Forward of Juventus and the Portuguese national team Cristiano Ronaldo launched a new challenge on social networks, which has rapidly gained popularity among athletes. The footballer invited everyone to try to perform a very difficult exercise for a while and try to break his record.

The test, which Ronaldo called the “home cup”, is to try to get the maximum number of times in 45 seconds from the lying position on the back. The holder of five Golden Balls took part himself and demonstrated excellent dexterity - he repeated the exercise 142 times.

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Publication by Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) Apr 5, 2020 at 9:11 am PDT

The baton of Ronaldo was immediately intercepted by the figure skater Evgenia Medvedev. The two-time Olympic silver medalist repeated the exercise during her tour of Japan. True, her result was much worse - the Russian woman managed to repeat the exercise only 44 times in 45 seconds.

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Posted by Evgenia Medvedev (@jmedvedevaj) on Apr 5, 2020 at 9:22 am PDT

Zenit midfielder Magomed Ozdoev volunteered next to show the capabilities of his press. He succeeded 53 times, after which he challenged his brother Albert, his coach Anatoly Tymoshchuk and teammates - Artyom Dziube, Serdar Azmun and Yuri Zhirkov.

The result of Ozdoev was able to surpass his colleague in the Russian team Yuri Gazinsky. The player of “Krasnodar” made 55 twists in 45 seconds, despite the fact that he managed to raise his hands behind his head before each subsequent repetition. Among those whom Gazinsky proposed to repeat were basketball player Vitaliy Fridzon and Belarusian footballer Alexander Martynovich.

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Publication by Gazinskiy Yuriy (@gazinskiy) Apr 5, 2020 at 9:48 am PDT

The best result in the Russian team showed Nikolai Komlichenko. Dynamo striker made 60 repetitions, which still amounted to less than half of what Ronaldo could show. The call was also accepted by Anton Miranchuk, but he was also far from the indicators of the Juventus striker - 55 repetitions.

Russians from other sports managed to cope with the challenge much better. All the players were eclipsed by the Russian athlete Daria Klishina. The long jump athlete was able to squeeze the abs 97 times. Gymnast David Belyavsky went even further - he managed to perform the exercise 110 times.

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Publication by The official Darya Klishina (@dariaklishina) Apr 5, 2020 at 1:17 PDT

Ronaldo’s record did not last long. He was quickly surpassed by teammate Blaise Matuidi. The Frenchman made two more attempts at the same time. And soon this achievement fell. Benfica player Ruben Diash completed the exercise as many as 150 times in 45 seconds. True, in the video he posted there is an assembly gluing, but Diash did the twisting so quickly that you can not doubt the truth of his record.

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Posted by Rúben Gato Dias (@rubendias) Apr 5, 2020 @ 2:05 PDT

According to the expert on fitness and proper nutrition, Andrei Semeshov, the competition launched by Ronaldo is an excellent exercise for working on the press. Unlike other ways to pump up the stomach, this allows you to achieve the maximum effect from training.

“Cristiano shows an exercise that accentuates the development of the abdominal muscles. Someone says that for this you need to throw your legs on the crossbar or fix your legs and raise the body in full amplitude. In fact, in such exercises, the abdominal muscles work insofar as the main load is received by completely different muscle groups. The press, that is, the rectus abdominis muscle or the same “cubes”, works in a very small amplitude and is responsible for bending the spine, and not for raising the legs or torso. For a load of the press, this is a very cool exercise. It is very good to load a muscle precisely in multi-repetitive mode, for breaking, for a long time. This is not a prerequisite, but such a protocol will be effective, ”said Semeshov RT.

For those who can’t get closer to Ronaldo’s indicator, the expert advised to continue to pump the muscles of the press, and also try to perform the exercise exactly as the football player demonstrated it.

“Can't challenge? This indicates a weak rectus abdominis muscle, although if a person is more or less engaged in physical activity, then it should be under stress. Perhaps someone does not fully understand the meaning of the exercise. There is no task to raise the body, you need to “twist” at the expense of the abdominal muscles, maintaining a small amplitude, as in the video of Ronaldo. He shows well how to. It can be seen that he is not just in incredible physical shape. If you compare Ronaldo with many other players, he looks like a fitness model. A professional football player probably doesn’t even need such a body, and he clearly wants to look good, ”Semeshov added.