The crucifix press up
The Crucifix press up, unique bodyweight exercises difficulty rating for one rep - 6 out of 10 Average time taken to master 2 months. Description The Crucifix press up is not the most difficult exercise to master but it is still one of the best exercises you can do for overall body control and deltoid strength. Because of the disadvantaged position your shoulders are in when you perform this exercise it still presents quit a challenge but it should not take most people more than a month or two to master.
This exercise requires you to lie on your belly, with your legs straight and your arms in line with your shoulders and completely locked identical to what would be a face down Crucifix position. From here it is simply a case of pushing your whole body up with your hands so that your chest raises several inches of the floor, hold for a second and then lower back down until your chest virtually touches the floor. The way to make progress with this exercise could not be easier, just bring your hands closer in towards the shoulders but still with the fingers pointing of to the side as they would be in a Crucifix position and you should find this not much harder that regular two handed press ups. When you can do 10 reps comfortably simply move your hands further away from your shoulders and build up the reps again. Keep repeating this sequence until you can do them with your arms completely horizontal as they are in a true Crucifix position.
When you push up from the floor keep the muscles of your legs, core and upper body tight and move your whole body in one coordinated effort. Make sure the floor has some form of protection on it such as the rubber mats used in gyms or if you train at home place a pillow to cushion the impact if you collapse in to a heap which is a real possibility when first practising these. Looking directly ahead at all times will help keep your body correctly aligned. If you would like to lose up to 2lb of fat each and every week or start building muscle now why not let me train you online on a one to one basis and you will receive your own exercise and nutritional plan designed specifically for you and your individual, age, physical composition, metabolism, lifestyle, and goals. Find out more Here
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Try our Free online personal training for one week without obligation and see the results for yourself before you decide to subscribe. To inquire simply use the contact form Here and begin building your new body now! Other New Articles The 100 push ups in six weeks guide Read More |
Facts on strength building
To build pure strength all bodyweight exercises have to be kept within the 1-6 repetition range.
Once you can do the required number of repetitions in an exercise change to a more demanding one
You can build strength and stay the same weight if that is your goal.
Strength training requires short workouts of no more than 30-45 minutes to be most effective.
Facts on muscle building
To build a combination of muscle and strength all exercises have to be kept within the 6-12 repetition range.
The best muscle building diet requires two grams of protein for every kilo of your bodyweight.
The quickest way to build muscle requires an increase in bodyweight.
Each muscle should be trained no more than once or a maximum of twice per week for best results.
Facts on abs building
Diet accounts for 80% of the success in building great abs.
You cannot spot reduce fat from any one area of your body or in other words you cannot pick and choose were to lose fat. It has to be done gradually throughout the whole body.
To lose weight eat 4 or 5 small meals a day with each meal containing protein. This keeps your metabolism high and stops your body going into starvation mode which is when it will store fat.
Do not lose more than 1 or 2 pound of weight per week.
The best three abs exercises are the dragon flag, full abs rollout and full hanging leg raise.
Sit ups and crunches are terrible fat burning exercises. You would have to do 1000 sit-ups every night for over 2 weeks to burn 1 pound of fat.
In one study on rats, one group was given all their food in one meal per day as opposed to the other group which had the same amount of food but in small meals throughout the day. The results showed that ones who ate all there food in one meal put on weight whilst the others did not.
Doing lots of cardio without muscle building will result in large muscle loss because your body will adapt to make the cardio easy by losing the heavy muscle. The result could be someone who has very little muscle but still carries some fat.
Exercises that are weight bearing like running and walking are better for burning calories than non weight bearing ones such as cross trainers and cycling.
Facts on flexibility
All workouts should begin with dynamic stretchinginvolving two sets of 10 to 15 repetitions of each movement used.
All workouts should end with a cool down of static passive stretching.
The quickest flexibility results are gained with isometric stretching.
Isometric stretching should be done towards the end of a workout and never more than 3-4 times per week.