Legs · Bodyweight
Standing Ladder Climb
How to do the standing ladder climb, 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
- Flexion
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Stand tall and drive one knee up high, then quickly switch to drive the other knee up in a fast, rhythmic climbing motion as if scaling a ladder. Pump your arms in sync and stay light on the balls of your feet.
- 1Your hip flexors snapping each knee up high
- 2A quick, springy bounce off the balls of your feet
- 3Your arms pumping in rhythm with the legs
Common mistakes
- Letting your knees drift low and slow
- Slamming flat-footed into the ground
- Leaning too far back and losing the rhythm
Muscles worked
The standing ladder climb mainly works the hip flexors and calves, with the lower abs, quads, obliques, glutes, and tibialis anterior assisting.
- Hip FlexorsPrimary
- CalvesPrimary
- Lower AbsSupport
- QuadsSupport
- ObliquesSupport
- GlutesSupport
- Tibialis AnteriorSupport
- Lower BackMinor
- Upper AbsMinor
- HamstringsMinor
- Front DeltsMinor
Kovo programs the standing ladder climb 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 hips & adductors exercises
- How to do the butterfly stretch
- How to do the external rotation
- How to do the cable hip adduction
- How to do the internal rotation
- How to do the cobra pose
- How to do the core scrunch
Last reviewed June 2026.