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Many dynamic movements with a medicine ball can be performed at high speeds and wil keep the body warmed-up and ready for serious athletic training.<br>Let me give you an example of the value of adding medicine balls to traditional training from my years as a strength coach at the Air Force Academy. During the off-season the  skill players on the football team would lift on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and perform speed, agility and endurance drills on Tuesday and Thursday. A major portion of the Tuesday and Thursday workouts was spent indynamic medicine ball exercises to provide resistance during traditional calisthenics, especially those designed to work the abdominal and lower back muscles. <br>Remember how boring sit-ups are? One partner exercise especially popular at the Academy was partner sit-ups with a medicine ball. As shown above, the athletes lock their ankles together and toss the ball back and forth, performing a sit-up as they throw it. Because the ballis moving rapidly, when the athletes catch it the abdominals get a muc tougher workout than if the athletes simply held the ball on their chests.<br>One exercise that was especially tough was a series of push-ups with one or both hands resting on a medicine ball, as demonstrated on page 56. This exercise emphasizes many of the smaller muscles of the shoulder that stabilize the joint, and it s much tougher than it sounds. In fact, the Air Force Academy tried to incorporate these types of push-ups during a toughness training ritual called  Recognition Week that every cadet must endure. However, after the cadets had performed dozens of these push-ups, we received a call from the supervising officer to stop them because the cadets upper bodies were too exhausted to continue the remainder of their physical tasks!<br><br>Power Training<br><br>What the medicine ball is especially good for is power development. Power can be defined as  work performed over time. Medcine balls take the strength developed from high-tension lifts such as the squat ad teach the body and mind to use that strength faster. In sorts, you have only a fraction of a second to return that tennis serve or to break that tackle. This is exactly why athletes who excel in the weight room often may be outplayed by physically weaker opponents who can apply a given level of strength more quickly.<br>For most athletes, especially beginning-level and most high school athletes, power cleans and push jerks can produce significant improvements in power. And with limited amounts of time available to most of these athletes, the basic BFS system is perfect. However, athletes who have extra time or who are at especially high levels of ability may be ready for more sport-specific power movements using medicine balls.<br>For example, a volleyball pla to Mt. Venon High School the following week, but heir 8-3 record and district championship made all their hard work well worth the effort. Reflecting on the startling reversal from their preceding season s 2-8 record, Coach Leib gave the primary credit to the hard work of his playoccurring near the end of the movement. This difference in velocity curves may not mean much to a 12-flat sprinter trying to lower their time to 11.9, but such training details mean a lot to a 10.4 sprinter trying to lower their time to 10.39. <br><br>Testing<br><br>In addition to their use in developing power, medicine balls are a great tool to determine if an athlete needs to concentrate more on increasing strength or power. A great test, and one that is used extensively in Europe, is to have an athlete throw various