Throwing around heavy balls

Three strong Pax , with one out-of-towner, but a RVA holiday regular, gathered for some medicine ball fun.

COP--Helicopters, DQs, Plank-o-rama, SSHs

Mosey to picnic table. In incline position migrate clockwise, then counterclockwise around table.

Mosey back to the circle for a medicine ball/burpee/running triple-check. One pax picks up and throws the medicine ball forward repeatedly progressing around the circle, one pax does burpees, and the third pax (the timer) runs around the circle, relieving the pax doing burpees who then catches up to and relieves the thrower.

Round 1–Granny throws. Round 2–chest pass, Round 3–overhead, soccer pass, Round 4–right hand shot-put, Round 5–left hand shot put.

Mosey to tennis courts for some medicine ball animal walks. The route was across the width of the tennis court and back. Each Pax did each exercise once.

Round 1. Polar bear, bear crawl pushing medicine ball ahead of you, crab walk.

Round 2. Bear crawl, crab walk with medicine ball on chest, lunge

Mosey back to the circle to play some medicine ball catch. Any time ball is dropped, all pax do 3 burpees.

Round 1. 2 pax stand about 1 feet apart and pass medicine ball back and forth while the other pax runs the circle.

Round 2. Same, but passes are with right hand.

Round 3. Same but passes are with left hand.

Round 4. One pax planks while other two run around the circle side-by-side passing medicine ball back and forth while running.

Round 5. Same as round 4.

Mosey back to the VSF for some medicine ball clockwork. Pax places feet on medicine ball in plank position at the center of the clock and rotates their body clockwise and counterclockwise around the circle. The other pax plank while waiting their turn.

Moleskin. This workout was generated when YHC re-discovered an old workout manual he had been given a decade or so ago. YHC decided to make his own medicine ball, by filling an old basketball with sand, sealing it up with a bicycle patch and several layers of polyurethane. This creates a ~25 pound medicine ball. YHC made 2, but one broke during the workout (its rubber was severely degraded prior to making it, so not surprising). YHC would be happy to make some more for the PAX–just donate an old outdoor basketball that is in decent shape. A small basketball “pop-a-shot” would also be useful and makes a 15 pound ball.

The workout itself was quite fun. It is quite challenging to throw a heavy ball and also hard to catch a heavy ball thrown at you–it requires full body cushioning, which made for a good workout. YHC actually accidentally dropped the ball when placing it on Swirly’s stomach for the med ball crab walks–thankfully it missed his groin by a couple of inches. Coordination on the side-by-side running led to some hilarity also.

All in all a different type of workout and quite fun.