6 Best Medicine Balls for CrossFit | WODding Good Wall Balls

Medicine balls have been around for thousands of years of years, with their earliest use documented amongst ancient Greeks, Romans and Persians. Long before CrossFit swept the fitness world, gladiators and wrestlers were using them to improve strength and mobility, and prepare for combat. Hippocrates (the ancient Greek physician) is said to have recommended his patients use a medicine ball to help regain mobility and promote general health.

Despite their storied history, medicine balls remain an under-utilized piece of equipment. When used properly, they’re an indispensable tool for gyms and home exercise spaces, and they should be a training staple for anyone serious about CrossFit (and cross-training in general). Whether you want to compete in CrossFit competitions or just train for the benefits, a good quality, safe and durable medicine ball will help you build muscle, strength, power, stamina, flexibility, speed, balance, agility, and coordination.

Best Medicine Balls for CrossFit At a Glance

The Best Medicine Balls for CrossFit

1. Rogue Medicine Balls

The vinyl shell is remarkably soft to the touch, compared to other vinyl / PVC med balls, which gives them a great feel and makes them hurt less when you miss a catch. This quality remains after months of heavy use too. The vinyl shell also has double-stitched seams, with the heavier variations (14lbs – 30lbs) getting an extra top stitch, making them especially durable.

Finally, the interior is a real standout of these medicine balls. They’re really well centered, meaning they behave much more consistently and predictably than other balls. Plus the interior is firm enough that although the medball is nice and soft, it’ll still maintain it’s shape over the months and years.

You do pay for the extra quality though. These med balls tend to be as expensive or slightly more than competitors, and when you take into account the shipping from Rogue, you’ll end up paying more for these balls than most alternatives. In our opinion, however, the extra cost is well worth it.

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2. Rep Fitness Medicine Balls

Ultimately, the Rep Fitness medicine balls are well-constructed and should be able to withstand even the most intense workouts, over a long period. The interior is high quality and well-balanced, albeit with a little more bounce than most comparable med balls.

Another good thing about these balls is that the shells are color-coded by weight, and the weight is stitched into the shell (as opposed to being stencilled). This means that if you have more than one ball, you can quickly and easily identify the weight and move easily through different exercises. The logo is also stitched, which gives them a more premium feel.

You can do worse than these relatively inexpensive, durable and funky-looking med balls – your CrossFit workouts certainly won’t suffer.

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3. Titan Wall Balls

We’ll start by saying that these aren’t the highest quality products on the market. But, if your WODs include wall balls and you’re strapped for cash, then these medicine balls from Titan Fitness may be your best option. Titan are well-known in the fitness industry for producing low-cost equipment (much of which is replicated from other manufacturers), and their wall balls are good examples of this. They cost close to half what many others do, including the Rogue and Dynamax balls.

Construction wise, they use a soft synthetic shell and a sand interior – pretty standard. However, any kind of abuse may create problems in both of these areas.

One of the problems here is that it seems the quality assurance of Titan’s manufacturing process occasionally misses the duds. What do we mean by this? If you drop these medicine balls from height (i.e., don’t catch your wall balls) then you may find that one or both of two things happen: The shell may start to split at the stitching and / or the interior can become unbalanced. The interior leaking out of a split shell will be messy and annoying, while an unbalanced ball can prevent you from safely and effectively completing your WODs.

Both of these problems are going to be extremely frustrating, and it seems that Titan’s customer service is often less than willing to rectify the issue with a refund or replacement. Getting a dud ball is unlikely, but more of a possibility than with someone like Rogue, Dynamax, or Rep Fitness.

All-in-all, Titan Fitness’ soft wall balls are decent options at an exceptional price, but which come with some risk.

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4. Dynamax Medicine Balls

The soft vinyl shell is great quality and allows for excellent grip when doing wall balls, especially once you start sweating. The seems have a high quality double-stitching, which means that the shell won’t come apart, and the dust interior won’t leak. The interior is also very well-balanced and has a nice and predictable flight. These balls should take whatever use and abuse you can throw at them (they’re NOT for ball slams though; they will damage quickly if you slam them).

You can get the classic grey and black you see being used at many CrossFit competitions, or change it up with switch it up with a huge range of colors from orange to green camo (custom colors take a bit longer to ship as they are made to order). With a standard 14″ diameter, they have a weight range of 4lbs to 30lbs.

Super-tough with a great feel to them, the Dynamax Medicine balls will take a pounding over a long time without needing to being replaced, a fact that’s supported by their 2 year warranty. A must have for any serious CrossFitter.

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5. OneFit Wonder Medicine Balls V4

One of the drawbacks of having overseas unique equipment like a medball made overseas is that the quality assurance is not always top-notch (compared to Us manufacturers like Rogue or Dynamax). There’s a chance that the interior of the V4 will be off-center. This is an annoyance for sure, however Fringe Sport have exceptional customer service and should fix this up for you no problems.

One of the drawbacks of the OneFitWonder V4 medballs is that you have no option other than camo color scheme, which is not everyone’s alley. That said, it’s a fairly minor complaint, and realistically, if you’re worried about the color of your med ball, then you’re probably not doing it right (CrossFitting, that is).

With a weight range of 6lbs to 30lbs, these are overall a great option for whichever med ball exercises you’re looking to do. The price is absolutely on point, and with Fringe Sport offering free shipping on all of their products, the OneFitWonder V4 Medicine Balls offer some of the better value on the market at the moment.

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6. Rogue Athlete Series Medballs

Named after champion CrossFit athletes Rich Froning Jr. and Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, these med balls have the same vinyl-coated shell and double paracord stitching construction as the standard Rogue Medballs.

The difference lies in the custom branded designs on the shell, which Rogue co-created with the respective athletes. Each medball is a single standard weight increment used in CrossFit competitions:

The Camille Series Medball:

• 14″ diameter
• 14 lbs. weight, standard female competition medicine ball
• Blue shell with large white panels on each side featuring Camille Leblanc-Bazinet’s insignia “CLB”

The Froning Series Medball:

• 14″ diameter
• 14 lbs. weight, standard female competition medicine ball
• Blue shell with large white panels on each side featuring Camille Leblanc-Bazinet’s insignia “CLB”

20lbs weight, standard male competition medicine ball

Red and black shell panels with signature Froning *R
emblem

Ultimately, these Rogue Athlete Series Medballs are the same as the standard Rogue medicine balls, they just look way cooler (and are $5 – $10 more expensive). If you care about the look of your medball, and you insist on quality equipment, then these are a great choice.

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Choosing the Right Medicine Ball for CrossFit

So, what should you be looking for in a medicine ball for CrossFit? Is this different from a med ball that you use for spicing up your workouts? Typical CrossFit training and competition focuses more on wall ball exercises and other explosive movements than low velocity exercises like twists or medicine ball push ups. For that reason, some balls are better than others:

• Leather or vinyl shells: This material is much softer than than the plastic or rubber variations, which will save you some pain (just a bit) in the event that you miss a catch while doing wall balls and it slams into your face or chest. Leather balls are less common these days with vinyl or PVC being the more economical shell materials.
• Double-stitched seems: Your medicine ball is going to need a bit of strength in the shell, as it will likely take some impact during training. It’ll hit the wall and floor, even though you won’t be slamming it. Double-stitched seams will help it withstand the punishment you’re inevitably going to inflict on it.
• A well-balanced interior: This will ensure that it moves predictably through the air when you throw it, especially with wall balls. Poorly balanced balls can do strange things in the air, and end up making a mess of your face.
• Low-medium bounce balls: Generally filled with sand, dust or gel, or some composite mix, these med balls only have a small amount of bounce when thrown against a wall, or dropped on the ground. High bouncing medicine balls are often filled with a harder material, like rubber and, when doing wall balls, can give you a rude shock if you don’t catch them properly. They’re better for group or partner exercises like bounce passes.

Most of the best medicine balls for CrossFit training and competition will usually come with a warning that they are not for slamming. If this is what you want to do, then get yourself a slam ball

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Frequently Asked Questions About CrossFit Medicine Balls

Let’s take a look at a number of common questions people have about medicine balls for use in CrossFit wokrouts and competition. Hopefully these will provide additional insight into this valuable training tool

What weight medicine ball should I use for my WODs?

The official recommended weight for medicine balls in CrossFit workouts is 20 lbs. (9 kgs) for men and 14 lbs. (6 kgs) for women. The minimum official acceptable weights across divisions in the CrossFit the games is 20 lbs., 14 lbs., and 10 lbs. (4 kgs). While most official WODs use either 20 lbs. or 14 lbs. balls this doesn’t mean that you have to use these weights when training.

The most important thing is to get the specific movements (e.g., wall balls or med ball cleans) right in terms of technique. In that regard, you should start with the weight that helps you do that – if you have to start with a low weight, then so be it.

What is the difference between a slam ball and medicine ball?

Medicine balls are not typically designed for high impact slamming exercises. As such, they typically have a softer shell made of either vinyl, synthetic leather, or PVC. The shells are usually comprised of panels that are stitched together.

Slam balls, in contrast, usually have a tough rubber shell that is a single piece, and which allows them to withstand high velocity slams against walls or the ground without splitting.

What exercises should I do with my medicine ball?

In the next section, we’ve included 5 great exercises to incorporate into your CrossFit training.

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5 Great CrossFit Medicine Ball Exercises

While these CrossFit medicine ball exercises will have you wondering if they were created by the devil himself, they’ll definitely help whip your butt into shape and get you ready for that next CrossFit comp.

Wall Balls

Medball Cleans

Rotational Throws

Medicine Ball Russian Twists

Medicine Ball Jump Squats

Well, there you have it: The Best Medicine Balls for CrossFit and some great medball exercises to supercharge your workouts. Whether you’re looking to kill it at your next CrossFit comp or just up the ante on your training at home, everything you need to get started is right here.

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As always, all the best with your home workouts. Remember: You can make the effort, or you can make excuses, but you can’t make both.

THFF (The Home Fit Freak).