Medicine Ball Return Pass

How to do it

1. Stand in an athletic stance facing a partner a few steps away: feet about shoulder-width apart, knees bent, hands up at the chest.
2. Have the partner throw a medicine ball at your chest.
3. Catch it with bent elbows, letting it come to the chest and the knees dip slightly.
4. Push it straight back at the partner as hard as you can, straightening the arms.
5. Return to the stance and be ready for the next throw.
6. Keep the feet planted and the trunk braced through every catch and push.

Common mistakes

• Catching stiff-armed. The elbows give as the ball arrives; a stiff catch stops the ball dead and the return push starts from nothing.
• Stepping back on the catch. The feet stay planted and the knees dip; stepping back is the trunk avoiding the load.
• Pausing with the ball at the chest. The catch is the loading and the push follows straight from it.
• Throwing back to where the partner was. The return goes to their chest, not into the space beside them.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Shoulders

Secondary

• Pecs
• Triceps