British UFC welterweight fighter Dan Hardy uses medicine ball moves to develop explosive striking. ‘The deadlift works the posterior chain – the muscles at the back of the body – and the medicine ball slam combo does the same,’ explains his coach Ollie Richardson. ‘But this time it’s based around speed and putting that force production into motion as fast as possible. Dan’s trying to move the ball as fast as he can, slamming a 5kg ball as hard as possible.’

The second combination that Hardy tackles with the medicine ball helps give him his heavy hands. ‘Punching, contrary to what most people believe, is mostly to do with your hips,’ says Richardson. ‘It’s all about improving Dan’s ability to produce force through a specific range of motion. He’s throwing from a single arm because it gets him used to the movement, through the foot, hip and shoulder. The fact that you’re throwing the
ball is just to overload the pattern of hip extension and rotation. That’s vital for knockout power. In the two months before a fight it’s all about intensity, so we work up to one heavy set.’

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