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The Med Ball 200 workout is a series of medicine ball exercises that the UNC Tar Heels do to condition themselves for the NCAA basketball season.

Have you ever heard of Michael Jordan, Vince Carter, or James Worthy? These are some notable NBA players who played for the UNC Tar Heels. And all three of them did this workout while they were part of the university’s program. Well, they probably did anyway.

Regardless of the previous statement being fact or fiction, the Tar Heels’ Med Ball 200 workout is excellent for conditioning your body to play the old man game.

The reason why is because it doesn’t require you to do any explosive movements. All the movements are slow and controlled, much like old man game moves. And you have to do a lot of reps and sets with a light-to-moderate weight, which will develop muscle stamina and cardio. This will help you remain on the court for a longer period of time. And it’s easy on the joints and will strengthen the core, something that actual old guys need to do to condition for basketball.

The Workout

Click here to buy a medicine ball from Amazon

So here’s the Med Ball 200 workout:

You have to do 20 reps of each exercise and do 2-3 sets. You will need a medicine ball that is not too heavy and not too light. You need one that is just right, like Goldilocks and her bowl of soup. You should pick a weight that will allow you to do the number of sets you want.

Big Circles Woodchopper Standing Russian Twist Squat-to-Press Medicine Ball Sit-Up Rocky Solo Toe Touch 45-Degree Twist Suitcase Crunch Diagonal Crunch

Also, I like to switch one of the ab exercises for push-ups just to make it more of a full-body workout. But this is just a personal preference. You can do whatever you like. I ain’t your mom so you don’t have to listen to me.

Benefits of Med Ball 200

But anyways, the Tar Heels workout is the ultimate old man game workout because you have to keep lifting at a steady pace while constantly engaging your core. This will translate to basketball by allowing you to always be moving. On offence, you will be able to constantly move without the ball to find openings for a shot or to get into your position. On defence, you will be able to keep active and pest-like and lock down your opponent.

And most importantly, it will teach you to control your pace. If you rush through the workout, you will not only do a sloppy job but will also tire yourself out before finishing it. So you have to be able to listen to your body and its movements. You have to pay attention to the tempo and do the movements properly. And if you’re an actual old guy, the chances of you hurting yourself are much higher if you blast through the workout.

This goes the same when you are in a game. If you sprint the entire game and do everything explosively, you’re going to get tired… real fast. You’re probably going to play really sloppily too. So, you just have to pace yourself. Sprint when it’s needed. But play moderately the rest of the time. Be efficient.

Explosive Play vs. Efficient Play

In 2018-19, Russell Westbrook (who was 30-years-old) averaged a triple-double, but he wasn’t very efficient. He plays a fast, explosive game, but takes a lot of bad shots. During this season, he averaged 42.8 percent from the field. And during the playoffs, he only averaged 36 percent. This is really bad when you compare his numbers to Steve Nash’s when he was 30 (Nash averaged 50.2 percent in the regular season and 52 percent in the playoffs). And they took roughly the same amount of shots during the playoffs as well (Westbrook took 22 shots per game and Nash took around 17).

But why is this comparison necessary? Well, if you look at the two players’ games, they are quite different. One style is super explosive while the other one is even paced. The even-paced player had a better shooting percentage than the other (This could be an IQ thing too. Probably is. But you know what, it doesn’t really fit my argument, so let’s ignore it for this one case.).

READ MORE: Benefits of trampoline workouts for basketball players

So what I’m saying is that you should do the Med Ball 200 workout so that you are better equipped to play an efficient game –a style that can allow you to play well for longer.

Is this a type of workout that you would apply to your routine? Why or why not? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

P.S. If you want to do this workout and need a medicine ball, click here and it’ll take you to Amazon. Here, you can choose from a wide list of really good medicine balls. Using this link (and the one above) to buy one will also help out the blog, so thanks in advance!