Medicine Balls

[Aodhan]

Have you tried defensive side kicks agains thrown 20 lbs medicine balls. That is fun lol

Fun? Sounds like an incredibly easy way to break an ankle or a fibula.

Aodhan

[Aodhan]

Well i have seen Jean Claude Van Damme take one in his gut from a great height in the film Kickboxer. How realistic is that do you think? Can someone really take that?

Depends on the weight. An object dropped from a certain height acquires an energy of motion (kinetic energy) equal to its weight times the height from which it was dropped. IIRC, in the movie, it looks like he drops it from about 20 feet up, so even if it only weighs 5 lbs, that is 100 foot/lbs hitting him in the stomach. That's enough to do some severe damage to the internal organs behind the abdominal wall, regardless of how much you can tighten your abs.

Additionally, it is a very localized impact, which will increase the amount of force in that area.

If you look at the people that hold concrete slabs on their chest and someone breaks them with a hammer, it's not as impressive as you might think. The slabs spread out the impact all along the torso, and it's usually about a 10-15 lb sledge, being swung in a 4 foot arc, which would be about 60 foot/lbs of force.

You take a 15 lbs medicine ball and drop it on someone from 20 feet up, you're going to do some serious damage.

Aodhan