"Faster Reflexes now!"

By Eric Johnson

How fast are your reflexes? Do you startle easily? How are your visual perception skills? Do you have trouble reacting to fast movements? If components like this lack in your athletic talents, do not worry! Tools like medicine balls and other objects can be utilized to improve reaction times, give you greater perception and decrease startle of athletes, not to mention they are pretty fun to challenge yourself with.

Here are several drills you can use with medicine balls, or other similar tools:

Throw a medicine ball to your partner or a wall while focusing off target. Find a center point on your target or partner and look above, below, or to either side. Your partner can also throw the ball at different angles to increase the challenge. One point of medicine ball training is to decrease startling, so watch how you react to the ball.
Challenging your eyes is a great way to improve athletic performance. Other ways to increase you visual performance include closing one eye while catching and throwing the ball either at a partner or a target.
Including other activities while throwing the ball such as running, using different directions and using different footwork patterns can help build full body coordination. Coordination is pretty important in most sports, wouldn't you agree? There are many combinations of foot work patterns and directional exercises to choose, be creative!
Throw with different size balls to challenge your unilateral skills. Small sizes can be useful to work hand and eye coordination while emphasizing one limb over the other. You can also use different weights to develop the ability absorb and redirect force. Again, this is another important skill to have in most sports.

Do not hesitate to combine any of the above drills to help progress you to higher levels. The combinations can be intimidating, but the main idea is to start slow and get comfortable with different weights, speeds and angles (on the ground and in the air). Use these drills together with other training tools or as a whole training program by itself. These drills can be used as to help build strength, body composition change, and conditioning. Medicine balls are also a great tool to take out a little frustration on too! My clients love the challenge of throwing medicine balls at my head as fast as they can!

About the Author:

Eric Johnson is a Certified Personal Trainer, Russian Kettlebell Instructor, and Certified Z-Health Instructor. He manages Fitness Together in Stockton, Ca. His website is http://www.stocktonft.com

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"Faster Reflexes now!"

By Eric Johnson

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