Crab walking exercise: improve your mobility and coordination

YesYou may remember the crab walk from your school days, but this move isn’t child’s play. Moving forward and backward on your hands and feet while pressing your chest and hips up is a serious workout.

“Crab walking is a great full-body exercise that offers a wide range of benefits,” says Akane Nigro, CPT, personal trainer at Life Time in Charlotte, North Carolina. In particular, it improves strength, coordination, posture and overall fitness.

If you haven’t revisited this childhood classic, maybe it’s time to brush up on your crabbing skills. We tapped a few experts to break down proper crab walking technique, its benefits, muscles worked, and much more.

How to do the crab walk exercise with perfect form every time

Nigro demonstrates how to perform the crab walk exercise with proper form:

1. Sit on the floor with your knees bent and your feet flat. Place your hands on the floor behind your hips, fingers pointing away from your body.
2. Push through your hands and feet to lift your hips until your body forms a straight line from head to knees.
3. Engage your core and begin walking backwards, moving your right hand with your left foot, followed by your left hand with your right foot.
4. Once you have taken several steps back, reverse directions to move forward.
5. Keep your chest open and your shoulders down the entire time.

What muscles does the crab walk exercise work?

Crab walking uses an impressive number of muscles. Here are the main ones, according to Nigro.

1.Shoulders

“Supporting your body weight helps strengthen the deltoids and rotator cuff,” says Nigro. The rotator cuff muscles (the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis) support the ball and socket joint of your shoulder. Meanwhile, the deltoid muscle on the outside of your shoulder serves to move your arm forward, back, and to the side of your body.

2. Weapons

The main muscle groups in your arms that the crab walk exercise works are your triceps (on the back of your arm) and your biceps (on the front of your arm). These muscle groups engage when you move your body forward and backward and help keep your body off the ground.

3. Legs

Your quadriceps (the muscles at the front of your thigh), your hamstrings (the muscles at the back of your thigh), your glutes (your butt), and your calves (the muscles at the back of your leg) work to propel you forward and backward.

4. Core

Crab walking engages your entire core, especially your lower back and obliques (the side abs). These muscles keep your hips lifted and stabilized as you move forward and backward.

4 Benefits of Adding the Crab Walk Exercise to Your Workouts

1. It improves posture

Crab walking strengthens the muscles in the back of your body (back, glutes, hamstrings, and the back of your shoulders) and the muscles in your abdomen (your abs). Together, these muscles, especially those in your lower back and core, help keep your torso upright.

If you spend a lot of your day sitting, you may be weaker in these muscles and more prone to slouching. By engaging your postural muscles, the crab walk exercise helps correct muscle imbalances that contribute to poor posture, says Nigro.

2. It improves balance and coordination

Most of us don’t regularly walk backwards using our hands and feet – a big reason why crab walking is so beneficial for improving balance and coordination. Your brain has to work overtime to coordinate your arms and legs while keeping your core engaged.

“Since crab walking requires you to move in an unnatural position (walking backwards while supporting yourself with your hands and feet), it challenges your coordination and proprioception (the awareness of body position), says Nigro As you develop better balance and coordination, you may find that these skills carry over to other activities that require balance and coordination, such as running, sports. , or even avoid falls and injuries in daily life and as we age.

3. It strengthens several muscle groups

As you have seen, crab walking is a full-body exercise. It targets your shoulders, arms, core, legs, wrists and hands, says Nigro. Because crab walking forces your lower back and abs (your rectus abdominis, also known as your “six-pack” muscle, and your obliques, also known as your “side abs”) to fire nonstop, the exercise is particularly effective. to strengthen your core muscles.

Greater core strength translates into safer, more efficient movements in sports and daily life. It can also help relieve lower back pain by ensuring that your lower back doesn’t have to take on the work that your other core muscles should be doing.

4. It Provides a Cardiovascular Workout

“While not as intense as running or cycling, crab walks can increase your heart rate, especially when done over longer distances or for prolonged periods of time,” says Nigro . “This makes it a light to moderate cardiovascular workout, depending on the intensity.”

Light to moderate in intensity, crab walks help improve cardiovascular endurance, or your ability to perform paced activities for a longer period of time. Greater endurance (also known as aerobic fitness) benefits other cardio exercises, like running and cycling, and is vital for overall health.

4 Crab Walk Variations to Mix Things Up

1. Crab Walk with Resistance Band

Wrapping a resistance band around your thighs adds intensity, targeting your glutes and core even more effectively, says Josh York, CPT, founder and CEO of GYMGUYZ.

1. Sit on the floor with your knees bent and your feet flat. Loop a mini resistance band around both thighs, just above your knees. Place your hands on the floor behind your hips, fingers pointing away from your body.
2. Push through your hands and feet to lift your hips until your body forms a straight line from head to knees. Push your knees out until you feel tension in the band.
3. Engage your core and begin walking backwards, moving your right hand with your left foot, followed by your left hand with your right foot.
4. Once you have taken several steps back, reverse directions to move forward.
5. Keep your chest open and your shoulders down the entire time.

2. Crab Toe Touch

This variation tests your core strength and stability. Plus, it improves balance, York says.

1. Sit on the floor with your knees bent and your feet flat. Place your hands on the floor behind your hips, fingers pointing away from your body.
2. Push through your hands and feet to lift your hips a few inches off the ground.
3. Engage your core and lift your right foot off the ground. Lift your left hand and reach forward to touch your right toes.
4. Rest your right foot and left hand on the floor. Repeat the movement with your left foot and right hand.
5. Keep your chest open and your shoulders down the entire time.

3. Single Leg Crab Walk

Walking on one leg puts a strain on your balance. It also strengthens your core and supporting leg, York says.

1. Sit on the floor with your knees bent and your feet flat. Place your hands on the floor behind your hips, fingers pointing away from your body.
2. Push through your hands and feet to lift your hips until your body forms a straight line from head to knees.
3. Engage your core and lift your right foot off the ground. Then start stepping forward with both hands and your left foot.
4. Once you have taken several steps with your left foot, switch to your right foot.
5. Keep your chest open and your shoulders down the entire time.

4. Crab walk with shoulder tap

Keeping your feet planted while raising one hand to touch the opposite shoulder is a great way to increase the intensity of the exercise. “This movement improves core engagement and upper body stability,” says York.

1. Sit on the floor with your knees bent and your feet flat. Place your hands on the floor behind your hips, fingers pointing away from your body.
2. Push through your hands and feet to lift your hips until your body forms a straight line from head to knees.
3. Engage your heart. Lift your right hand off the floor and reach across your chest to tap your opposite shoulder.
4. Place your right hand on the floor again. Repeat the movement with your left hand.
5. Keep your chest open and your shoulders down the entire time.

Tips to Get the Most Out of the Crab Walk Exercise

Maintaining good form is a surefire way to get the maximum benefits from the crab walk exercise. “Keep your chest open, shoulders down, and back straight, and avoid slouching or letting your hips drop too low,” says Nigro.

Remember to keep your body tight while you perform this movement as well. This will help you maintain stability and prevent strain in your lower back, she says.

It’s also important to keep your movements slow and controlled. Don’t rush the exercise; Moving too fast can compromise your form and cause injury, says Nigro. Coordinating your breathing and movements can help: “Inhale as you prepare for the movement and exhale as you push yourself back or forward,” suggests Nigro.

How to Add Crab Walking to Your Routine

Nigro suggests incorporating crab walks into a full-body or core workout two to three times per week. Give yourself at least one day off in between to avoid putting too much strain on your muscles and joints, especially your shoulders and wrists, she says.

Try combining crab walks with complementary exercises, such as push-ups, planks, or bear crawls to create a dynamic movement circuit, suggests Nigro. “For a well-rounded workout, try alternating crab walks with exercises that target opposing muscle groups, like squats or lunges,” she says.

If you’re new to crabbing, start with 20 to 30 seconds (about 10 to 15 meters). Work your way up to three sets of 30 to 45 seconds (about 15 to 20 yards forward and back), followed by three to four sets of 45 to 60 seconds, says Nigro.