Network Magazine spring 2015 | Page 18

TRAINING FOCUS: BODYWEIGHT EXERCISES Alisha Smith, Australian Fitness Network’s education manager, highlights three awesome bodyweight exercises. Crossover lunge (photo 1) 2 Start: stand upright with feet parallel. Action:  step forward and towards the opposite side with one leg, crossing one leg in front of the other. Lower the body towards the ground by bending the knees of both legs until the back knee hovers just above the floor. End: push off the front leg and return to an upright stance. 1 Inverted pull up, overhand grip, side to side (photo 2) Start:  hang from a straight bar suspended at waist height. Hands are in overgrip, with arms straight, shoulders directly beneath the bar, the torso, hips and knees in front of the bar and fully extended, and feet on the floor. Action: pull the body up and to the side until the chin approaches one of the hands at bar level. End: lower back to the starting position by extending the elbows. Incline T-stabilisation push up, feet on floor, hands on bench (photo 3) 3 Start: adopt a plank position, with the hands up on a bench in the front and the feet on the floor in back. Action: lower the body down by bending the elbows, descending until the chest hovers above the top of the bench. Extend the elbows and return to the plank position. Near the top of the push up, begin to rotate the body to one side, keeping the torso and legs aligned and the hips extended. Keep both elbows extended as the torso rotates, remove one hand from the bench and raise it to the side until it points towards the ceiling. Pause briefly in this T position, supported on the outside edge of the inner foot on the floor and the inside hand on the bench. End: keeping the raised arm extended in line with the shoulder, lower the raised hand back down to the bench, and simultaneously rotate the torso until back in the plank position. A thousand exercises in yo