Core · Bodyweight
Cross Mountain Climber Against Wall
How to do the cross mountain climber against wall, 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
- Rotation
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Place your hands on a wall at shoulder height with your body angled forward and core braced. Drive one knee up and across toward the opposite elbow, then switch sides in a running rhythm. The cross motion forces your torso to rotate against the wall on each rep.
- 1Obliques twisting to bring each knee across
- 2Abs and hip flexors driving the knee up and in
- 3Core staying tight and hips controlled throughout
Common mistakes
- Letting your hips sag or rotate uncontrolled
- Swinging with momentum instead of driving the knee
- Rounding your shoulders or losing the steady pace
Muscles worked
The cross mountain climber against wall mainly works the obliques and hip flexors, with the upper abs, lower abs, quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves assisting.
- ObliquesPrimary
- Hip FlexorsPrimary
- Upper AbsSupport
- Lower AbsSupport
- QuadsSupport
- GlutesSupport
- HamstringsSupport
- CalvesSupport
- ForearmsMinor
- Front DeltsMinor
- AdductorsMinor
Kovo programs the cross mountain climber against wall 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.