A few years back, I picked up a 14# leather medicine ball. It was of the old school variety and I thought I would do a lot with it. I didn’t so I donated it to the gym I train in where it got so much use the stitching began to open. One of the trainers decided to make a workout of repairing it wrapping it with 2 rolls of black duct tape. It is no longer round, but flattened.
I first discovered the Dynamax medicine balls a few years back while training with a Crossfit affiliate and really liked their overall size and softer composition. The ball we used was the 20# Husky used for wall ball shots. The Dynamax people are adamantly opposed to most people using the 20# ball, but more on that in a moment.
A few years back, I attended a Crossfit seminar which was like an interactive trade show. You could go to one exhibit and get some Olympic lift training from coach Mike Burgener and Aimee Anaya. You could get powerlifting help from coach Mark Rippetoe and dumbbell training from coach Mike Rutherford. I “sampled” all of them but the best workout I got was from coach Jim Cawley who gave us superb medicine ball training using balls that did not exceed 8 pounds. (I even suffered a cracked rib from that session when I hit the deck hard)!
Dynamax balls are all about movement-based training incorporating all the subsets of fitness, including speed, power, coordination, balance, strength, flexibility and accuracy. (Jim Cawley is also the source of Crossfit’s definition of fitness, “What is Fitness”).
Medicine ball exercises, especially as recommended by Coach Cawley and Dynamax are all about movement in sport and life. For strength, there are, of course, barbells, kettlebells, sandbags, etc.
According to the Dynamax site, the rule of thumb for the best weight is choosing a ball that is “light enough where it does not interfere with normal movement AND allows you to throw at high velocity.” If you are throwing it so fast your partner has trouble catching it, move up a weight.
I would surmise that Crossfitters are big customers of Dynamax balls and typically order 20# balls for men and 14# balls for women for wall ball shots used in some of their wods like “Fight Gone Bad“, yet Dynamax even sends disclaimers out when they ship the heavier balls because they don’t recommend their use for all but the more advanced athletes. It is here where Crossfit founder, Greg Glassman differs with Dynamax’s Jim Cawley.
Dynomax doesn’t advocate balls over 12# because beyond strength training, other applications are limited. They say, for strength, go to the weight room. To improve movement and athleticism, go to the field with the lighter med balls. The movements are more complex than bar and dumbbell movements. Dynamax has more thoughts on the topic of 20# Dynamax med balls.
Here are the Dynamax balls in action. Oh, and by the way, I was talked out of both the 14 and 20# balls and happily purchased 6 and 8# balls.
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