Five medicine ball ab exercises you need to try
Conditioning

Five medicine ball ab exercises you need to try

clock-circular-outlinePosted 13 Feb 2019

Getting bored of crunches? We feel ya! Utilising a medicine ball can really help increase the difficulty of your ab workouts, whilst also mixing up your sessions placing more emphasis on balance and coordination. This in turn will help engage your core further, allowing for progression from your typical sit ups and crunches, to more advanced movements.

We've put together five medicine ball ab exercises that should be part of your abs routine. So, whether you're chasing aesthetics, performance or simply love the pain you get from a killer ab workout, these ab exercises are definitely worth a try!

Here are five ab exercises you can do with a medicine ball:

Scroll down to find out more about each medicine ball ab exercise.

What muscles do medicine ball ab exercises work?

Before we delve deeper into the five ab exercises you can do with a medicine ball, it's important to highlight the key muscles, and muscle groups when completing medicine ball core exercises.

Obliques

Located on both side of your trunk, the obliques comprise of the internal and external obliques. The obliques main function is to help support general movement and stabilisation of the body while assisting rotation of the spine.

Rectus Abdominus

AKA the six pack, the Rectus Abdominus' primary function is the flexion of the trunk. Which is the prime cause for the obsessive behaviour most of us have with sit ups and crunches.

Note: Although the muscle groups have primary functions, it's important to remember their engagement is present during the majority of movements, stabilising and supporting our body. Therefore, although certain exercises are designed to target specific areas of the abdominals, in general, the abdominal muscles will all be working to complete the exercise effectively.

Want more abs exercises? Here are six of the best ab exercises, with examples.

Medicine Ball Russian Twists

The medicine ball twist is the perfect all-rounder exercise, challenging your core to hold a V-position whilst also rotating the trunk, relying on the abdominal muscles for both movement and stabilisation. This is one of the best medicine ball ab exercises for targeting your entire core.

How to do a medicine ball twist:

Keep the motion slow and controlled and resist the urge of leaning forward. To keep your balance and get the most from the exercise, ensure that your core remains engaged throughout.

TIPS: If you find this difficult, keep your feet lightly resting on the floor to gain confidence and strength. Practicing Russian Twists without a medicine ball will also help.

To make the medicine ball Russian Twist more difficult, increase the reps and/or weight.

Medicine Ball V-Ups

This is definitely one of the tougher medicine ball ab exercises on the list, but what's life without a challenge, ey?

Taking the classic v-ups exercise up to a whole new level, the medicine ball v-ups will not only challenge your core, but also your balance and coordination.

How to do medicine ball v-ups:

TIP: When performing the v-ups exercise, the upper portion of the body is essentially performing a crunch whilst the lower body is doing leg raises.

Medicine Ball Mountain Climbers 

Not only will these get your heart rate up, but they’re also a great way to build your core strength.

How to do medicine ball mountain climbers:

Medicine Ball Wood Choppers

Wood choppers are a great core exercise to challenge your trunk rotation.

How to do medicine ball wood choppers:

Medicine Ball Toe Touches

Last but not least is the toe touch. It might not be the most glamorous, but this core exercise is great for targeting those upper abs.

How to do medicine ball toe touches:

What is your favourite way to use a medicine ball? Let us know in the comments below. 

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