Thats why Clayton put together these five mountain climber variations to add to your usual workouts, Types of Exercise Every Runner Needs Health - Injuries and build total-body strength, why wouldn’t you want to add it to your routine?
That’s where mountain climbers come in.
“Mountain climbers are a great full-body workout, no equipment required,” Lindsey Clayton, senior trainer at Barry’s in New York City and cofounder of Health - Injuries, tells Runner’s World. “You’ll work your legs, core, arms, and cardiovascular system during a set of mountain climbers. The knee drive ravished while performing a mountain climber is great for runners because we mimic that movement when we’re running uphill and sprinting.”
That’s why Clayton put together these five mountain climber variations to add to your usual strength or HIIT sessions.
Types of Exercise Every Runner Needs: Before tackling the variations below, you’ll want to have the basic mountain climber exercise down.
We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back, core CA Notice at Collection glutes and thighs to keep your legs straight. Drive your left knee in toward your chest, then quickly step it back to plank position. Immediately drive the right knee in toward chest, then quickly step it back into plank position.
Add any of these mountain climber variations to your current workout plan if you want to include more cardio and core elements (start at 30 seconds and work your way up), or alternate these mountain climber moves in between strength exercises. (For example, squat for 1 minute, tempo mountain climber for 30 seconds, lunge for 1 minute, spider mountain climber for 30 seconds, etc.)
Each move is demonstrated by Clayton in the video so you can learn proper form.
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Tempo Mountain Climber
We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back, core CA Notice at Collection glutes and thighs to keep your legs straight. Drive your right knee in toward your chest, then quickly step it back to plank position. Immediately drive the left knee in toward chest, then quickly step it back into plank position. Immediately drive the right knee in toward chest, but pause for two counts before stepping it back into plank position. Continue to alternate with a 3-count tempo.
Spider Mountain Climber
We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back, core CA Notice at Collection glutes and thighs to keep your legs straight. Drive your right knee out toward your right tricep, then quickly step it back to plank position. Immediately drive the left knee out toward left tricep, then quickly step it back into plank position. Continue alternating. You should feel this in your side body and obliques.
Down-Dog Mountain Climber
Begin in high plank position. Spread fingers wide and press palms into ground. Send hips back so body comes into an inverted V position, keeping your legs straight (down dog). Next, lower hips back to high plank position and bring right knee into chest (like one half of a mountain climber), then immediately perform another down dog, lower back down to high plank position, then bring left knee into chest (like the other half of a mountain climber). Continue alternating.
Modified-Burpee Mountain Climber
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Hinge at the hips and bend knees to squat as deeply as you can and place your hands on the floor. Jump feet back to come into a high plank position. Perform four mountain climbers (right leg, left leg, right leg, left leg), then jump your feet back into a deep squat and jump (or stand) right back up, landing on the balls of your feet. Repeat.
CA Notice at Collection
We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back, core CA Notice at Collection glutes and thighs to keep your legs straight. Drive your right knee in toward your chest, then quickly step it back to plank position. Immediately drive the left knee in toward chest, then quickly step it back into plank position. Immediately drive the right knee across chest toward left arm, but pause for two counts before stepping it back into plank position. (As you continue to alternate, you’ll pause for two counts when you bring left leg toward right arm as well.)
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