© National Strength and Conditioning Association

Volume 27, Number 3, pages 25–26

Guest Column

Activate Physical Education

With Medicine Ball Training
Avery D. Faigenbaum, EdD, CSCS
The College of New Jersey, Ewing, New Jersey

Patrick Mediate, MA, CSCS

Greenwich High School, Greenwich, Connecticut

of some youth during PE is inade- ety of exercises designed to improve

summary
Medicine ball training can be a safe,
effective, and fun method of condi-
tioning for physical education stu-
dents.
chool physical education (PE)
quate. Concerns originally raised in
the late 1960s and 1970s have been
confirmed by others, who recently re-
ported that the amount of time boys
and girls spend engaged in MVPA dur-
ing PE class is falling far short of na-
tional recommendations. For example,
Parcel et al. (3) reported that the aver-
age child in a PE
class was vigorous-
ly active for only 2
physical function; enhance self-effica-
cy; and increase sensory awareness
through visual, auditory, and tactile
stimulation. Instead of isolating fitness
components, our medicine ball routine
integrates strength, power, agility, co-
ordination, balance, flexibility, and
speed into 1 program.
Following several
weeks of medicine

S provides an opportunity for chil-

dren and adolescents to be physi-
cally active and learn the knowledge and
minutes, and oth-
ers noted that chil-
dren accrued about
ball training (10–30
minutes, 2 times per
week), we believe
skills they need to lead a physically ac- 12 minutes of the participants im-
tive lifestyle. Public health objectives MVPA per PE class proved on selected
outlined in Healthy People 2010 recom- that averaged 33 measures of physical
mend that PE be offered daily and con- minutes long (2). fitness (e.g., push-
sist of lessons that engage children in These findings sug- up and broad
moderate to vigorous physical activity gest that some PE jump), but we also
(MVPA) for at least 50% of class time lessons in the Unit- noted that students
(4). Although youngsters’ enjoyment of ed States fail to in class were regu-
physical activity and improvement in provide levels of larly engaged in pe-
motor skill ability are important out- MVPA that are considered important riods of MVPA (as measured by
comes of PE, the amount of class time for health and fitness. portable heart rate monitors) that ex-
students engage in MVPA is one mea- ceeded public health recommendations.
sure of the quality of PE. A Solution It became evident that a carefully pre-
We recently implemented our “Medi- scribed medicine ball training program
The Problem cine Ball for All” training program in can enhance the quality of PE by im-
Although PE is often associated with selected elementary, middle, and high proving physical fitness measures, en-
physical activity, a growing body of ev- school PE programs (1). Our medicine gaging students in moderate to vigorous
idence suggests that the activity level ball training program consists of a vari- bouts of physical activity, and sparking

June 2005 • Strength and Conditioning Journal 25

 an interest in a challenging and fun
mode of fitness conditioning.
Depending upon class time, lesson ob-
jectives, and the students’ fitness abili-
ties, PE teachers can modify their lesson
plan in order to incorporate some type
of medicine ball training into each class.
Because teaching youth about their
bodies, improving motor skill perfor-
mance, and exposing youth to a variety
of physical activities are important PE
objectives, not every PE class should be
devoted entirely to medicine ball train-
ing. We regularly “activate” our PE
classes by incorporating medicine ball
training into the warm-up, the daily les-
son, or fitness games. A few suggestions
for incorporating medicine ball training
into your PE curriculum are noted
below.
Warm-up Activities
A medicine ball warm-up involving
dynamic movements can be exciting,
creative, and fun. Our warm-up ses-
sions last for about 5 to 10 minutes
and involve about 10 continuous-mo-
tion exercises (Table 1). Each exercise
is performed for 30 seconds and is fol-
lowed by a short recovery period
(about 10 seconds) before the next ex-
ercise begins. The warm-up period
ends with 2 lower-intensity exercises
so that participants can feel refreshed
and ready for the class lesson. We typi-
cally use a 1-kg ball for children and a
2-kg ball for adolescents. In general,
the weight of the medicine ball that
students use for the warm-up is about
half the weight of the ball used for
conditioning.
Daily Lesson
Although there are literally thousands
of exercises that can be performed with
medicine balls, our medicine ball
lessons follow a simple progression so
students experience small successes
every class so that they will gain confi-
dence in their abilities to exercise with
medicine balls. We generally begin
each lesson with lower-body exercises
26
Table 1
Sample Medicine Ball
Warm-up Activities
1. Jog holding ball near chest.
2. Jog catching ball.
3. Jog pressing ball overhead.
4. Jog with ball behind back.
5. Jog while performing body circles
with ball.
6. Jog and toss ball to right and left
hands.
7. Jog, stop, and squat.
8. Jog with heel kicks.
9. Walk with high knees (pass ball
under knee).
10. Walk with straight-leg kick (pass ball
under knee).
(e.g., medicine ball lunge) and end
each lesson with flexibility movements
(e.g., straddle ball roll). Depending
upon the fitness abilities of the stu-
dents, they may perform over 30 dif-
ferent medicine ball exercises each
class. Students perform about 7 to 10
repetitions of each exercise or until a
noticeable reduction occurs in exercise
technique.
Games
Because students tend to learn best
through goal-oriented tasks, medicine
ball games can be a particularly effective
method for enhancing physical fitness.
Play, teamwork, and keeping pace with a
partner are motivational factors that can
June 2005 • Strength and Conditioning Journal
enhance participation and improve pro-
gram adherence. We have found that
medicine ball games are some of the
most effective ways to get youth excited
about physical activity. ♦
References
1. Mediate, P., and A. Faigenbaum. Med-
icine Ball for All Training Handbook.
Monterey, CA: Healthy Learning,
2004.
2. National Institute of Child Health and
Development. Frequency and intensi-
ty of activity of third-grade children in
physical education. Arch. Pediatr. Ado-
lesc. Med. 157:185–190. 2003.
3. Parcel, G., B. Simons-Morton, N.
O’Hara, T. Baranowski, L. Kolbe, and
D. Bee. School promotion of health-
ful diet and exercise behavior: An in-
tegration of organizational change
and social learning theory interven-
tions. J. Sch. Health. 57:150–156.
1987.
4. U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services. Healthy People 2010
(2nd ed., 2 vols.). Washington, DC:
U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Ser-
vices, 2000.
Avery Faigenbaum is an Associate Pro-
fessor in the Department of Health and
Exercise Science at The College of New
Jersey, Ewing.
Pat Mediate is a physical education
teacher at Greenwich High School in
Greenwich, Connecticut.