amount of sets, their duration and the length of time of each set, should be decided upon according to our abilities and endurance level both mentally and physically.

2. It is important to connect the two motions together so that the swing of the body from the upper back to the direction of the legs compliments the vertical throw of the ball up.

3. When catching the ball it is important to tuck in our core muscles to support the back.

4. When we finish the exercise it is very important to stretch our hands and legs, and not only our body core, because they have worked, and thus shortened as well.

Enjoy the Sweat

The Warriors Project