Mountain Climber
The mountain climber is a bodyweight conditioning exercise in which you hold a high plank on your hands and drive your knees towards your chest one after the other. It works the hip flexors, trains the abs, obliques and shoulders to hold the plank still, and raises your heart rate quickly.
Also called: Mountain Climbers, Running Plank, Plank Knee Drives, Alternating Knee Drive Plank · Equipment: bodyweight · Pattern: compound
Step by step
- Start in a high plank with your hands under your shoulders, arms straight and your body in one line from head to heels.
- Brace your stomach and squeeze your glutes so your hips sit level with your shoulders.
- Drive one knee towards your chest while your hips stay level.
- Return that foot to the plank position as you drive the other knee forward.
- Keep alternating legs in a steady rhythm, landing lightly on the balls of your feet.
- Keep your shoulders over your wrists and your trunk still while your legs move.
- Breathe steadily throughout. Go only as fast as you can keep the plank level, and slow down or end the set when your hips start to sag.
- Hips level, spine long
- Quiet trunk, fast legs
- Shoulders over your wrists
- Knee to chest, hips stay low
- Light, quick feet
- Breathe steadily throughout
In VALDA, these cues are one tap away on the exercise while you train.
What it trains
| Muscle | Role | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Hip flexors | Prime mover | C |
| Rectus femoris | Secondary | C |
| Obliques (internal/external) | Stabiliser | C |
| Transverse abdominis | Stabiliser | D |
| Anterior deltoid: anterior | Stabiliser | C |
| Serratus anterior | Stabiliser | C |
| Triceps brachii | Stabiliser | D |
| Gluteus maximus | Stabiliser | D |
| Rectus abdominis | Dynamic stabiliser | C |
Evidence grades: A = strong research base · B = good · C = limited · D = coaching consensus.
What goes wrong, and the fix
Hips sagging
Fix: Brace your stomach and slow the pace until your hips sit level again.
Hips piking up
Fix: Keep your hips level with your shoulders as each knee comes in.
Shoulders drifting behind the hands
Fix: Keep your shoulders stacked directly over your wrists.
Heavy, stamping feet
Fix: Land lightly on the balls of your feet each time.
Short, shuffling knee drive
Fix: Bring each knee towards your chest before switching legs.
Holding the breath
Fix: Breathe steadily in rhythm with your legs.
What the research says
General fitness · first choiceEndurance · first choiceFat loss & conditioning · first choice
- Conditioning — In a 4-week study, a 4-minute bodyweight interval workout using a single exercise per session, including mountain climbers, improved aerobic fitness as much as 30 minutes of treadmill running, and also improved muscular endurance.
- Intensity — A study of all-out 30-second intervals that included mountain climbers found high heart rate, effort and blood lactate responses, whatever order the exercises came in.
- Intervals — There is no research on the best interval length for mountain climbers. A common approach is 20–40 seconds of work with short rests for 4–8 rounds.
- Muscle growth — A meta-analysis of fast, jump-type (plyometric) training found only small gains in muscle size, so many lifters use mountain climbers for conditioning and core work rather than to build muscle.
- Tempo — A slow, controlled tempo shifts the exercise towards a core hold, and a fast tempo towards conditioning. There is no research comparing the two.
Swap it mid-workout
With VALDA Pro, FLEX offers alternatives like these when you swap an exercise mid-workout.
Log the mountain climber in VALDA, with these cues one tap away while you train and your history for it in one place.
General information about exercise technique, not medical advice. If you have an injury or a health condition, your healthcare provider is the right person to ask.