Forget Yogi Bear – it’s time for Yoga Bear …
… The Bear Crawl That Is!
This effective yoga exercise will work many major muscle groups at the same time. Practice it and you’ll develop more strength … added confidence … and improved functionality.
The Bear Crawl will work your core and shoulders. And it’s also a great workout for your chest, back, butt, quads, and hamstrings. Best yet, no equipment is necessary, and you can do it anywhere — at the gym or at home.
Here are the easy steps to performing this effective, full-body exercise …
- Get on the ground on all fours. Don’t raise your knees right away. Establish a solid, firm position first. Place your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Make you’re your hands are completely flat and fully pressing against the ground. Contact the balls of your feet with the ground and make sure your feet are not rotated, but perpendicular to the floor. Make sure you have a flat, straight back before you lift your knees off the ground.
- Next, lift your knees off the ground. Make sure your shins are about an inch off the ground and parallel with the floor. Also, make sure the keep your back flat and straight.
- Now, move forward. Advance your left hand with the right leg (known as contra-lateral movement). Move forward four to five times to start. (As you progress, you can add to your number of steps forward.)
- Reverse the process and move backwards four to five times.
Hint: While doing the Bear Crawl, you can put a book or a yoga block on your lower back. If the object falls off, it probably means you’re rotating or shifting your hips. You know you have the correct form, when you can do the exercise without the book or yoga block falling off.
Adding Side Movement …
- Do the Bear Crawl adding a side step, creating a box.
- First move forward in a Bear Crawl two steps. After those two steps your hands and feet should now be in their original, starting position.
- Next, move to the right twice (the right hand and left leg working together).
- Go backward two steps, again using contra-lateral movement.
- Now, move to the left twice, your left hand and right leg moving first.
- Repeat this four to five times. As you progress, you can add repetitions. This will further build your endurance and strength.
This exercise’s “cross-body movement” makes it excellent for coordination and proprioception (the body’s ability to sense its position and movements without relying on visual input).
Hint: You can make the bear crawl more challenging by increasing the load. You can wear a weighted vest, a loaded backpack, or even place a weight plate on your back. The extra weight will make this effective exercise even more challenging.
Give this full body exercise a try in your next workout or yoga session and discover the benefits … we DOUBLE “BEAR” YOU!