Information in the crossover through the upper blocks. Bringing hands together in a crossover Bringing hands together in a crossover technique

] Description of the exercise

What muscles work
Crossovers
Reduction of hands on the blocks
Technique and muscles involved in the exercise
Type of exercise:
Target Muscles:
Performance
Inventory:	block simulator
Complexity:	moderate
Injuries:
Similar exercises:
Advantages:
effective for development pectoral muscles

Crossovers- a specialized exercise for pumping the pectoral muscles, especially their inner and lower parts. The exercise is not considered highly effective for increasing the volume of the pectoral muscles, as it is not able to create the maximum overload. Crossovers well suited for increasing strength, they are also recommended if the bench press, dips and dips with dumbbells are not effective.

Exercise technique

Stabilizing muscles

Shoulders: Serratus anterior, pectoralis minor, rhomboids, lower trapezius muscles
Shoulder joint: Rotators of the shoulder, biceps brachii.
Elbow joint: Triceps brachii, brachialis.
Wrist joint: Carpal flexors.
Moderate trunk stabilization: Abdominal and gluteal muscle groups, latissimus dorsi.
The core muscles of the legs provide stability to the posture.

Crossover technique

Stand between the blocks with one foot slightly forward. Grab the block handles. The arms are slightly bent at the elbows, palms facing each other. Bring your hands together until they touch, elbows slightly bent throughout the exercise. Return to starting position.

Tips for proper exercise technique:

Learn the correct technique for performing movements before increasing the weight.
Avoid using the force of inertia; use slow, controlled motion.
Avoid excessive extension of the arms in the elbow joints and overload of the shoulder joints. The arms should remain bent at the elbows at an angle of approximately 10°.
Keep your chest and shoulders back and don't slouch. Be sure to bring your shoulder blades together and down and press them against your back, activating your anterior muscles.
Concentrate on the tension of the pectoral muscles when bringing the arms together, and not on the efforts of the muscles of the hands.
Exhale while bringing the arms through the sides down.

Crossover technique (video)

Motion analysis	Joint 1	Joint 2
	Brachial	Shoulder-thoracic articulation
Direction of movement in the joints	Forward - horizontal adduction, inward rotation Back - abduction in the horizontal plane, outward rotation	Forward - lead Back - mixing
Mobilizing muscles	Pectoralis major muscle, emphasis on the sternocostal and clavicular parts. Small pectoral muscles; Front end deltoid muscle. coracobrachial muscle; Biceps shoulder ( short head); Latissimus dorsi back	Serratus anterior

Notes: if you do this exercise with your elbows very bent, then the crossover on the blocks turns into a bench press. To complete the entire movement to the very end, you will have to straighten your elbows. Thus, you will connect the triceps to the movement, turning the isolated exercise into a multi-joint one.

Additionally: To intensify the training in this exercise, you can use

The chest is one of the most important parts of the body. The ribcage primarily protects internal organs such as the heart and lungs. And for any bodybuilder, beautiful pectoral muscles are already half the battle.

Of course, in order to achieve the appropriate shape, you need to train a lot and systematically. The optimal in this case would be to spend 90% of the workout on multi-purpose compound exercises, during which several muscle groups are involved at once. However, if your main goal is to build muscle mass(in this case, we are talking specifically about the pectoral muscles), then the reduction of the hands in the crossover while standing is perfect as the final exercise, with which you can qualitatively load the target muscles. In addition, this simulator can be found in almost any gym which greatly simplifies the task.

Execution technique

First of all, properly “set up” the simulator. You perform crossover folds through upper blocks, respectively, position the handles at the highest possible point on each side.
Set the desired weight (the same in both cases) and, standing exactly in the middle, grasp the handles with your palms down.
Take a step forward. The arms are slightly bent at the elbows, the chest is forward, the gaze is straight ahead. This is the starting position for this exercise.
Engaging only slowly bring your palms together, crossing them directly in front of you. IN lowest point tighten your chest muscles.
Slowly return to the starting position.
Complete required amount repetitions.

Any physical activity requires preliminary theoretical preparation. So you minimize the risk of injury and can get more results in a shorter period of time. Here's what you need to know before jumping straight into crossover mixing:

Maintain maximum range of motion. Thus, you maximize the use of muscle fibers. During the exercise, you should feel tension in the joints at the beginning of the movement.
Use a lighter weight. Don't try to be a hero in front of others. The purpose of crossover abduction is to fatigue the pectoral muscles, which is best done with 10-15 reps with light weights combined with push-ups.
Do the exercise slowly, follow the technique. Since in this case the load is only on one joint, there is no point in using an additional impulse. Try to feel every movement.
Pull your shoulders back. Common mistake. By bringing your shoulders forward, you work on the muscles of the back and shoulders, and not the chest. Pull your shoulders back, keep your head straight to use your chest.
Bend your arms slightly. Also a common mistake is excessive bending of the arms. Yes, this way the reduction of hands in the crossover is much easier, but at the same time its effectiveness is reduced by half. It is better to use less weight, but keep your arms almost straight.

Common mistakes

Probably, there is not a single exercise that absolutely everyone performs correctly and without errors. It is very important during training to monitor posture and technique. Don't be afraid to ask the coach on duty for help. If this is not possible, then at first you can shoot the exercise on camera. So you can reasonably assess your technique and, if necessary, seek help from knowledgeable people.

The most common mistakes include:

Insufficient stretching of the muscles. While most exercises only work with the initial effort, when bringing the hands together in the upper crossover, both the forward thrust and the return to the starting position are important. Be sure to fully stretch your muscles chest, this will lead to better stimulation muscle fibers and, consequently, strong growth.
Lack of variety. The secret to an ideal training program is constant change. By only mixing from the top block, you run the risk of only overtraining upper part chest, leaving the rest of the body disproportionate. Constantly change exercises to stimulate muscle development from all sides.
Fear of experiments. Yes, crossover curls are great for finishing off your workout, but that doesn't mean you can't try adding this exercise first. Remember, each body is individual and reacts to the load in its own way. Try it, perhaps for you it will be more effective to fatigue the pectoral muscles before the main load.

Advantages

The chest muscles are quite bulky, and therefore when you perform a crossover, you also use the muscles of the core and shoulders to maintain balance. All this leads to more efficient combustion calories.

Also, as mentioned earlier, a developed chest creates a more harmonious figure and affects appearance shoulders and triceps.

There is an opportunity for diversity here. Crossover is a universal trainer. By placing the cable at different points (upper, lower middle), you get the opportunity to act on the pectoral muscles from different angles, which undoubtedly contributes to a more harmonious growth and development of the muscle corset.

Two ideas for a superset

Supersets - the ability to maximize the load on the target muscles. If the usual reduction of hands in a crossover is not enough for you, then you can diversify the exercise by adding:

Push ups. A killer superset because you're doing two exercises for the same muscle group without stopping. However, if doing more than 30 push-ups is an impossible task for you, then give up the idea of \u200b\u200bexecuting this superset. It will be too hard for you.
Body lifting. During the reduction of the hands in the crossover, the core muscles also actively work. Therefore, by combining these two exercises together, you not only work out the pectoral muscles with high quality, but also give a greater load on the press than when performing these two exercises separately.

Perhaps this is all you need to know about this exercise. Follow the technique, experiment, but remember: the main thing is safety!

Good afternoon, kachata! In this article, we will touch on another isolated exercise for the chest, analyze all the subtleties, find out the mistakes and execution technique.

General information.

Everyone is used to hearing about basic exercises. barbell bench press or dumbbell press, I don’t argue, these exercises are the basis for our pectorals, but there is great exercise– information of hands in the crossover, there is also butterfly exercise, but that's a completely different story.

Basic exercises will not be able to detail your chest, although they are capable of much, but even high repetitions will not be able to touch those distant bundles that we need so much.

Muscular anatomy.

This movement is somewhat reminiscent of the flapping of the wings of birds, during the reduction of the hands at the lower point, the entire load is concentrated in the pectoral muscles, only the shoulder joint is included in the work, the triceps are completely turned off. Most of the lower part of the chest is involved in the work, but this does not mean that the middle and upper parts are excluded from work, no, they do the work of assistants more than the key group. The stabilizer muscles will be the forearms and core muscles.

Crossover exercise - pluses:

Lack of support.

Most important advantage block exercises, in that the body is held by us due to the muscles of the core - stabilizers. This helps relieve back muscles.

The trajectory of movement allows our pectoral muscles to be in constant tension, which has a very beneficial effect on breast growth. The load remains as in the upper part with the arms apart, but in the lower part the load naturally increases.

Stretching.

Crossover allows not only to injure our muscle fibers, but also to stretch them. As you know, the growth of muscle fibers is much better under the influence physical activity with stretch. This also allows you to better fill the muscles with blood and saturate with oxygen.

Relief work.

The crossover gives expressiveness to your chest. But do not be misled that isolated exercises will help you achieve “dryness” or, the same concept as “almonds”, this magic and relief depends only on the amount of your body fat, and not on isolated exercises.

Reducing the load on the deltas.

Do not forget that crossovers reduce the load on the shoulders and transfer it to a different plane, not the one in the presses.

Execution technique.

In fact, everything is quite simple, but nevertheless there are some nuances that I will now explain to you.

There are only two phases.

№1

We approach the simulator and set the weight we need, we always start with a smaller one. We take both handles in our hands, take a starting position in the center of the block, take a half step forward with one foot (you should get a slight stretch) and become stable. We slightly tilt the body forward, the arms are spread apart to a slight tension of the pectoral muscles, the arms at the elbow are slightly bent. This is where we took our starting position. Now you should take a breath.

№2

Now we exhale smoothly and begin to bring our hands to the center of the body, the movement should resemble a semicircle. We keep our back straight, but the body is slightly tilted forward, for stability, this position of the body should be kept throughout the entire movement. When bringing the hands together, we further contract and tighten the pectoral muscles, this will better fill our chest with blood. Now slowly return to the starting position. We do 4 sets of 12 - 15 times.

Mistakes.

Too, the arms are bent at the elbow joint, but should be slightly.
The elbows are pressed against the body, which should not be.
Rounded back, do not do this, you give a negative load on the lower back.

Tips for doing the crossover exercise.

Weight does not play a primary role in this exercise, technique is more important and additional tension of the pectoral muscles at the bottom point.
The movement should resemble a semicircle.
We do everything slowly and smoothly, without jerks.
We follow the synchronous movement of the hands.

Secrets for the best slaughter of pectorals.

No. 1. Pushups + crossover.

We perform two exercises - one after the other without rest, we rest only after two approaches in a row. To begin with, we do 20 push-ups from the floor, after which immediately 10-12 hand information in the crossover, about 3 approaches in total. But it is worth noting that the weight of the information will be much less than usual.

No. 2 Reduction of hands lying at an angle.

Ideally, the pectoral muscles of a bodybuilder should be like two massive plates, clearly separated from each other, with clearly defined edges.

It is impossible to achieve this with the help of basic exercises, in order to give the chest a beautiful relief, you need to include in your training program also insulating.

This can be the reduction of hands in a crossover. This is an isolation exercise for working out the chest, which is practically useless for gaining muscle mass, but it allows you to improve the shape of the pectoral muscles.

Thanks to him, they will become clearly expressed, take on outlined forms, and their aesthetics will improve. First of all, advanced level athletes need to include hand information in a crossover in their program. Beginners should first create chest volume with basic exercises, such as the barbell bench press on a horizontal and incline bench.

What muscles work

When performing the exercise, the main work is performed by the large and small pectoral muscles. In addition, while working in a crossover, the anterior serratus muscle and the anterior delta bundle receive an additional load. At correct technique triceps are switched off from work.

Exercise options

The exercise can be performed with blocks located at different heights. They can be at chest level, above or below it.

In the first case, the pectoral muscles are fully loaded with work, while the emphasis is on their middle part. With the lower arrangement of the blocks, the main part of the load is taken over by the top of the chest, and with the upper one, the bottom.

It is the latter option that is the main one when performing this exercise. Along with such a reduction of arms in a crossover, it is worth including the reduction of arms to work out the chest in a sitting simulator in the training program.

When working, the entire chest is involved in it, but the main emphasis is on its inner part, which allows you to clearly separate the left and right halves. These two exercises complement each other well.

Execution technique

Take a starting position: grab the handles and pull them towards you, lean forward slightly, your eyes should be directed forward.
As you exhale, gently bring your hands together, bringing them close to each other.
On an inhale, slowly return to the starting position.

Find the optimal position of the legs and body: your pectoral muscles in the starting position should feel a slight load, while it is necessary that the elbows are slightly behind the body. Move back and forth to find the best position.

There are different opinions about how the legs should be positioned. Most practitioners believe that they should be spread, putting one forward and the other back. In this position, it is easier to maintain balance.

However, the load is a little asymmetrical: either the right or left half of the body does most of the work. In order to avoid this, the legs can be placed at the same level.

If you, like most athletes, choose a non-parallel stance, periodically change their places, bringing the right foot forward, then the left foot.

When performing hand information in a crossover, the pectoral muscles are under load throughout the entire range of motion. This this exercise compares favorably with the information of the hands with free weights, which are performed lying on the bench: in this case, when the weights are at the top point, a significant part of the load passes to the hands.

In order to achieve best results from working the pectoral muscles in the crossover, make a peak contraction, lingering for one or two counts in a position in which the hands are almost close to each other.

Common mistakes

You do not need to bend and unbend your elbows, they must be fixed. Make sure that bending occurs exclusively in shoulder joints. The body must also be kept still. At the same time, the arms should be almost straight - many bend them at the elbows at an angle of almost 90 degrees, but this is wrong.

Also make sure that your hands move in the same plane parallel to each other, the hands should not walk from side to side during the execution of information. Another common mistake is bringing the hands together due to inertia, when at the very beginning of the positive phase of the movement, the athlete makes a jerk. Thus, it is easier to cope with more weight, but this is wrong.

If you can't mix with the right technique, reduce the load.

The information of the hands in the crossover is described in the book by Dmitry Murzin “Arnold Schwarzenegger. Signature Exercises ”, which can be an interesting and useful read for every bodybuilder.

Iron Arnie devoted a lot of time to the implementation of such information, noting that they not only contribute to the creation of delineated contours of the pectoral muscles: thanks to the inclusion of this exercise in his training program, the chest begins to “cut”, that is, there is a pronounced division of the pectoral muscles into bundles, and it looks very effectively.

Crossover exercise through the upper blocks, pumps lower part, middle and inner edges of the chest. "Cuts" the bottom of the pectoral muscles, giving them a relief. isolation exercise.

In bodybuilding information in the crossover used to “cut” (highlight) the bottom of the pectoralis major muscle, giving it sharp shapes; for a distinct separation of the chest muscles in the center of the body and the "manifestation" of the muscular relief of the chest.

The muscles involved in the crossover play the first fiddle in the performance of various grips, punches and holds in wrestling, boxing and karate; working out the compulsory program on the rings in gymnastics; passing the ball from the side with one hand in basketball; receiving the ball and hitting with an open racket in tennis and squash.

Information in the crossover through the upper blocks - an exercise for the pectoral muscles

1. Attach the D-Handles to the crossover cables through the top pulleys and grasp them with an overhand grip. Stand exactly in the middle between the legs of the crossover and take a small step forward with one foot. This will give the body a more stable position.

2. Keeping the natural curve of the spine (the buttocks are slightly laid back, the chest is “wheeled”), slightly, by 15-30 °, tilt the torso forward.

3. Extend your arms to the sides as much as possible and lower them slightly down so that the weights come off the stops, and the elbows are almost flush with the shoulders. Slightly bend your elbows and turn your palms to the floor. The elbow joint and wrist are fixed in this position until the end of the set. All movement occurs only in the shoulder joint.

4. Take a deep breath and, holding your breath, bring the handles in front of your torso until they touch each other or even more (crossing your arms).

5. As you bring the handles together, exhale and try to tighten your chest as much as possible. Your task is to keep the peak muscle contraction for at least a second. Then slowly return to the starting position (elbows at shoulder level).

Information in the crossover through the upper blocks - muscles

Tips: Information in the crossover through the upper blocks

1. Performing the exercise on straight arms, you risk injuring elbow joints. If, returning to the starting position, you straighten your arms, the chest muscles are actively included in the work and decreases. This indicates that the selected weight is too heavy.

2. Keep your torso stationary throughout the exercise. By leaning forward to help your whole body close the handles, you take the pressure off your chest.

3. Bring the handles in a wide arc at chest level. Imagine you are hugging a big tree. In this case, the focus of the load is aimed exactly at the middle of the chest. If you bring your hands high (at head level), then the point of attack is shifted to the top of the chest and front deltas. The lower you bring your arms together (below your chest) or the less you tilt your torso, the more the bottom of the pectoralis major muscle contracts.

4. Holding your breath during the positive phase of the exercise (pushing your arms in front of your chest) makes it easier to keep your body still and increases your strength.

5. Do not strain your back and keep your shoulders back. Thus, you exclude the serratus anterior muscle from work, which pulls the lower edge of the scapula forward and outward, which is possible only with pronation of the shoulder (turning it inward, towards the chest around the vertical axis). Hence the conclusion: bringing the handles in front of the chest, round (pierce) the shoulders.