The bear crawl is a foundational, full-body exercise that mimics a natural movement pattern. It effectively improves coordination, stability, and functional strength without requiring equipment. This exercise strengthens the deep core muscles that support the spine and builds capacity for cross-body coordination. Operating as a moving plank, it demands that the body maintain a rigid structure while transitioning between three points of contact with the ground.
Establishing the Starting Position
The bear crawl begins in a quadruped position. Place your hands directly beneath your shoulders, spreading your fingers wide to distribute weight and protect the wrist joints. Position your knees directly beneath your hips, forming a 90-degree angle at both the hip and knee joints.
To initiate the movement, the feet are tucked, and the knees are lifted just slightly off the floor, hovering about one to two inches above the ground. This creates the “bear hover” position. Throughout this setup, the spine must remain neutral, meaning the back is kept flat, and the gaze is directed downward to maintain alignment of the cervical spine. This initial isometric hold activates the deep core musculature before any crawling begins.
Executing the Crawl Movement
The actual crawl utilizes a contralateral coordination pattern, meaning the right hand and the left foot move forward together, followed by the left hand and the right foot. The steps should be small and controlled, advancing only a few inches at a time, to minimize instability and maintain tension.
As you move, the goal is to keep the hips and shoulders level and parallel to the floor, resisting any tendency to rotate or sway. Maintaining this low, consistent height is important, as lifting the hips too high reduces the load on the core muscles. The movement should be slow and deliberate, focusing on maintaining a flat back and a steady rhythm rather than speed. Breathing should be synchronized with the movement to help maintain core engagement.
Key Muscle Engagement and Stability
The bear crawl demands significant engagement from the body’s stabilizing musculature. The core, specifically the deep abdominal muscles like the transverse abdominis and the obliques, works intensely to prevent rotation and lateral flexion of the trunk. This trains the core to stabilize the spine during movement.
In the upper body, the shoulder stabilizers, including the serratus anterior, are highly active, working to keep the shoulder blades secured against the rib cage. The consistent pressing action against the floor helps to build endurance in the arms and shoulders. The lower body benefits from a near-constant isometric contraction of the hip flexors and quadriceps, which are responsible for keeping the knees suspended just above the ground throughout the entire sequence. The hip flexors play a role in stabilizing the lumbar spine against movement.
Advanced Modifications and Variations
Once the fundamental movement is mastered, several variations can be introduced to increase the challenge or shift the focus. The lateral bear crawl involves moving side-to-side rather than forward, which increases the demand on the oblique muscles for lateral stability. Alternatively, performing the reverse bear crawl, moving backward with the contralateral pattern, requires increased control and body awareness.
To increase the load, a weighted bear crawl can be performed by placing a weight plate or sandbag across the upper back, just above the hips. This forces the core to work harder to maintain a rigid, flat back against the added resistance. For a more plyometric challenge, the bear crawl can be modified with small hops or by incorporating a shoulder tap, where one hand lifts to tap the opposite shoulder, testing the anti-rotational strength and stability on three points of contact.