Push Up Medicine Ball
Elevate your push-up with a medicine ball to challenge stability and engage your chest, shoulders, and triceps more intensely.
Description
A push up variation that uses a medicine ball to increase intensity and target different muscles.
How to Do Push Up Medicine Ball
- 1Setup
Place a medicine ball on the floor directly beneath your chest, ensuring it's stable and won't roll.
- 2Setup
Position both hands on top of the medicine ball, fingers spread wide for optimal grip and balance, with your body in a high plank position.
- 3Setup
Ensure your body forms a straight, rigid line from your head to your heels by engaging your core, glutes, and quadriceps.
- 4
Inhale as you slowly lower your chest towards the medicine ball by bending your elbows, keeping them tucked slightly towards your sides.
- 5
Continue descending until your chest is just above the ball or you feel a deep stretch in your chest and shoulders, maintaining control.
- 6
Exhale powerfully as you push through your hands, extending your elbows to return to the starting high plank position, maintaining full body tension.
Tips
- Maintain a tight core throughout the entire movement to prevent your hips from sagging or rising, which ensures a straight body line and spinal protection.
- Control the eccentric (lowering) phase of the push-up; a slow, controlled descent increases time under tension and builds greater strength.
- Keep your elbows tucked at roughly a 45-degree angle to your torso to maximize chest and triceps engagement while protecting your shoulder joints.
- To improve stability, focus on actively gripping the medicine ball with your entire hand, distributing pressure evenly across your palms and fingers.
Common Mistakes
- ×Allowing your hips to sag towards the floor indicates a lack of core engagement; actively brace your abdominals and squeeze your glutes to maintain a rigid plank.
- ×Flaring your elbows out wide can place undue stress on your shoulders; keep your elbows closer to your body to better target your chest and triceps safely.
- ×Rushing the movement and bouncing off the bottom reduces muscle activation; perform each repetition with controlled tempo, especially during the lowering phase.
Variations
Single Arm Push-Up on Medicine Ball
Challenge your upper body with the Single Arm Push-Up on Medicine Ball. This advanced exercise builds strength and stability while engaging your core.
Medicine Ball Half Kneeling Chest Push
Master the medicine ball half-kneeling chest push to build explosive power in your chest, shoulders, and triceps.
Push up (bosu ball)
Elevate your push-up game with the Bosu ball! This variation challenges stability, strengthens your chest, shoulders, and core, and improves overall body
Decline Push up (on stability ball)
Elevate your feet on a stability ball for a challenging decline push-up. This variation intensifies upper chest and shoulder activation, building strength
Related Exercises
Push-up Pull
Build upper-body pushing and pulling strength in one move with this challenging push-up and row combo.
Push up (on stability ball)
Challenge your chest, shoulders, and core with stability ball push-ups. This advanced variation increases instability, boosting strength and control.
Medicine Ball Chest Pass against Wall
Build explosive upper body power with the Medicine Ball Chest Pass against a wall. Develop chest, shoulder, and arm strength for athletic movements.
Exercise Ball Pike Pushup
Elevate your shoulders and core strength with the Exercise Ball Pike Pushup. This advanced bodyweight exercise targets deltoids, triceps, and abs,
Dumbbell Complex Push-up Row Clean and Press
The ultimate full-body dumbbell complex combining a push-up, row, clean, and overhead press in one flow.
Bodyweight Kneeling Push-up Row
Build chest and back strength with this kneeling push-up variation that adds a rowing pull at the top.
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