Mountain Climber

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

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Running in place from a high plank splits the work between a racing heart and a trunk that must not bounce as the knees alternate. Pace is the whole variable: fast intervals of twenty to forty seconds for conditioning, or slower, fuller knee drives when core control is the goal.

How to do the Mountain Climber

  1. Start in a high plank position with your hands directly under your shoulders and your body in a straight line.
  2. Engage your core and bring your right knee towards your chest, then quickly switch and bring your left knee towards your chest.
  3. Continue alternating legs in a running motion, keeping your hips low and your core engaged.
  4. Maintain a steady pace and breathe evenly throughout the exercise.
  5. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

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.