Medicine Ball Rainbow Slams

If you’re still using good ole’ medicine balls instead of (or as well as) slam balls, good! Today we’ve got an exercise for you.

These are called Medicine Ball Rainbow Slams thanks to the shape of the path that the ball makes.

It’s definitely trickier than it looks so save this as a variation for campers who have advanced beyond the regular slam.

Some key coaching points here:

• Notice Liz only bends forward a short way, enough to slam and catch the ball. If campers are going to a 90 degree hip bend they are bending way too far and are probably not using the legs enough.
• Which brings us to: the slam comes as much from the legs as it does the upper body. Watch Liz’s back knee drop into the slam.
• After the pivot make sure campers are getting stable again before slamming. The front foot should be flat on the ground with the back foot’s heel raised. This allows for the knee bend into the slam.
• Core tight, no flexion through the spine.
• As with all movements, have campers practice the parts first before putting it together. Just practicing the pivot a few times, then adding an invisible ball works a treat. Add it into your warm up if you don’t want to spend time demonstrating later.

Video credit: Lizelle Din

Kyle Wood

Kyle Wood created Bootcamp Ideas in 2010 when he was hunting around on the internet for workout ideas. He ran a successful bootcamp in Victoria, Australia and spends his spare time managing this site, adventuring (or lazying) with his wife and find new ways to make bootcamps even better.