How to do the climber exercise to build abs and lose weight

Exercise "rock climber" - this is an alternating pull of the knees to the chest in a lying position. It has many variations and is great for both strength training with your body weight and intense cardio sessions.

Why do the climbing exercise

The Climber is a truly versatile movement that provides many benefits:

• Loads several muscle groups at once. Unlike folds on the press, the "climber" not only pumps the straight and oblique abdominal muscles, but also loads the shoulder girdle well. And pulling the knees up to the chest puts stress on the muscles in the hips.
• Burns a lot of calories. Because the climber uses many muscle groups and is done at a fast pace, you will not only pump your abs, but you also burn much more calories than during a fold on the press, and even more so planks.
• No hardware required. You may only need a rug to perform a "climber", but you can easily do without it.
• Suitable for all skill levels. You can simplify the exercise by doing it with support on a dais, and you can also complicate it indefinitely by adding other movements.

How to do the climber exercise correctly

Stand upright, place your wrists clearly under your shoulders, direct your gaze to the floor in front of you. Stretch your body in one line from crown to feet, tighten your abs. Bring one knee up to your chest, change legs with a jump and continue alternating.

You can put the foot of your working foot on a pad, leave a sock on the floor, or not touch the surface at all - choose what is more convenient for you.

Do not raise your pelvis high and try to hold it in place, do not swing much up and down. This performance will provide more stress on the abdominal muscles.

Make sure your lower back does not collapse when you land after changing legs. Sudden movements can lead to back pain.

How to simplify the climbing exercise

The easiest option is to do it from a dais. Find a stable support, put your hands on it, straighten your body in one line and take turns pulling your knees to your chest.

As you increase in fitness, decrease the height of the support until you can perform the movement on the floor.

How to diversify the climber exercise

In motion in a semicircle

A climbing climber in motion will put more stress on the core muscles. Move in an imaginary semicircle and come back.

Crosswise

The variation will increase the load on the oblique abdominal muscles. Pull your knee towards the opposite shoulder.

On sliding platforms

Slide without lifting your feet off the floor. You can do this variation with socks on a smooth floor.

On hinges

Instability will make the exercise even more difficult for your abs. Adjust the loops in advance so that the body is parallel to the floor.

With hands on the medball

With a medball, you can perform different variations: put both hands on it or just one. Due to the instability of the support, the load on the muscles of the shoulder girdle will increase and press.

Diagonal movements

This option puts more stress on the oblique abdominal muscles. Do one set, directing both knees to one shoulder, and then repeat on the other side.

On one hand

A difficult variation for those who lack the load. To do this, you must have really strong core and arm muscles. Take one hand behind your back and climb, being careful not to twist your torso to the side.

With penetration

This option is suitable for those with strong shoulders. In motion, step back until the shoulders and arms are fully straightened, and then come back and go forward so that the shoulders go beyond the line wrist. To begin with, try to move forward and backward in a small amplitude and, if your hands can handle it, gradually increase the range.

Push up

A good variation for killing shoulders and abs at the same time. The lower you go into the push-up, the more you will have to turn your knees to the sides.

How to add climbing exercise to your workouts

It all depends on your goals. You can use the climber like:

1. Warm up exercise before strength or cardio workouts. Insert the exercise into your warm-up after a joint warm-up and light cardio. Do it 20-25 times.
2. Exercise for the press. Perform 3-5 sets of 20-25 times with one minute rest between sets.
3. Part of an intensive complex. The Climber is great for high-intensity interval training. The execution time or the number of times depends on their format. For example, you can try tabata - climbing very hard for 20 seconds, resting for the next 10 seconds, and repeating again.

You can do a climber every workout, but it's best to alternate with other ab exercises to get all your muscles good.