The Med Ball Slam is another explosive training for wrestling exercise I like to implement both early and often in the wrestling training programs I write.

The Med Ball Slam is a “reverse triple extension” exercise that will build explosive lats, core, and hip power. When trained regularly, the MB Slam is a great way to improve your ability to snap your opponent down in a match and score an easy go behind; 2 of the quickest points you can get.

Take a look at the exercise and see what I mean as far as the transferability of it to the mat.

Training For Wrestling- MB Slam Video:

As you can see, the Med Ball Slam is about as close to mimicking a snap down as you can get making it a great training for wrestling exercise.

Training For Wrestling- MB Slam Technique:

To perform a MB Slam, start by holding a Med Ball while standing with both hands with your arms straight so the Med Ball is near your hips.

The countermovement you’ll perform before slamming the ball is the opposite of any of the other power exercises discussed in this series of posts. To start, you’ll explode up into your triple extension position with the ball held over your head with as straight arms as possible.

Once you’ve reached the top of your countermovement you’ll then redirect your efforts toward the ground as quickly as possible. Release the Med Ball as you reach the bottom of your downward movement. Your knees should be slightly bent and the ball should release somewhere around your chest.

Training For Wrestling Tip: Avoid “overslamming” the ball by leaning over and releasing it later in the movement. This will almost certainly result in the ball bouncing back up and hitting you in the face or torso.

Additionally, by releasing the ball higher up and staying more upright because of it, you’ll be training your body to produce more force in a shorter range of motion so when you do go to snap your opponent down in a match, the added room you have will enable you to generate more power.

On top of that, you’ll be training your body to produce a lot more force at the top of the snap down so you’ll get a better initial “pop” on him in case you’re using it to set up a let attack or throw. So for wrestling training purposes, stay more upright as demonstrated in the 2nd photo below.

Pic of "overslamming."

Pic of a good MB Slam.

As far as weight goes for this exercise, as with any other Medicine Ball upper body exercise, I prefer to use lighter Med Balls. The primary reason I favor lighter Med Balls over heavier ones is because I’m really concerned with shoulder health when performing upper body, and especially overhead explosive movements with Med Balls.

Look at the damage throwing a light baseball can do on the shoulder in some baseball players. Granted, that’s usually over the course of MANY years, but nonetheless, the overhead motion when combined with external resistance isn’t keeping their shoulders healthy in some cases.

So err on the side of caution when it comes to training for wrestling with overhead Med Ball exercises; the last thing wrestlers need is more trauma to their shoulders!

On top of that, don’t lose focus of what’s actually doing the work- your hips and core. Re-watch the video of me performing the MB Slam above and pay special attention to both the work my hips are doing as well as the far from extreme range of motion in my shoulder joint.

Check out the Single Leg Bench Jump in the next Training For Wrestling installment.

To download a free training for wrestling program Click Here.

The Box Jump is another Speed-Strength exercise I use in the training for wrestling programs I write so long as the wrestler has access to the right equipment.

Too often they don’t unfortunately and I’m against stacking random things on top of one another to make a box. One night when I was spotting my brother, Chris, on a jump onto a pieced together box, he lost his footing at the top. As his feet kicked out from underneath him, he fell backwards onto me and the boxes tumbled forward and ended up damaging the pads on one of the benches.

For those of you who have never seen Chris, he’s 6’4″ and weighs a solid 250 or thereabouts. Needless to say, I got squished under his Large American frame. No one was hurt, but it made me leery of jumping on such boxes.

Here’s one of his old videos where he jumps on a 45″ box wearing a 60lb weight vest. The box he’s jumping on was a beautiful homemade, adjustable box that unfortunately became an Atlas Stone platform as well. Because of that it started to break and we had to get rid of it. If you’re looking for a quick idea on how he did built it so you can start using Box Jumps in your training for wrestling plan, leave a comment below and I’ll have him get ahold of you.

Training For Wrestling- Box Jump Videos:

Here’s a quick video of one of the athlete’s I train demonstrating as well. He’s since jumped on the higher box to the right which measures 47″.

Training For Wrestling- Box Jump Technique:

Again, because you’ve probably been jumping since you were a few years old, I trust that you have experience with the movement and don’t need a step by step on how to do it. However, there are a couple of important things to keep in mind when performing the Box Jump and I would like to go over them.

First, the biggest thing Chris always stressed to me when discussing successful Box Jumping was arm motion. Over the summer of 2008 he did an internship with Joe Defranco and was able to study the techniques of some of most impressive Box Jumpers he’s ever seen. Many of Joe’s athletes regularly jump on 50+” boxes!

When he started Box Jumping regularly, Chris said his best jumps were the result of coordinating his arms to aid him in a successful jump. So watch his arm action in the video above and look at the step by step picture as well to get a good idea of what your arms need to be doing during this wrestling training exercise.

It’s a pretty natural movement to involve your arms when you’re trying to maximize the vertical or horizontal distance you cover on a jump so don’t worry too much about it. Just be conscious of your arm action and try to coordinate it to help maximize your height.

The second big thing to keep in mind when performing Box Jumps in your training for wrestling plan is that the height to which you can jump is greatly influenced by your hip flexibility. Watch the landings in the 2 videos above and notice how deep of a squat each guy is in when they first come in contact with the box.

One of the big criticisms I’ve read about Box Jumps is that they’re as much of a function of lower body power as they are hip flexibility and because of that, they aren’t the best exercise for developing power in a training for wrestling program.

However, I always argue- aren’t flexible hips and legs important in wrestling? Of course they are! This is why I feel the Box Jump still has its merits in a training for wrestling program despite the fact that it can be impacted so much by lower body flexibility.

If you think about it, the same argument could be used for a DB Snatch or Push Press. What if the wrestler does not have the shoulder stability to support the DB overhead, does that make the exercise bad? No, if anything it gives you an idea of what needs to be improved and where this wrestler’s weakness(es) is.

So rather than criticize a lift, use the feedback it gives you to better design your wrestling training program so you continue to improve in the weight room and on the mat!

Ok, that’s my rant for the day. Check out the Med Ball Slam in the next Training For Wrestling installment.

To download a free training for wrestling program Click Here.

The Med Ball Toss is the first Speed-Strength exercise in the Training For Wrestling series. For a review on the benefits of Speed-Strength wrestling training, here’s a quick copy and paste from the original post:

Speed-Strength exercises are oftentimes also referred to as plyometrics and typically utilize your bodyweight or light Medicine Balls to provide resistance.

Proper implementation and progression of Speed-Strength exercises into your wrestling training plan will help you get in on shots quicker, react to your opponents shots faster, and win more scrambles.

Much like the other exercises in this series, I like the Med Ball Toss because (as you’ll see in the video below) it’s super easy to learn and implement into your training program.

Training For Wrestling- MB Toss Video

Training For Wrestling- MB Toss Technique

The MB Toss is obviously a fairly easy exercise to perform, so rather than go into the technique points (basically grab a ball and throw it as high as you can), I’ll instead cover a couple of important keys to maximizing your results with this explosive training for wrestling exercise.

The first thing I like to do with the Med Ball Toss, as with most other lifts, is to find some way to measure and record it so I know how the wrestlers I train are progressing from week to week. We’re fortunate at my gym to have this nice back alley as seen in the video above. On top of that, there’s some kind of power cable running between the two buildings that’s about 18-20 feet off the ground.

So we use that as a “measuring stick” and make the goal to toss the ball over the cable. Once the wrestler is able to consistently throw a certain size Med Ball over the wire, I’ll have him move up to the next size. Depending on the ball it will be either a 2, 3, or 5 pound jump.

The Strongman Keg Toss Event is nearly identical to the Med Ball Toss.

The second key to maximizing your power output with the Med Ball Toss in your training for wrestling plan is to cut down on the time it takes you to perform your countermovement.

When you first start performing this exercise take your time and get a good feel for dropping down with the Med Ball and then exploding up with it. However, once you get comfortable with it the thing that’s really going to help your speed and power on the mat is cutting down on the amount of time it takes you to get the ball in the air.

As you could guess- cutting down on the range of motion and the time it takes you to produce a powerful triple extension will do nothing but make you faster and more explosive on the mat. So for the Med Ball Toss, or any of these other explosive training for wrestling exercises being detailed in this series, always do your best to cut down on the execution time once you’re proficient with the proper execution.

Check out the Box Jump in the next Training For Wrestling installment.

To download a free training for wrestling program Click Here.