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Mountain Climber

The mountain climber exercise adds a whole new dynamic to core strength training. Think of this exercise as a stationary running plank. It combines the core strengthening benefit of a traditional plank, with the calorie burn and heart rate of a jog.  

This unique combination allows for great versatility in designing your training routine. You can infuse more cardiovascular work into your strength sessions or conversely, put some strength stability into your aerobic days. 

The mountain climber even has implications for high-intensity interval training (HIIT) due to how easily it can fit as a timed interval. Add this great movement to your rotation and maximize your routine.

How To Do

  1. Position yourself on the floor with your hands directly under your shoulders. Keep your legs extended straight behind you. Your body should form a straight line from head to heels.
  2. Brace your core to stabilize your spine. Keep your hips level and avoid sagging or piking.
  3. Take a deep breath in to stabilize your core before initiating movement.
  4. Exhale as you drive your right knee toward your chest. Keep your foot off the ground and maintain your plank position.
  5. Inhale as you quickly return your right leg to the starting position.
  6. Exhale and immediately drive your left knee toward your chest, keeping your upper body stable. Inhale as you return to starting position.
  7. Repeat the movement in a smooth, controlled, and rhythmic manner.

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Tips From Expert

  • Keep your hips low and stable: Avoid lifting your hips too high as it reduces core engagement and shifts the effort away from the target muscles.
  • Drive from your core, not your feet: Focus on using your abdominal muscles to pull each knee forward rather than relying on momentum or just your legs.
  • Maintain a steady breathing rhythm: Match your breathing to your pace. Exhale as you drive each knee in and inhale as you return to the starting position. This helps maintain control and endurance.

Optimal Sets and Reps

Here’s a breakdown of the optimal sets and reps based on your training goals:

Training TypeSetsDuration
Strength Training3–530–60 seconds
Hypertrophy3–430–60 seconds
Endurance Training2–360+ seconds
Power Training3–430–60 seconds
Optimal Sets & Reps of Mountain Climber

How to Put in Your Workout Split

To integrate this exercise into your workout split, align it with your primary training goal. For muscle growth, place it after your main compound lift on a shoulder or upper body day. If your focus is conditioning or fat loss, use it within a circuit or as a finisher.

Avoid scheduling it before pressing movements to limit pre-fatigue and preserve strength. Keep frequency to one or two times per week unless following a shoulder-specific plan. Adjust volume and intensity based on your overall weekly load.

Prioritize form and recovery when planning its placement to maintain movement quality. Rotate similar variations across training blocks to avoid overuse. Track performance and adapt based on fatigue, especially if paired with other shoulder-dominant exercises.

Primary Muscle Groups

Upper Rectus Abdominis

Muscles located just below the lower chest and above the lower abdominals. Between your ribs and pubic bone.

Lower Rectus Abdominis

Muscles located below your upper abs and above your public bone between your ribs.

Upper Rectus Abdominis

During the mountain climber exercise, the upper rectus abdominis helps stabilize the thoracic spine while supporting trunk flexion. As you drive your knee toward your chest, this muscle contracts isometrically to maintain core tension and keep the ribcage pulled slightly downward. Although it is not the primary mover, it plays a crucial stabilizing role to prevent excessive spinal extension. The upper portion remains engaged throughout the movement, assisting in maintaining a rigid upper body and reducing trunk sway.

Lower Rectus Abdominis

The lower rectus abdominis is more actively engaged in mountain climbers due to its role in posterior pelvic tilt and lower trunk flexion. As each knee drives forward, this muscle contracts to draw the pelvis slightly under and assist in lifting the thigh toward the chest. Its engagement helps stabilize the pelvis and spine, limiting excessive lumbar extension during rapid leg movements. Consistent contraction of the lower rectus abdominis also supports proper hip positioning, enabling more efficient and controlled repetitions.

Secondary Muscle Groups

Gluteus

Large, superficial muscles located at your buttocks just below your lower back area.

Obliques

Muscles located on the sides of your rectus abdominals. Runs on the sides of your trunk.

Quadriceps

Muscles located at the front portion of your upper legs, below your pelvis and above your knees. Consists of four parts.

Hamstrings

Muscles located at the back of your upper leg, below your glutes and above your calves. Consists of three muscles.

Erector Spinae

Muscles that span the entire length of your spine on either side.

Obliques

The obliques assist in stabilizing the torso and resisting unwanted rotation during mountain climbers. As the knees alternate forward, the internal and external obliques on both sides contract isometrically to maintain a neutral spine and keep the torso from twisting. This activation increases when the movement becomes faster or if the knees are driven slightly across the body. Proper oblique engagement ensures rotational control and enhances total core stability throughout the exercise.

Quadriceps

The quadriceps are actively engaged during the leg drive phase of mountain climbers. Each time a knee is brought forward, the quads contract concentrically to assist in hip flexion and extend the knee during the return phase. Although their role is secondary to core activation, they contribute to the fast, repetitive motion and help maintain proper leg alignment and control throughout the movement.

Gluteus

The gluteal muscles, particularly the gluteus maximus, help maintain hip stability during mountain climbers. While not a prime mover, the glutes engage isometrically to support a neutral hip position and resist excessive pelvic drop. This stabilizing role becomes more important during faster or longer sets, ensuring that the lower body maintains proper form and balance without shifting excessively from side to side.

Hamstrings

The hamstrings assist indirectly by helping control the backward movement of the leg as it returns to the starting position. Their role is primarily stabilizing, preventing excessive anterior pelvic tilt during the rapid cycling of the legs. Additionally, they contribute to overall lower-body tension and help maintain proper alignment of the hip and knee joints throughout the movement.

Erector Spinae

The erector spinae muscles provide spinal support and prevent the lower back from collapsing during mountain climbers. These muscles contract isometrically to maintain a neutral spine as the limbs move rapidly. Their engagement is essential for keeping the trunk rigid and avoiding lumbar extension, especially during longer sets or higher-intensity efforts. Proper activation helps preserve posture and supports the core’s overall function.

Equipment

Bodyweight

Bodyweight

Requires bodyweight resistance and additional equipment for proper execution

Variations

Exercises that target the same primary muscle groups and require the same equipment.

Sit-Up

Dead Bug

Plank

Hanging Leg Raise

V-Up

Flutter Kick

Scissor Kick

Plank Shoulder Tap

Leg Raise

Bicycle Crunch

Alternatives

Exercises that target the same primary muscle groups and require the different equipment.

Kneeling Cable Crunch

Standing Ab Wheel Rollout

Dumbbell V-Up

Kneeling Ab Wheel Rollout

Renegade Rows

Kettlebell Plank Drag

Kettlebell Around The World

Who Should Do?

Beginners And Intermediate Gym Goers

For beginner to intermediate gym goers, most of the initial training focus is on building a solid training foundation to work from. This involves developing muscular strength, conditioning, and general fitness.

The mountain climber is easy to perform, uses a simple movement pattern, and requires no equipment. It helps to build full-body conditioning and endurance when performed correctly.

Functional Athletes

For the functional athlete, the mountain climber can also be extremely beneficial to their fitness. The full-body, dynamic movement pattern translates well to the main patterns required for sports on your feet.  Examples include getting up off the ground to run and pushing a sled in winter sports.

Because of this, performing sport-specific, functional movement patterns may help to improve aspects of their performance. The mountain climber can be used to develop whole-body conditioning and fitness. 

Use the mountain climbers as a functional circuit or even as an ab challenge to further improve this.

Individuals With A Lack Of Cardio Equipment

The mountain climber is the perfect exercise if you’re looking for on-demand cardio. You only need yourself and a suitable space. Even if you don’t have electricity or a gym membership, drop down into the straight plank position and start exercising.

In either situation, this exercise is great. Unlike machines or other cardio exercises, it costs nothing and can be performed anywhere.  

Who Should Not Do?

Those With Hip Tightness

The mountain climber exercise involves a large amount of hip flexion as you drive your knees forward. If your hip flexors are tight, this exercise can significantly impact your movement and lead to dysfunction.  

The repetitive use of your hip flexors over extended durations may contribute to pain and irritation around the hip and lower back. 

Individuals With Bad Knees

Just like with the hips, your knees have a heavy influence during the mountain climber. The forward-driving movement during the climbing requires significant knee flexion. This places the knee joints under increased stress.

Those with knee mobility concerns should avoid the repetitive knee flexion this exercise requires. Regardless of the source, knee dysfunction significantly impacts the safety of exercises like this. 

Benefits Of The Mountain Climber

Works Multiple Muscle Groups

The mountain climber is a full-body exercise. Your abdominals, chest, deltoids, obliques, hip flexors, and quads work together to hold your plank. Your glutes and hamstrings perform the leg drive as you bring your knees toward your chest.

Because of this, the mountain climber is an excellent cardio-based exercise to work multiple muscle groups. Compound exercises provide a great way to develop conditioning and strength. They also help to save time if you have a busy schedule or less time to go to the gym.

Boosts Cardiovascular Health

The most dynamic element for the mountain climber is the speed and repetition required during the climbing movement. 

Driving your knees and quickly extending your legs over a sustained period helps to develop full-body conditioning and boost your heart rate. Both of these are big factors when improving overall cardiovascular health.

Therefore, regularly performing mountain climbers can help boost cardiovascular health, improve the efficiency of your body systems, and improve fitness.

Improves Coordination, Strength, And Endurance

The mountain climber poses a major challenge to the body because it uses multiple performance elements. It uses a similar movement pattern to outdoor mountain climbing.

As you hold the plank position, you require strength and endurance to maintain a straight body position. When you drive your legs, your upper and lower body needs to coordinate to ensure a smooth movement. During this, you need good muscular endurance to perform the mountain climbers for the stated time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will 100 mountain climbers a day do?

Doing 100 mountain climbers a day will at minimum, help with your stamina and cardiovascular strength. Depending on your base fitness level, it may even slightly improve your fitness in these areas.

Do mountain climbers burn belly fat?

Because they exhibit a degree of high-intensity heart rate training, mountain climbers can help to increase energy expenditure. However, the main determinant will still be a long-term calorie deficit.

What are the disadvantages of mountain climbers?

The disadvantage to mountain climbers would be that there is a limit to how long you can sustain them. This puts a cap on extended cardio benefits. They also place excess stress on the lower back if performed incorrectly.

Is it better to do mountain climbers slow or fast?

As a beginner who is still learning the correct technique, start with slower leg movements. As you improve your form, you can perform them using a quicker pace.

Resources

Endomondo.com refrains from utilizing tertiary references. We uphold stringent sourcing criteria and depend on peer-reviewed studies and academic research conducted by medical associations and institutions. For more detailed insights, you can explore further by reading our editorial process.

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