If you need a low-impact bodyweight exercise that gets your heart rate up and also works every muscle from your head to your toes, meet the mountain climber
If mountain climbers feel like hard work, that’s because they are. “Mountain climbers are a challenging full-body exercise that combines cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, core stability, shoulder strength, coordination and hip mobility,” explains celebrity strength coach and Founder of Just Train CIC, Michael Baah.
Because mountain climbers are a compound exercise, they work multiple muscle groups and joints simultaneously, including your shoulders, chest, core, glutes, hip flexors and legs.
Not only that, since you’re essentially running in place while in a stable plank position, this exercise also builds leg strength and is great for adding a low-impact cardio element to your training, whilst giving your heart rate a boost.
Mountain climbers are incredibly versatile, too. Just think, as you grow fitter and pick up your pace, you’ll work your heart harder. You can also make them more challenging by performing them on an unstable surface like a Bosu or medicine ball, wearing ankle weights or slowing the movement right down to place more emphasis on your core. Once you’ve mastered the basics, there are plenty of variations to keep things interesting.
Here’s how to do the mountain climber
How to do mountain climbers
- Start in a high plank position with your hands directly beneath your shoulders, your arms straight and your body forming a straight line from your head to your heels.
- Engage your core, keep your back flat and avoid letting your hips sag or lift too high.
- Drive your right knee towards your chest, then return it to the starting position as you simultaneously bring your left knee forwards.
- Continue alternating legs in a smooth, controlled rhythm, keeping your shoulders stacked over your wrists throughout.
How to include mountain climbers in your training
The possibilities are endless. As a warm-up, perform mountain climbers slowly and with control to place more tension through your core. Or, to turn them into a cardio challenge, simply increase the pace and drive your knees in and out as quickly as you can to get the whole body and your heart rate moving.
Twisting Mountain Climbers
You can also play around with your knee positions. Want to hit your entire mid-section? Then try twisted mountain climbers, where you bring the opposite knee in towards your elbow and place more of a demand on your obliques, the muscles that run along the sides of your core.
Spider-Man Mountain Climbers
You can also try the spider-man variety where you bring one knee to the outside of your body. So your left knee, for example, touches your left elbow – and then the same on the right side. This variation is great for hip mobility while also challenging your core, obliques and coordination.
Cardio finisher
Mountain climbers also make an excellent cardio finisher, which is great for weight loss and overall fitness, so why not try finishing your session with a round of Tabata mountain climbers, where you perform 20 seconds of mountain climbers as fast as you can, with a 10-second break, for eight rounds? Not one for the faint-hearted, but it’s a four-minute, full-body blitz that works your entire body and will increase your metabolism rate for up to 24 hours.
Whether you’re short on time or simply want to make your workouts more challenging, mountain climbers deserve a place in your routine.
They require no equipment, very little space and can be adapted to suit every fitness level, making them one of the most versatile bodyweight exercises around.
