HOW TO DO BEAR CRAWLS
WHAT IS THE BEAR CRAWL EXERCISE?
The Bear Crawl is an activity that involves crawling on all fours—using your hands and feet. In other words, walking like a bear.
Crawling using all four limbs is otherwise known as quadrupedal movement.
You certainly would have had fun doing something similar as a kid and it is an animal movement that is becoming a staple of indoor or outdoor workout programs for adults. All you need is your own body weight and enough floor space to give it a whirl. It’s certainly one of my favourite animal movement patterns.
BENEFITS OF THE BEAR CRAWL:
Why crawl like a bear?
The Bear Crawl is an animal walk that works your upper and lower body, the coordination required also gives the brain quite a cognitive workout too! Your brain has to focus on maintaining balance and keep all your limbs moving simultaneously.
It’s a mental as well as a physical challenge.
Bear Crawls work all major muscle groups. The Bear Crawl strengthens and increases muscular endurance in your arms, back, shoulders, chest and legs (you may especially feel it in the quads) plus it also improves your core stability and overall mobility too.
Bear Crawls are also great for aerobic conditioning. Expect your heart rate to rise as you do these. It certainly fires up the metabolism!
HOW TO DO THE BEAR CRAWL:
Start in a crouched position and drop onto all fours with your hands directly under your shoulders.
Fully extend your arms and rise onto the balls of the feet. Keep your knees off the ground.
The Bear Crawl movement should be contralateral - that is, moving the opposite arm and leg pretty much simultaneously. For example, start moving the right hand, then the left leg, left hand then the right leg to move forward.
Other pointers:
Keep a flat back
Keep the abs braced
Be light on your hands and feet
Don’t have your hips too high (or low)
Keep the knees low
Think Animal:
Aim to move with grace and control whether slow or at speed.
Try to embody the animal as you walk.
Aim for stability.
Every time you move in this position your body will naturally want to shift side-to-side, but you want to challenge your core to maintain a stable trunk position. More difficult than it sounds.
How To Increase The Intensity of The Bear Crawl?
Here are several ideas to increase the intensity of the Bear Crawl exercise.
Strap on a weight vest to increase the intensity.
You’ll also find crawling up an incline (like a hill) will increase the difficulty.
Try Bear Crawling upstairs! A challenge for sure.
Going downhill (or even down the stairs) to add another element of focus and control.
Utilise other equipment, for example, try a Bear Crawl on a treadmill for an interesting experience.
Aim for speed, go as fast as you can. But with control.
Attempt in slow motion, go as slow as possible and stay fully engaged with the quality of the movement.
Go backwards—this increases the coordination challenge but also works under utilised parts of the body. Try it out and you’ll see what I mean…
HOW TO MAKE THE BEAR CRAWL EASIER?
To add extra stability you can use your knees as you crawl.
RELATED: Try a Bear Crawl on a Treadmill
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