Iron Crosses: Try One of the Hardest Types of Push Ups

When a person gets to the point where they can do 50 or more push ups, chest touching the floor, in one go, it's time to mix it up. Push ups are an excellent exercise for many muscle groups, including the triceps, shoulders, chest, back and abs but if you can do many of these with good form, then your muscles are not getting the full challenge they need.

If it's time to step up the intensity in your push ups, take a shot at push ups with iron crosses. Iron crosses require massive amounts of core, shoulder and forearm strength to stabilize your weight over the tiny points while executing a push up. Here I'll show you how to build your own iron crosses to do one of the hardest types of push ups.

As always, the first thing you will need to do is head out to your local home improvement store to pick up your supplies. You will need:

2 - 1/2"x6" steel pipe
2 - 1/2" 'T' steel connectors
4 - 1/2"x2" steel pipe
Teflon tape
electrical tape
small piece of rubber foam
tennis wrap
2 - scrap squares of board (size a material not important)

Once you have your supplies you need to assemble your iron crosses. Starting with one of the 'T' connectors, wrap Teflon tape around one end of a 2" piece of pipe and then screw the pipe into the 'T' connector. The 2" pieces should make the top of the 'T'.

Then wrap a bit of Teflon tape around on end of another 2" piece of steel pipe and screw it into the opposing opening. Next, wrap Teflon tape around one end of the 6" piece of steel pipe and screw it into the bottom opening of the 'T'.

After that, use a piece of rubber foam and cut it to go around the handle. Tape the rubber foam down with electrical tape. You could also put a bit of epoxy on the handle before you put on the rubber foam to make sure it doesn't slip. Finally, wrap the grip in tennis wrap and secure with electrical tape on the ends. Repeat to make your second iron cross.

The scraps of board are to protect your floor from the end of the pipe. It's nice to have two separate boards instead of one so you can adjust them to the width you want your push ups. Now you can try the hardest type of push ups with iron crosses. Your body will thank you.