How to do a Lateral Crawl

What is a Lateral Crawl?

Also called Lateral Bear Crawls, a Lateral Crawl is a full body movement that will shred your core and exercise all the muscles in your arms and legs. This is a simple but effective exercise that provides you with a full body workout. The prerequisite for this movement is the High Push-Up Position Hold, which is more or less the movement that my daughter is performing in the video, although I am still coaching her to keep her back straight and her feet closer together. Like my daughter, I recommend that you try 3 sets of 30 seconds of the High Push-Up Position Hold before attempting the Lateral Crawl.

The Lateral Crawl is a full-body exercise with an emphasis on the following muscle groups:

• Core
• Chest
• Shoulders
• Triceps
• Legs

How to Do a Lateral Crawl (Instructions):

Trainer Tips for the Lateral Crawl: 

• Progression (make harder)
  • Add a weight vest or do the movement with one of your kids on your back. 
  • Perform the movement, and after completing one repetition in both directions, do a Push-Up.
  • Perform the movement, and after completing one repetition in both directions, bring your feet to your hands, jump into the air, and wallah! You are now doing a Lateral Crawl Burpee.
• Regression (make easier)
  • Perform the movement, but instead of moving laterally 6 inches, move laterally 2-3 inches.
  • Perform the movement on your hands and knees. 
  • Perform the High Push-Up Position Hold. 
• Application:
  • Do 3 sets of 8-12 repetitions of Lateral Crawls as a part of your core workout.
  • For an absolutely brutal workout, try doing one Tabata with Lateral Crawls. 
    • A Tabata is a 4 minute workout, made up of 8 intervals. Each interval is 20 seconds of activity and 10 seconds of rest. There are a lot of free apps for your smartphone that provide an automatic timer for the Tabata workout. I utilize the Tabata Stopwatch Pro.
    • For the Lateral Crawl Tabata, perform 20 seconds of plank-ups followed by 10 seconds of rest, and repeat until you reach the 4 minute mark.