In this paper, a novel lattice structure for energy absorption application is proposed that is modified from the traditional face-centered cubic (FCC) lattice by introducing a cross-rod at the center of the cell. A thorough study is carried out to investigate the quasi-static crushing behavior of the proposed lattice through theoretical modeling, numerical simulation and experimental tests. The experimental specimens are fabricated via additive manufacturing technique of selective laser melting (SLM). The plateau stress and energy absorption obtained from the theoretical, numerical and experimental approaches are consistent with each other. It indicates that the new lattice structures have larger plateau stress and better energy absorption performance than the traditional FCC structure. Both 2D and 3D configurations are examined and show the same tendency. A numerical parametric study is carried out to investigate the effect of the geometric parameters, which indicates that the proposed lattice structures with appropriate length coefficient have larger energy absorption capacity compared with the traditional FCC lattice. In addition, auxetic and zero-Poisson effects are also exhibited in the new lattice structures.