Surely you already know that the best combination to maintain a healthy weight and stay in shape is strength and cardio training. For this reason, many trainers recommend alternating these two types of routines or performing functional training that combine exercises from both aspects. and the mountain climbers is one of them.

It is a classic of functional training, as popular as squats or lunges, with which you will improve both your cardiovascular endurance and your strength. As you may have imagined, its name comes from the similarity of the movement with that of a climber in the lateral perspective.

Mountain climbers: how to do it

As you will see, it is an exercise that is performed with your own body weightwithout the need for other accessories and, although it is intense, it is affordable for most people.

This is how it is done, step by step:

• To begin, you must place yourself in a plank with arms extended and the back well aligned.
• Then you must bring one knee forward as if you wanted to touch the chest with it and then the other, with a explosive jump.
• Breathing: When you advance one leg you must inhale and then exhale when you advance the opposite one.

How many to do? If you are beginnertry 3 sets of 20 seconds; if you have a level intermediateperform 4 series of 30 seconds, and if you are advancedtry 4 series of one minute.

Possible adaptations

You can perform this exercise with some modifications, if necessary. For example, with a static and non-jumping versionin which you only move your knees forward, without the explosive jump. In this case, you must keep in mind that you will be eliminating cardiovascular work.

you could also support each foot in front when you bring your knee forward, as an intermediate step. If you wish, you can introduce jumping into this variation to speed up your heart rate and burn more calories.

Lastly, you can work a inclined versionwith the support of your hands on a chair or bench.

Frequent errors

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The most common is raise the gluteus too much in each jumpmisaligning the spine. To avoid this, take good care of the initial plank: align your shoulders and wrists, neck and back.

Another possible error is deactivate the abdomenuncontrolling movement and causing the lumbar spine to become overloaded. To avoid this, think about pushing the floor with your arms, bringing your shoulders back and down, pushing your belly button up.

You should also avoid curve your back too much to give space to the knees. Always think about maintaining the alignment of your back and neck, keeping your scapulae activated.

Additionally, you must have Be careful not to open your hands too much or put them too far forward.since this way you will be straining your shoulders and will feel pain in your wrists. We also recommend that you open your fingers wide to distribute the weight.

Benefits of mountain climbers

Among the muscles involved in this exercise, the gluteus maximus, biceps and quadriceps femoris, and gastrocnemius. Furthermore, with the mountain climbers you also work abdomen, triceps, pectorals and shouldersfor that posture face down on the ground.

Therefore, it is an exercise that will be very useful for you to improve the execution of other popular ones in fitness routines such as planks and push-ups.

Another of the great advantages of this exercise is that it combines the benefits of cardiovascular exercise with those of strength exercise. Thus, mountain climbers allow the heart rate to increase, with a calorie burn that continues beyond the moment of trainingwhile strengthening muscles, improving coordination and promoting greater agility.

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