Ideally, the pectoral muscles of the bodybuilder should be like two massive plates, clearly separated from each other, with clearly defined edges.
With the help of basic exercises, this cannot be achieved; in order to give the chest a beautiful relief, you need to include it in your training program also insulating.
This can be the convergence of hands in a crossover. This is an isolation chest exercise that is almost useless for recruiting. muscle mass, however, allows you to improve the shape pectoral muscles.
Thanks to him, they will become clearly expressed, they will take outlined forms, and their aesthetics will improve. Including hand information in a crossover in your program is necessary primarily for advanced athletes. Beginners should first create breast volume with basic exercises, such as bench press on a horizontal and incline bench.
What muscles work
When performing the exercise, the main work is performed by the pectoralis major and minor muscles. In addition, during work in the crossover, the serratus anterior muscle and the anterior delta bundle receive additional stress. When correct technique triceps are turned 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, with the emphasis on their middle part. With the lower arrangement of the blocks, the main part of the load is taken by the upper chest, and with the upper - the lower.
The latter option is the main one when performing this exercise. Together with such a convergence of hands in a crossover, it is worthwhile to include a reduction in hands in the training program to work out the chest in a sitting simulator.
When working, the entire chest is involved in it, but the main emphasis is on the inside of it, 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 gaze should be directed forward.
- As you exhale, gently bring your hands together, bringing them close to each other.
- While inhaling, slowly return to the starting position.
Find the optimal positioning of your legs and core: your pecs should feel light in the starting position, while keeping your elbows slightly behind your body. Move back and forth to find the optimal position.
There are different opinions as to how the legs should be positioned. Most of the trainees believe that they should be carried away, putting one in front and the other back. It is easier to maintain balance in this position.
However, the load is slightly 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 on the same level.
If you, like most athletes, choose a non-parallel stance, periodically swap them, bringing either the right or the left foot forward.
When performing hand information in a crossover, the pectoral muscles are under load throughout the entire range of motion. In this, this exercise compares favorably with the information of hands with free weights, which are performed lying on a bench: in this case, when the weights are at the top point, a significant part of the load is transferred to the hands.
In order to achieve best results from working out the pectoral muscles in the crossover, make a peak contraction, lingering for one or two counts in a position in which the arms are almost close to each other.
Frequent mistakes
You do not need to bend and unbend your arms at the elbows, they must be fixed. Make sure that the flexion occurs exclusively in the shoulder joints. The body must also be kept stationary. At the same time, the arms should be practically 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; your hands should not walk from side to side while performing the 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. This makes it easier to handle a lot of weight, but this is wrong.
If you are unable to mix in the correct technique, reduce the load.
Hand information in the crossover is described in the book by Dmitry Murzin “Arnold Schwarzenegger. Signature Exercises ", which can be an interesting and useful reading 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 outlined contours of the pectoral muscles: thanks to the inclusion of this exercise in his training program, the chest begins to "split", that is, there is a pronounced division of the pectoral muscles into bundles, and it looks very effectively.
it isolated exercisewhich perfectly pumps the chest. It differs from the dumbbell set in that there is constant tension in the chest muscles throughout the entire amplitude of the exercise and allows you to better work out the inner part. Flattening in a crossover places less stress on the elbow joints than setting dumbbells.
Different muscles work depending on the slope of the bench:
- lying on a bench upside down loads the lower pectorals more;
- lying on horizontal bench loads the middle of the pectoral muscles;
- lying on a bench at an angle of 30-40 degrees loads the upper chest.
Starting position
Take a bench that suits you and place it in the center of the crossover. Lie on a bench so that the middle of your chest is at the level of the middle of the blocks. Spread your legs shoulder-width apart and rest them on the floor. For a more isolated version, lift your legs up, place them with your heels on a bench or keep them crossed, the weight in the simulator that you will lift will be less, but the isolation on the pectoral muscles will become much more. Alternatively, press your lower back fully against the bench, this will increase the isolation of the pectoral muscles and remember to raise your legs on the bench. The back, pelvis and neck are pressed against the bench, the shoulder blades are together, the lower back and legs are in the position of your choice. Grasp the handles of the crossover and bring them together, if you are uncomfortable, ask to be served them. Only use D-shaped handles. Take the handles into the lock, palms facing each other. Bend your arms slightly at the elbows and hold so throughout the exercise.
Technique for performing a convergence of hands in a crossover lying on a horizontal bench
We start the exercise from the top position. Inhale and begin to lower the handles down in an arc. It is worth lowering until the handles are at the level of your shoulders. The elbows look down and are always bent. Together with an exhalation on effort, bring your hands together. As if hugging a small barrel on his chest. Hands should touch at the top point, stay there for a short period of time. Tighten your chest and lower.
This is an isolated single-joint exercise for training the chest muscles. This exercise allows you to work out all sections of the pectoral muscles, due to the fact that you can adjust the position of the handles. Because information in the crossover is not a basic exercise, there is no need to use large weights, all the same, this exercise does not so much build muscles as gives them shape.
This exercise is reminiscent of lying dumbbells, only in an inverted position. Only in contrast to the layout, where the load leaves the muscles at the top point, everything is different in the crossover. Due to the fact that the cable is constantly pulling at an angle, we have tension throughout the entire range of motion, and this is great for working out the inner part of the chest, if you make a slight delay in muscle contraction.
Nuances of execution
1. It is necessary to stand exactly in the middle between the blocks, take the handles, take a step forward, and bend in the lower back so that the pectoral muscles are already in the initial position in a stretched state. In no case do not round your back, otherwise the load will go away from the chest.
2. The angle at the elbows should be approximately 130 degrees, it should not be sharp, but at the same time, the arms at the elbows should be slightly bent. If the angle is sharp, then instead of mixing, you will get a bench press.
3. Be sure to do a peak contraction during the mix, this allows your muscles to be squeezed, which ultimately gives them a more beautiful shape.
How to shift focus to different areas of the breast?
Upper chest workout
In order to shift the load on the upper chest, it is necessary to do mixing in the crossover through the lower blocks... If your crossover has the ability to adjust the height of the handles, then move the handles to the lowest position. From the bottom position, it is necessary to make the reduction to the top of the chest.
Mid chest
You can leave the handles in the up position, or you can lower them to the height of your shoulders. It is necessary to reduce it at the level of the middle of the chest, so that the elbows look to the side, and the position of the hands is parallel to the floor.
Lower chest
Need to do crossover mixing through upper blocks ... The movement of the hands is strictly from top to bottom, under the very bottom of the chest.
When and how much to do?
After basic exercises to work out the target muscle. The number of sets 3-4, reps from 10 to 20. Remember, you do not need to do a few reps, this is not strength exercise, but if you overdo it with weight, you can easily get injured.
Crossover reduction is an isolating exercise for working out the pectoral muscles. This movement is recommended for those athletes who already have a decent training experience (more than 1 year); for beginners, work in a crossover will not be effective. Hand information is most often performed in order to pump the pectoral muscles; during pumping, the target muscle group is filled with blood, and with it a variety of nutrients, due to which muscle growth is accelerated.
Crossover horizontal arm convergence is also often used to stretch the fascia (the connective tissue that covers muscle fibers), it also improves the speed muscle growth... To increase the effectiveness of crossover training, you need to know about some of the features of the exercise technique.
With the help of the hands in the crossover, you can work out different parts of the pectoral muscles; with the standard version, the lower chest areas are most involved. To work out the middle of the chest, you will need to lower the handles on the simulator by about half, and in order to use the upper sections, the handles on the power frame should be lowered to the very bottom. How to do this can be clearly seen in the video clip at the bottom of the article.
Frequent mistakes during exercise
- Do not round your back, the effectiveness of the exercise in this case will drop many times, you will not be able to achieve the desired contraction of the pectoral muscles.
- Do not press your elbows against your torso.
- Do not bend your elbows, keep a fixed angle at elbow joint... Perform information in a crossover solely by contracting the pectoral muscles.
- Keep your legs parallel, do not put one of them in front, as in this case, one part of the chest will receive more load, and the other less, and you may end up with asymmetry of the chest muscles. You can put your foot forward only in one case - if you alternately change legs during one approach, that is, you can perform 5 repetitions with right foot in front and 5 on the left.
- Do not perform hand laps if your training experience becomes less than 1 year.
Let's see what a chest workout should look like with this exercise:
- (2 warm-ups + 3-4X8-12);
- (1 warm-up + 3-4X8-12);
- (3-4X8-15);
- Hand information in the crossover (3-4X8-15).
We use the information only at the end of the workout to finish off our breasts and additionally pump them. This technique is considered very effective among professional athletes, for better pumping of the target muscle group with blood, you can perform several drop sets at the very end. Also, at the beginning of your workout, you can do multiple sets in the crossover to warm up and warm up.
Video with the technique of doing hand information in a crossover
Crossover is about bringing your hands together block trainer... An isolated exercise to shape the pectoral muscles. It is well suited for athletes who have base weight pectoral muscles are already recruited, and it needs to be sanded.
The target muscles for this exercise are the pectoralis. Depending on the variation of the exercise, it is possible to emphasize the load on their lower, upper or inner part.
The target muscles for the exercise are the pectoral muscles.
The muscles of the shoulders, arms and back are used as additional muscles. A number of muscles in the body have a stabilizing function. In particular, these are the muscles of the press, legs and buttocks.
The crossover advantage
Exercising in a block simulator has its own specifics. With regard to an exercise such as a crossover, the main benefits are as follows:
- The pectoral muscles are under stress all the time. The resistance of the blocks does not allow them to relax for a second. While when doing chest exercises with dumbbells or a barbell, the effort is rather impulsive.
- By varying the position of the body and the direction of information, you can work out different areas of the pectoral muscles. So, for example, if we crossover from top to bottom, it works. If, on the contrary, we pull up the handles of the lower blocks, the emphasis is on. By doing the crossover in front of us, we are working on the center.
- The crossover technique involves stretching the target muscles at the top. This allows you to increase the range of motion and force the muscle to contract as much as possible.
- Since this exercise does not use large weights, it is significantly safer for shoulder jointsthan, say, bench press.
Execution technique
Often in isolated exercises, technique plays a more significant role than the weights themselves. The crossover is no exception. Our task is not to load the muscle to the maximum (there are basic exercises for this), but to make it work so that it grows in the way we need. Well, or in the case of using a finishing exercise, we work with already tired muscles, so heavy weights are also irrelevant.
Consider a crossover in classic form, leaving the variations for last.
- Set the correct weight on the machine. It should be the same on the right and left. Use a load that will allow you to perform the movements in full control, without jerking.
- Stand straight between the uprights, lean forward slightly with your back straight. Place your feet shoulder-width apart, knees can be slightly bent. Some athletes put one leg forward for a more stable trunk position when bent over. This approach takes place, however, when using it, it is necessary to alternate the position of the legs from approach to approach. This will avoid unbalanced loads on the right and left sides.
- Raise your arms and grasp the handles of the blocks so that you feel the stretch in the pectoral muscles. At the same time, the elbows should be bent (this rule is maintained throughout the entire movement), the shoulder blades should be tightly pressed to the back. Lock in the starting position.
- As you exhale, without bending your back and without changing the angle at the elbows, slowly and under control bring your hands down in front of you. The inner sides of the wrists should be facing each other. Concentrate on maximizing your chest muscles. At the bottom of the exercise, linger for 1-2 seconds. You can even wrap one hand behind the other a little (alternately) to increase the amplitude.
- As you inhale, raise your arms again to the starting position.
Classic version the crossover emphasizes the load on the lower chest. Do not straighten your elbows during the exercise. The angle is about 10 degrees all the time. With the right technique, the trajectory of the brushes resembles a semicircle. At the same time, the back should remain straight at all times. Straighten your shoulders.
It is also important to control muscle effort and not allow yourself to work at the expense of your hands. We train exactly the pectorals, remember this. Avoid jerking - the movement is even, the muscles do not relax for a second.
Variations for the top and middle of the chest
As already mentioned, classic crossovers mostly affect the bottom of the chest. In fairness, it is worth citing variations of this exercise, the combination of which will help to maximize the shape of the pectoral muscles from all sides.
In general, the technique of performing the exercise remains the same, only the position of the body and the direction of the cable pull change.
Top of chest
When our task is to draw the upper contour of the chest, the handles will need to be pulled not from top to bottom, but from bottom to top. That is, the exercise is performed on the lower block.
When using lower blocks, the load is redistributed to upper part breasts. In the initial position, the arms are slightly bent at the elbows, lowered down on the sides of the body and slightly pulled back (until the chest feels stretched). The palms are directed towards the body. As you exhale, your hands need to be raised and brought in front of you. On inhalation, return to the starting position.
Mid chest
To work out the middle of the chest, fasten the blocks in the middle of the supports and perform the information straight in front of you. With this position, the arms at the end point will not be directed up or down, but forward.
Working out the central part of the chest. You can also try horizontal crossover... For this, a bench is placed between the legs of the simulator. You lie down on it with your body and take the handles of the blocks in the lower position. The load will be similar to what you get by doing. However, thanks to the resistance of the simulator, your muscles will not relax for a second, that is, the workout will be even more powerful.
Execution on a horizontal bench. How to build a workout
You can put crossovers in your workout routine after heavier basic exercises. They should be performed for 10-15 repetitions of 2-3 approaches with light or medium weight. It is the technique of movements that is of paramount importance.
You can also combine crossover with push-ups, performing on the approach of both exercises without interruption. That is, for example, you do 20-30 push-ups, then 10-15 information at once, then you rest - and the next approach.