Balls dating back to Hippocrates

TODAY medicine balls come in a range of weights, sizes and funky colours but ancient drawings date the equipment to almost 3000 years ago, when Persian wrestlers trained with sand-filled bladders.

In ancient Greece, the physician Hippocrates is said to have stuffed animal skins for patients to toss for "medicinal" purposes – hence the name today of "medicine ball".

Gladiators used them to prepare for the arena, building strength and endurance, but the last great medicine ball revival was in the early 1900s when President Herbert Hoover's physician suggested his overweight patient use the ball to shape up.

"There was a game called the Hooverball, like volleyball with a medicine ball tossed over the net," an American trainer at equipment manufacturer Life Fitness, Deborah McConnell, said about the 20th century resurgence before the medicine ball was overtaken by other gym equipment.

American Council on Exercise health and fitness coach Chris Freytag said the latest comeback spurred a rebirth of other weighted balls.

The medicine ball is like a heavy basketball and made to bounce, she explained, while the slam ball is made to slam without breaking and the deadweight ball is sand-filled and does not bounce. – Reuters