Iron Cross for Everyone - How to
Today is the day! I’m here in the gym with two legendary athletes
2 elite gymnasts that will help me talking about this fantastic element.
We will show you 3-4 exercises so that you can train the Iron cross safely.
We will start with the easiest exercise and then we’ll gradually increase the difficulty.
Marco: You said it, not only legendary athletes, but also mythological ones.
Here we have a minotaur ahahah.
Let’s start with the 1st exercise of the day.
If you are a beginner you can do it as part of your strengthening workout
If you are an advanced athlete you can use it as a specific warm up.
All you need is an elastic band and do a lot of reps.
Arms completely straight (elbows locked out)
The hand should not go higher than the shoulder, otherwise you risk an injury.
Marco: Exactly, I’d say that with an elastic band is okay, but if your hand is higher than your shoulder during an harder variation of the exercise it can be very dangerous.
You should feel tension on your pec, bicep and front delt.
Marco: Exactly.
Also on the subscapularis if you activate the lats to stabilize the movement
Marco: As you can see, Andrea uses a lot his latissimus dorsi.
As for myself, I like to rotate the shoulder a little more internally.
Andrea is exaggerating during this example, but at least you understand the 2 different activations.
Both activation are okay in our opinion.
It all depends by the structure of your body and the feeling.
There are a lot of people who says one is better than the other, but at the end the final goal should be the same: Being able to hold an Iron Cross properly.
The Iron Cross can be very stressful for your body, especially for your elbows and shoulders.
This is why you should be able to find the optimal activation/position for your body.
For example, I’d get many more contractures on my back muscles if I would do the Iron Cross with a lat activation
Therefore I prefer to rotate the shoulder a little more internally.
Andrea: Ok, you prefer to put more stress on your pectorals.
You can do 10-20 repetitions per set or you can just hold the Iron Cross position for 15-20 seconds per set.
This is great to understand the correct position and get used to it.
This is very important in my opinion.
Marco: As you have said, it’s important to work on it step by step,
so you can understand how to activate your muscles without risking an injury.
As we all know, working on the right progression it’s a fundamental thing.
So guys, train smart, train safely.
The risk of injury is very high with some skills.
We are not responsible for any harmful movement you may do.
Let’s move to the next exercise.
Great to get used to the gymnastic rings
This won’t be a specific iron cross exercise, but it’s very important.
2nd exercise of the day: Rings Support with straight arms.
As you can see Andrea has his grip extra rotated, so he put more stress on the biceps.
Remember to squeeze your abs and gluteus.
Marco: An harder variation is to rotate your hands from neutral to supine position.
Great to get used to the rings. To being able to keep the rings tight to the body is the basic.
Andrea: This is fundamental. Marco: Essential.
So these 2 exercises are great for everyone.
Use it as a specific warm up if you are an advanced athlete, or as a strengthening routine if you are a beginner.
3rd exercise is a little harder.
Once you get used to the rings you can open the rings little by little.
Elbows must be locked out at all times.
If you bend your arms the exercise becomes completely different, this is a very common mistake I see.
Once you are able to do 15 controlled repetitions per set, you can go lower and help yourself by putting the feet on the ground.
Marco: As you can see, he push a little bit with his feet to help himself back up.
By doing so, he is able to go a little lower than the previous exercise.
Remember to not overload your joints and tendons, this is a work of patience and constancy, take the time to adapt to every single exercises.
This is all up to you.
Andrea: Feel your body, do not do stupid attempts!
Work constantly and be careful to not overtrain! Especially with this exercise!
4th exercise is a little harder. This is the 1st hold.
Marco: When we talk about the hold, we have 2 different options:
1st option is to do it with the assist of a coach.
2nd option is to assist yourself with the help of an elastic band.
The final objective is to assist the 45° position so that you can hold it 7-8 seconds per set.
With Andrea we are going to show you how to assist the 45° Hold.
Right now I’m not really helping much, because this is too easy for him, but at least you get an idea of what we are talking.
Then week after week you can go lower, but always with the help of a coach or an elastic band!
Andrea: So, when the 45° hold becomes easy (at least 10 seconds per 3-4 sets) you can go lower.
Marco: Yes, or you can also go lower by increasing the assistance (by using an heavier elastic band)
These were the most important exercises to work safely on the iron cross.
Huge thanks to Marco Lodadio and Andrea Russo, 2 elite national and international gymnasts.
Go follow them on Instagram if you want, link in description.
@andrearussogram
@Marcolodadio
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Go follow these 2 beasts on Instagram.
Marco: Thank you Andrea!