In my gym we sometimes do conditioning by dropping a medicine ball on our stomach. It this a good way of conditioning?
From what kind of height? I don't really like dropping medicine balls, because it is difficult to gauge the impact. I prefer having someone slap you with a thai pad or to just have them kick you.
We lie on the floor and the ball is dropped from waist height. We do it every few months to condition of stomachs to take punches.
I like medicine balls for conditioning but like Ero said, doing it only every few months isn't going to do anything for you.
We used to do that most every week with medicine balls. For new people we dropped from just a few inches and built up as they progressed. We also used to stand facing each other and throw the ball at each others stomach and chest as well as punch and kick each other on a regular basis. All together it was a great conditioning program but I couldn't say about any one of them separately.
I prefer having a partner punch you because it's easier to tell them to either go harder or softer. Here's a video I shot recently for MAP describing how I do it. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUtx8WEhHwY&feature=c4-overview&list=UUCEvC8J27lX6ns2hNgY3zUQ"]Conditioning and Body Shots - YouTube[/ame]
That's my favorite too, Simon. Pretty common among knockdown karate styles to add in drills just like that to prepare the body for hard punches.
In my MT class, we do partnered sit ups: Partner holds pads whilst you anchor your feet on. Sit up - 1,2 Go down: Partner punches your body 1,2 or double hooks Or you can go via the JCVD Kickboxer route.. coconut from a tree.
For body conditioning is better to be body sparred by a partner while lifting your hands and elbows to your waist level. That way you can ask your partner what level if intensity you are comfortable with.