Core · Bodyweight
Bear Walk
How to do the bear walk, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Logged as
- time
- Movement
- Carry
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Start on all fours with hands under shoulders and knees under hips, lifting your knees an inch off the floor. Crawl forward by moving opposite hand and foot together, keeping your hips low and back flat as you travel.
- 1Core bracing hard to keep your hips from swaying
- 2Quads and shoulders carrying the load as you crawl
- 3Opposite hand and foot moving together in coordination
Common mistakes
- Letting your hips pike up high or sag low
- Rotating your torso instead of keeping it square
- Rushing so your hand and foot timing falls apart
Muscles worked
The bear walk mainly works the upper abs, with the lower abs, obliques, quads, triceps, forearms, upper traps, glutes, front delts, and hip flexors assisting.
- Upper AbsPrimary
- Lower AbsSupport
- ObliquesSupport
- QuadsSupport
- TricepsSupport
- ForearmsSupport
- Upper TrapsSupport
- GlutesSupport
- Front DeltsSupport
- Hip FlexorsSupport
- Mid ChestMinor
- LatsMinor
- Lower BackMinor
- Mid TrapsMinor
- HamstringsMinor
- CalvesMinor
- Side DeltsMinor
- Tibialis AnteriorMinor
Kovo programs the bear walk for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More abs & core exercises
- How to do the ab wheel rollout
- How to do the ankle tap plank
- How to do the ankle taps
- How to do the resistance band dead bugs
- How to do the resistance band pallof press
- How to do the rollout
Last reviewed June 2026.