How do you use the mountain climbers exercise to get in shape? The exercise works a multitude of muscle groups simultaneously to help you improve different aspects of physical health. These aspects include strength, flexibility, agility, balance, coordination, and blood circulation.
Also, mountain climbers exercise is a compound exercise. This makes it quite popular among fitness junkies looking to strengthen their limbs, core, and back muscles. Another advantage that comes with it is it helps in losing weight. It is because of an increase in your heart rate. So if you have a goal to define your abdominal muscles, you can take the help of this exercise.
How to Do Mountain Climbers?
This exercise is suitable for both beginners and expert individuals in the physical activity game. You would not require any equipment with this exercise. As a result, you get better relaxation at doing this exercise anywhere you want, with no inconvenience.
Without further ado, let’s see some simple steps of doing this exercise.
- First, start in a straight press-up position. Your hands should be shoulder-width apart and come right underneath your shoulders.
- As early as possible, it would be best if you pulled the right knee toward your chest. Don’t let it touch the ground as you return to the initial position.
- Now, stand in a straight position and pose. Again, keep your hands apart shoulder-width. This time, do it with your left leg as you pull the knee toward the chest.
- Continue doing it until you finish the number of reps that you require doing.
These were some steps you need to do to perform the mountain climbers’ exercise. That is the simplest way to perform this exercise. However, there are further modifications to the activity. If you want to know more about those variations, you can read further to learn.
Tips for Best Form
There are some tips you can use to perform this exercise in the best form. You can get the best form of this exercise by following these. You will get the maximum results through this exercise.
- Keep your abdomen tight as you perform mountain climbers’ exercise
- Keep your back straight–think that you are creating a spine
- Remember to keep minimum weight on your toes so you don’t tire yourself early
Other things you need to know about this physical activity include:
Practice this as a fast movement. Choose to pick your feet at the earliest. If you are a beginner at this exercise, you need to take it slowly. Eventually, increase your leg speed with more practice and confidence in physical activity.
Make sure that your bottom stays on the ground. As a result, you will get the ideal form of doing this exercise. Place your hands beneath your shoulders.
Variations of Mountain Climbers Exercise
There are a lot of variations you can try to amplify your experience at mountain climbers exercise. Some of these include:
a) Foot Switch Mountain Climbers
This modification is like a footswitch instead of a run. You will experience more impact with this variation. Your heart rate will rise significantly. To do this exercise, you need to follow these steps:
- Start making a plank position
- When you bring a right knee inside, bring the toe to the ground
- Make a switch with your feet and take the right foot back
- Take the left foot in front of you as well
- Repeat until you reach the reps that you need
b) Sliding Mountain Climbers Exercise
If you have a hardwood floor, towel, or gliding disc, you can use them to bring variation to your mountain climbers. For the sliding mountain climbers version, you can follow these steps:
- Place the object on the ground
- Position your right foot over the object
- Bring the body to a plank position
- Complete one rep and stabilize your body through with your upper body
- Speed up the move with more experience to feel more burning in the quad muscles
c) Standing Exercise
You can add some cardio to level up the regular mountain climbers with this version:
- Raise your knee to the buttock level
- Drop-down towards the ground for a plank position for an essential move
- Bring your knee towards your chest and go to the initial position
- For increasing your heart rate and jog for 10 seconds before you switch to the other side
What Not to Do?
There are some mistakes that you make when you perform this exercise.
Make sure you bounce on your toes as you perform mountain climbers’ exercises. That is important, as making this step mistakenly will put you at the risk of injury. It may require some additional effort, but it will protect your core muscles from harm. In addition, it will improve the effectiveness of the exercise.
Another mistake when you speed up this activity is making incomplete movements. For example, you do as you let your toes touch the floor when you bring the knees to your chest. If the toes don’t get to the ground, you will not benefit from the activity. Resultantly, you will be at risk of getting an injury.
Shifting your weight towards the back is another big mistake you can make as you perform this exercise. You might get into the downward-dog-like movement if you are a beginner. Therefore, you need to keep your weight in balance. Also, keep your shoulders on top of your wrists.
Muscles it Helps
Mountain climber’s exercise works to mimic real climbers’ movements when they climb steep peaks. As a result, they have muscular legs, arms, and back. In addition, they have a stronger core. A study shows that climbing helps to improve trunk mobility and core strength.
Final Words
To conclude, mountain climbers’ exercise has benefits for both beginners and experts. In addition, you can bring more variations to add to the results.
