Bear Crawl

01 Steps

1. 1 Get on all fours: hands under shoulders, knees under hips.
2. 2 Lift your knees off the floor by about 1 inch. This is your starting position.
3. 3 Crawl forward by moving your right hand and left foot simultaneously (cross pattern), then your left hand and right foot.
4. 4 Keep your hips low and stable — they should not sway side to side.
5. 5 Crawl the prescribed distance, then crawl backward the same way.

02 Tips

• ✓ Start very slowly to master the opposite hand-foot coordination.
• ✓ Your knees always stay about 1 inch off the floor — no higher.
• ✓ Breathe naturally — do not hold your breath despite the effort.

03 Common mistakes

• ✗ Hips swaying: a sign you are going too fast or your core is not engaged.
• ✗ Knees too high: this turns the exercise into a shoulder movement instead of core work.
• ✗ Steps too large: take small, controlled steps.

04 If you struggle

• → Simply hold the starting position (knees hovering) for 20 seconds without moving.
• → Move one step at a time, pause, then the next.
• → Work on plank holds and bird-dogs as stability prerequisites.