What Are the Benefits of Ballistic Exercises?

Ballistic Basics

When you do an exercise with maximum velocity and acceleration, you are performing a ballistic movement. During these moves, your muscles contract extremely fast and generate a large amount of force. Ballistic movements are different from other traditional styles of strength training because they eliminate the deceleration phase. Instead of slowing down at the end of a rep, you project the weight. Medicine balls and other weights are common tools in ballistic training.

Muscular Benefits

At certain levels, training with ballistic movements produces more force and power compared to exercises with free weights, according to “Sports Biomechanics” in 2008. This is true when you do ballistic exercises with a weight that is between 15 and 60 percent of your one-rep maximum. Over time, this teaches your muscles and joints to fire faster and with more force and power.

Sports Benefits

Unlike traditional strength-training moves where you focus on one muscle at a time, ballistic exercises more closely mimic a sporting environment. This is especially true in sports such as basketball, baseball, tennis and golf where you have to quickly accelerate to strike or throw an object. Ballistic exercises train your body to efficiently take the power produced at your core and pass it effectively out to your hand or foot.

Adding Ballistic Exercises

When adding ballistic exercises to your training, start with medicine balls or other lightweight pieces of equipment. Start with 15 percent of your one-rep maximum and gradually increase to 30 percent. Examples of ballistic exercises include bench medicine ball throws, jump squats, overhead medicine ball throws and medicine ball chest passes. To do the medicine ball chest pass, stand erect while holding a medicine ball overhead. Squat and with your arms straight, touch the ball to the ground and jump up while forcefully throwing the ball forward using a chest pass.