Quick Definition
A medicine ball is a solid, weighted ball, roughly the size of a basketball, that fighters throw, catch, and slam to build explosive power and core strength.
What is a medicine ball?
A medicine ball is a weighted ball with a diameter of about shoulder width, filled with a dense material that gives it its weight rather than air alone. Shells are typically made from leather, rubber, vinyl, or synthetic materials like nylon and kevlar, and the balls usually range from about 2 to 25 pounds.
Unlike a dumbbell, a medicine ball has no handle and no fixed grip point, so an athlete has to work the whole body just to control it. That instability is the point. Where a bench press isolates the chest and triceps, a medicine ball throw pulls in the hips, torso, shoulders, and core all at once, closer to how the body actually moves when it punches or grapples.
In MMA gyms, medicine balls show up in strength and conditioning sessions rather than technical drilling. Fighters use them for throws and slams against a wall, or rotational passes with a training partner, to build the kind of full-body power that carries over into strikes and takedowns.
Why fighters use medicine balls
The core idea behind medicine ball training is kinetic linking, the ability to move force through the entire body, from the ground up through the hips and torso and out through the arms, while still controlling the body’s position. That’s the same chain a fighter relies on to throw a hard cross or drive through a double-leg takedown.
Medicine ball throws also train the stretch-shortening cycle, the rapid load-and-release pattern that underlies plyometric training. The muscle briefly stretches under load before contracting explosively, which is roughly what happens in the hips and shoulders during a punch or a throw.
A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that twelve weeks of medicine ball training led to significant gains in throwing performance and pressing strength among young handball players, compared with a control group that trained without it. The subjects were handball players rather than fighters, but the underlying mechanism, explosive throwing translating into usable power, is the same one MMA strength coaches lean on. Separately, a 2018 study in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine found that a four-week, high-intensity strength and conditioning block improved performance measures in national-level MMA fighters directly.
Medicine ball vs. slam ball vs. wall ball
The three are easy to mix up in a gym, but they’re built for different jobs.
| Medicine ball | Slam ball | Wall ball | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bounce | Slight rebound | None, drops dead on impact | Minimal, absorbed by the wall |
| Fill | Air-cushioned core | Sand or similarly dense fill | Dense fill similar to a slam ball |
| Built for | Throws, catches, partner passes, holds | Overhead slams to the ground | Throws against a wall, squat-to-throw combos |
| Typical size | Softball to basketball size | Similar range, tougher shell | Usually the largest of the three |
A medicine ball’s slight bounce makes it useful for catching drills and wall passes, but its soft shell and weighted core aren’t built to take repeated hard impacts with the ground. A slam ball solves that problem with a sand-filled core that stays dead on impact, which is why it’s the better choice for ground slams. Wall balls follow the same no-bounce logic but are sized and built specifically for throws off a wall rather than the floor.
Where the medicine ball came from
Long before it had a name, people were throwing weighted objects around to get stronger. Hippocrates is said to have had patients toss animal skins stuffed with sand for medicinal purposes, and similar weighted balls were reportedly used by Persian wrestlers and gladiators.
The name itself dates back to at least 1876, and the earliest known photograph of one in the United States shows Harvard athletic instructor Aaron Molyneaux Hewlett surrounded by his training equipment in 1866. Boxers were largely responsible for bringing the medicine ball into modern combat sports training, and MMA gyms and CrossFit boxes later adopted it as a staple.
Frequently Asked Questions
What weight medicine ball is best for MMA training?
It depends on the drill and the athlete’s experience. The American Council on Exercise recommends starting between 4 and 15 pounds, while balls used specifically for power development in combat sports often run from 10 to 30 pounds.
Can a medicine ball be slammed like a slam ball?
Not repeatedly. A medicine ball’s soft shell and weighted core aren’t built to take repeated ground impacts the way a slam ball is, so hard, frequent slams tend to wear it out or crack it.
What muscles does medicine ball training work?
Throws and slams recruit the upper body, the shoulders and back especially, along with the hips. The core and obliques do most of the stabilizing work, since the body has to rotate and brace at the same time.
Is medicine ball training useful for boxing as well as MMA?
Yes. Boxers helped popularize the medicine ball in combat sports, and the same rotational throwing drills used in MMA gyms carry over directly to punching power.
Sources
- Wikipedia. “Medicine ball.” Accessed September 2026.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_ball - Dynamax (medicineballs.com), citing the American Council on Exercise. “What Size Medicine Ball Should I Buy?” Accessed September 2026.
https://www.medicineballs.com/news/what-size-medicine-ball-should-i-buy/ - Dynamax. “Elite MMA Medicine Ball.” Accessed September 2026.
https://www.medicineballs.com/product/elite-mma/ - Ignjatović, A. M., Marković, Z. M., & Radovanović, D. S. “Effects of 12-Week Medicine Ball Training on Muscle Strength and Power in Young Female Handball Players.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2012.
https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e31823c477e - “The Effect of Short-Term Sport-Specific Strength and Conditioning Training on Physical Fitness of Well-Trained Mixed Martial Arts Athletes.” Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, 2018.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30116107/ - TRX Training. “Slam Ball vs Medicine Balls + Exercises to Do.” Accessed September 2026.
https://www.trxtraining.com/blogs/news/slam-ball-vs-medicine-ball - Dick’s Sporting Goods. “The Difference Between a Slam, Wall and Medicine Ball.” Accessed September 2026.
https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/protips/sports-and-activities/exercise-and-fitness/how-to-differentiate-between-a-slam-wall-and-medicine-ball - Tru Grit Fitness. “Medicine Ball vs Slam Ball: Which To Use?” Accessed September 2026
https://trugrit-fitness.com/blogs/news/medicine-ball-vs-slam-ball - Gloveworx. “Medicine Ball Training | The Med-Ball Punch.” Accessed September 2026.
https://www.gloveworx.com/blog/medicine-ball-training-punch/ - SetForSet. “What Weight Medicine Ball Should I Get?” Accessed September 2026.
https://www.setforset.com/blogs/news/what-weight-medicine-ball - Black Belt Wiki. “Medicine Ball Workouts.” Accessed September 2026.
https://blackbeltwiki.com/medicine-ball-workouts - BJJ World. “Best MMA Medicine Balls 2021 Guide And Reviews.” Accessed September 2026.
https://bjj-world.com/best-mma-medicine-balls-review-guide/
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