Hey there, it’s a new week and that means it’s time for a new exercise!  The Home Exercise of the Week this time is another core exercise called Medicine Ball Cross Body Mountain Climber.

With this exercise you will be targeting your abdominal muscles, especially your obliques, as well as your chest, shoulders, triceps, hip flexors, and lower back.  The added instability of planking on the medicine ball while doing the mountain climber further engages your core muscles and stabilizers, making it quite challenging.

Here are the key points to doing the Medicine Ball Cross Body Mountain Climber properly:

• start in a plank position with your hands on the medicine ball
• make sure the ball is directly underneath your chest
• engage your abdominals and keep tight throughout the movement
• from the full plank position, drive your right knee towards your left elbow giving your abs a really good flex
• return to the starting position and then drive your left knee towards your right elbow
• repeat until you have finished your set

So there you have the Medicine Ball Cross Body Mountain Climber.  Take it slow at first until you feel comfortable balancing yourself on the ball.  Once you get the hang of it you can try increasing your rep speed to add a cardiovascular component.

If you like this exercise leave a comment below.  I’d love to hear what you think.

Happy climbing!