Done A Maltese Bench Press
November 08, 2011 Filed in: CrossFit
"Everyone gets scared, and everyone falls. The key is to get right back up and try again"
--Shannon Miller
Most people have heard about a gymnastics ring movement/pose called the Iron Cross, but beyond that, the names of even more advanced movements are not common knowledge. One of these more complicated skills is the Maltese Cross.
For this movement, the gymnast holds his body parallel to the ground at ring height with arms extended laterally. It takes a while to work up to this kind of thing, but luckily, my friend Carl Paoli has some ideas on how you can train your strength and core in a similar way.
In a Maltese Bench Press, I follow a movement Carl posted on his great site Gymnastics WOD:
I may be way wrong when I say this, but the reason this is a good progression is that when you do it, you preserve your hollow body position while pressing from the cross position and push in front of yourself. In a Maltese Cross, you would want to do the same, but instead of a pressing a dumbbell, you'd be pressing your own body weight against gravity.
When I first tried to do this, I started with two 25 pound dumbbells, and to my surprise, they were too heavy. It was super difficult. I ended up dropping down to just 12.5 pounds and going up a little bit afterwards.
This was a great exercise. It was deceptively difficult, but I think I understand how it helps with both strength and position training. Very cool!
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