Tired of doing standard push-ups, crunches, and squats to tone your abdominals and build core strength? Check out the mountain climber’s exercise. Designed to work all of the muscle groups in your body through a series of movements, you’ll want to add this bodyweight exercise to your standard workout routine once you learn more.

Wondering about its name? Or how to get the movements precise? Keep reading to learn more. Our experts will tell you everything that you need to know.

What Is the Mountain Climber’s Exercise?

The mountain climber is a full-body workout that you can do just about anywhere. It doesn’t require any equipment or special tools. You just need a mat for the floor (a yoga mat will do) and some willpower. As far as clothing is concerned, standard workout gear will provide you with the ability to freely do this great exercise without injury.

How Do You Do the Mountain Climber’s Exercise?

Named after the movements that are a hallmark of this full-body exercise, when it’s done right, it will look like you’re trying to climb a mountain, only horizontally, not vertically. Start off in a plank position, looking down at the mat. Your hands should be down flat on the mat, shoulder-width apart. Your back and legs should be straight, with your toes touching the mat and slightly bent for comfort.

Relax your neck and look down at your hands, but tense your core muscles because they’re essential for support and will be getting a workout here. Then, bend your right knee and move your leg up towards your chest, putting the front part of your foot on the floor before relaxing it and placing it back in position.

Repeat with your left knee. Keep going, right then left, right then left. You’ll look as though you are trying to climb a mountain, hence the name of the exercise.

What Are the Benefits of Mountain Climbers?

Not only does this particular exercise provide a strength training and cardio workout for a good deal of your body, including your upper body (from holding you upright) to your core muscles (tensing them and keeping the back straight), and your quads and glutes (from moving your legs), but it can also improve your running stance.

If you look at someone doing the mountain climber quickly and imagine them moving vertically instead of horizontally, you’ll see that they are actually running, just in place. This helps people who enjoy running, whether for fun or getting into marathon shape, have the correct stance when out there on the trail or track.

In addition, the mountain climber exercise works as a kind of high-intensity aerobic exercise. You’re supposed to start off slowly, moving one leg up and back down before repeating, but a few repetitions in, you need to speed things up. One of the common mistakes with this exercise is not increasing your speed as you go.

Moving more quickly not only helps build up your muscles but also provides you with a good cardiovascular workout, as your heart and lungs will need to keep up with those movements. Essentially, this exercise is one in which the entire body benefits!

Avoid Making These Mountain Climber Mistakes

Although this particular home workout seems as though it’s easy to do, there are several mistakes that you can make that make it less effective and leave you more prone to injury.

• Shifting Your Weight Towards the End of Your Torso: In order for the mountain climber to give you the ab workout that you’re looking for, you need to keep your weight balanced carefully in the front after you leave the starting position. Your arms and shoulders should be doing the brunt of the work. If you feel yourself moving into something resembling a downward-facing dog, take a moment to readjust.
• Bouncing Back and Forth on Your Toes: It can be tricky not to bounce too much while doing the leg movements that are a hallmark of this lower body, arm, and core workout. After all, once you start moving quickly, you might automatically begin to bounce on your toes. However, you shouldn’t do this, because it puts too much of the tension of the workout onto your legs and feet, instead of where it should be, your core muscles.
• Not Fully Completing Each Repetition: When you move your legs forward and back down, you need to remember to let your toes touch the mat or floor. Otherwise, you aren’t fully completing each motion. It’s easy to overlook this small detail once you get moving quickly, but it does matter whether or not your toes touch the floor. Not finishing the movements completely can lead to injury or at the very least, a workout that doesn’t meet your needs.
• Moving Your Hands and Arms: It can be tricky to maintain the plank position when you don’t have the arm and shoulder strength to do so. When you’re trying too hard to do mountain climbers, your hands might move along with the rest of your body, and they won’t stay shoulder width apart like they’re supposed to. As a result, you might end up injuring yourself. Make sure to keep your hands firmly where they’re supposed to be.
• Not Raising Your Knees Enough: In order for mountain climbers to be effective, you need to move your knees completely, bending them and straightening them as needed. It’s too easy to not raise them up enough or to not fully bend them before moving on to the next leg motion. Skimping on this part of the exercise can cause you to not get the full workout that you need.

Modification Options

Of course, not everyone can handle a full set of mountain climber exercises. It’s designed for those who are already in decent condition. Thankfully, there are some ways to modify the workout so that people who are just beginning to get into shape can still successfully complete the movements. Here are some suggestions.

Make It Low Impact

This version of the mountain climber is a little more low-impact because you aren’t fully putting your foot down as you move it forward. Instead of making the full movement, where you press your knee to your chest and put the front section of your foot on the floor, you’re instead doing half of that.

Raise your knee up to your chest, and then immediately put it back down alongside your other leg. This lessens some of the weight that you’re putting on your legs.

Use Supports

If you have a hard time maintaining the plank position required, due to a lack of strength in your arms and shoulders, you can use supports. A set of yoga blocks will give you some additional height and help you support your weight. Once you’re properly supported, you can do the mountain climber’s exercise as usual, without having to further modify it. Just make sure to take it slow so that you don’t accidentally knock your hands off of the blocks.

Doing an Alternative Exercise: The Bird Dog

Another alternative for the mountain climber exercise is called the bird dog. This exercise is designed for people who need to strengthen their core muscles and improve upper body strength before moving on to the full mountain climber.

In order to do the bird dog, start with your hands on the mat, shoulder-width apart, with your face down. Instead of straightening out your legs, keep them bent and support the lower half of your body on them. Make sure that your back is straight.

Once you’re in the correct position, straighten out your left arm and right leg simultaneously, then place them back down. Repeat on the other side, alternating your left leg and right arm. Keep repeating these movements for a count of 10 before taking a break and repeating them, remembering to swap your right foot for your left.

How Many Mountain Climbers Should You Do?

There are several ways to set up your mountain climber workout. You can either set a timer and see how many reps you can get in before the two-minute mark is up. In addition, you can keep count and do a certain amount of sets, like two or ten movements each. It all depends on what type of physical shape you’re in and whether or not you want a challenge.

Final Thoughts

When combined with a healthy diet that includes a well-rounded breakfast, lunch, and dinner, mountain climbers can help you get into shape. Not only do they work out your core and shoulder muscles, but they also help your legs get into the correct position for running. Over time, if you keep doing the mountain climber’s exercise, you’ll see your race times improve and more muscle definition will become apparent.

If you have any questions about this exercise or anything else for that matter, please contact us.

Sources:

How to do Mountain Climbers | Very Well Fit

How to Do Mountain Climbers the Right Way | Men’s Health

How to do Mountain Climbers (Plus Variations to Try) | Runner’s World