Seated Med Ball Throws: Enhancing Upper Body Power

The seated Med Ball throw is a valuable assessment tool for #rotational athletes such as quarterbacks, baseball, softball, golfers, tennis, LAX, water polo, swimmers, volleyball for eg.

We have a variety of Upper body Power assessment tools from the advanced like Proteus Motion, Keiser functional trainers and on to give us specific metrics measured in Watts. However, we still use the seated med ball throw for it's simplicity especially in a group setting.

We typically use 6 or 8# Med Balls.

Place a measuring tape alongside the athlete to measure the distance of the toss. Start at the athlete's hips.

For the set-up:

The athlete should sit on the floor with legs extended forward and slightly apart for stability. The back should be straight.
Hold the medicine ball with both hands in front of the chest, elbows slightly bent.
Face forward initially, with the shoulders squared

Important note for the set-up: ensure athlete is seated upright with their hips all the way up against the wall as seen above and below.

Some athletes might struggle with getting into an upright position, as seen below, for a variety of reasons - thoracic (mid back) tightness or lower body tightness (which could also be growth spurt related.

Sidenote: When an athlete cannot sit upright with their back against the wall, we don't jump to conclusions right away in regards to the cause, but look for other indications as we take them through a complete Performance Evaluation.

The athlete will then explosively throw the ball as far as possible without leaning forward. The goal is to generate power from the core, using the arms to guide and release the ball.

Typically distances that athletes throw range with chronological and training age. On average:

Males will reach between 10-16 feet

Females will reach between 8-12 feet.

Simple, and effective!