Bear Crawl

Secondary muscles
Abs, Delts, Triceps
Body part
Cardio
Position
Seated
Laterality
Bilateral (both sides together)
Category
Cardio

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Hovering the knees an inch off the floor is the detail that makes a bear crawl work: the abs and shoulders carry you while the opposite hand and foot travel together. Measure sets in distance or time, ten to twenty meters out and back, since rep counting means little here.

How to do the Bear Crawl

  1. Start on all fours with your hands directly under your shoulders and your knees directly under your hips.
  2. Lift your knees slightly off the ground, keeping your back flat and your core engaged.
  3. Move your right hand and left foot forward simultaneously, followed by your left hand and right foot.
  4. Continue crawling forward, alternating your hand and foot movements.
  5. Maintain a steady pace and keep your core tight throughout the exercise.
  6. Continue for the desired distance or time.

Tip: Keep the head neutral and look at the floor a foot in front of your hands.

Muscles worked

Primary

Cardio · Cardio

Mountain climbers at speed are a conditioning movement and push the heart rate up within a few seconds.

Secondary

  • Abs — The abs hold the trunk flat while the legs drive, and they should feel like they are resisting the hips from both sagging and piking.
  • Delts — The shoulders support the upper body the whole time and will burn on longer crawls.
  • Triceps

Common mistakes

  • Hips piking up — the body should stay in a plank as the legs move; if the backside rises the abs have stopped working.
  • Shoulders drifting behind the hands — keep the shoulders stacked over the wrists so the core, not the arms, holds the position.
  • Knees dragging — hover the knees an inch off the floor and keep them there for the whole distance.
  • Sprinting from the start — build speed only once you can hold a flat back for the whole set.

Where it fits in a workout

Climbers and crawls go in the warm-up or as a conditioning finisher. Pair a bear crawl out and back with a set of push-ups for a bodyweight circuit.

How many sets, how heavy and how hard: see what the ACSM position stands support.

Variations and alternatives

Similar exercises

Alternatives

Easier and harder

When to talk to someone

  • Chest discomfort, feeling faint or lightheaded, or trouble breathing during or after exercise can be signs of a heart attack. In the US, call 911 right away; elsewhere, call your local emergency number.
  • Heart, metabolic or kidney disease, or symptoms like these when you are active: talk to your doctor before you start or step up training.
  • Pregnant: ask your obstetric care provider which exercise suits you.

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More exercises

Sources

  1. ACSM position stand on exercise quantity and quality (Garber et al., 2011)
  2. ACSM preparticipation health screening (Riebe et al., 2015)
  3. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 804 on exercise in pregnancy (2020)
  4. CDC: About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery (2024)

Sources checked on October 17, 2026. Full citations are in the exercise library.

Animation and exercise data: ExerciseDB, licensed to SetGrip. General information, not medical or coaching advice.