Balls to the Wall. Medicine Balls – Simple Tips for Complex Conditioning

One of the popular exercises used in Crossfit is ‘Wall Balls’. Wall Balls are both very simple and crazy hard. Wall Balls are a full body weight bearing exercise and are great for rapidly strengthening the core muscles of the abdomen and lower back while improving overall conditioning. Done right, wall balls are a great all-around conditioning movement and can yield quick results in over metabolic conditioning. In Crossfit workouts Wall Balls are often done as part of a couplet or triplet series along with sit-ups, pull-ups, or some Olympic lift such as push-press in a 21-15-9 sequence. For example a triplet of 21 Wall Balls followed by 21 pull-ups and 21 weighted push-presses, 15 Wall Balls, 15 pull-ups, 15 weighted push presses, and finally 9 Wall Balls, pull-ups, and weighted push presses.

THE DRILL

Start and see how long you can continue hitting these milestones:

30 seconds: 12 shots
1 minute: 25 shots
1 minutes: 37 shots
2 minutes: 50 shots
2 minutes: 62 shots
3 minutes: 75 shots
3 minutes: 87 shots
4 minutes: 100 shots
4 minutes: 112 shots
5 minutes: 125 shots
5 minutes: 137 shots
6 minutes: 150 shots

Work out courtesy of www.crossfit.com

TIPS

• On failure (falling behind), rest and try again. Over time you want to get where you can do 150 shots in 6 minutes or less.
• The drill can be made as difficult as needed by increasing the weight of the ball, moving back from the target, or raising the target.