Chest Push from 3 point stance
Also works: Abdominals · Shoulders · Triceps
A medicine-ball chest throw launched out of a football-style three-point stance: one hand on the ground, two hard steps forward, then the ball goes. It couples a sprint start to an upper-body throw, so it trains the sequence of driving off the floor and delivering force through the hands while still moving.
Own the movement
Set up first, then execute. Every cue below is something you can check on your next set.
Before the first rep
- Set up in a three-point stance: feet staggered, hips roughly at shoulder height, one hand on the ground.
- Put the ball on the floor directly in front of you, within reach of your first step.
- Use a 3-5 kg ball and give yourself 15 metres of clear space downfield.
- Weight forward over the down hand so the first step is a drive, not a stand-up.
- Mark your start line with tape and measure where the ball first lands, so the drill has a number.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Take a breath and brace in the stance, exhale hard through the release. The whole rep lasts about a second, so there is no tempo to prescribe beyond making both steps and the throw one continuous action.
Before you load it
- Make sure the throwing lane is clear before every rep. You are moving forward and looking at the target, not at what is beside you.
- Do this outdoors or in a large hall. A 5 kg ball thrown from a running start is not something to attempt in a crowded gym.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
3-5 kg. Learn the sequence with a 2 kg ball or even a light basketball first — the coordination is the hard part, not the weight. Progress by distance measured from the start line, and only consider a heavier ball once your throws are consistent within about half a metre of each other and still land flat.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Keep your head and chest low through the first step and pull the ball in from below. Standing up first breaks the leg drive into a separate movement from the throw, which is exactly the link the drill exists to build.
Count out loud: step, step, throw. If you need more steps to hit distance, the ball is too heavy — drop to 3 kg and keep the two-step rhythm.
Aim at a target on the wall or a cone on the ground at chest height. A flat trajectory keeps the load on the chest and triceps rather than turning it into a hip toss.
Alternate the down hand every set. The stance is asymmetric and so is the first step; training one side only builds a one-sided pattern.
Why bother
The kneeling chest throws isolate the upper body deliberately. This one does the opposite: the legs start the movement, the trunk transmits it, and the arms finish it. That order — ground up, biggest joints first — is the sequence behind every athletic push, from a scrum engagement to a shove off the line, and it is easy to get wrong when you never practise it moving.
The two steps are not a run-up for extra distance. They are a timing constraint: the ball has to be pulled to the chest during the first step and released on the second, so the arms are finishing while the second foot is still driving. Take four steps and you get a longer throw with the coordination problem removed.
Where it fits
Immediately after the warm-up on a day with sprint or jump work, once or twice a week. Three to five sets of three throws, alternating which hand is down, with 90 seconds between sets. It is a coordination-heavy drill, so keep the volume low enough that every rep is sharp — a sloppy throw teaches a sloppy sequence.
If this one isn't it
No kit, too hard, or too easy — here's where to go instead.
Same job, different kit
Start here instead
When this gets easy
Asked and answered
Do I need to be a football player for this to be worth doing?
No, but you do need a reason to train a moving push. If your sport involves shoving, contact or driving into something while your feet are moving — rugby, American football, wrestling, judo — this is directly relevant. If you just want a stronger chest, the kneeling throws are simpler and the bench press is better still.
How far should the ball go?
It depends entirely on ball weight and stance, so treat it as a personal benchmark rather than a standard. With a 4 kg ball, 8-12 metres is a common range for trained adults. What matters is whether the number improves and whether the throw stays flat and two-stepped while it does.
Should I do this before or after sprints?
Before, or in the same block as your fastest sprint work. Both need a fresh nervous system, and this drill takes almost no metabolic cost — three throws will not compromise the sprints that follow. What will compromise it is doing it after twenty minutes of running.
Can I load this up with a heavy slam ball?
No. Above about 5 kg the ball slows the throw down enough that the sequencing changes — you start pushing rather than throwing, and the two-step rhythm falls apart. If you want to train heavy pushing from a stance, use a sled push instead and keep the ball light.