How to Do Mountain Climbers (and Easier Versions to Start With)

To do mountain climbers, get into a high plank with your hands under your shoulders and your body in a straight line, then drive one knee towards your chest, step it back and swap legs, keeping your hips low the whole time. If that feels like too much to begin with, start with slow step-in climbers or put your hands on a sturdy bench, then build up to the faster versions.

Mountain climbers turn up in almost every HIIT workout, usually done flat out with hips bouncing. This guide, part of our series on doing the big movements properly, slows things down: the muscles they work, step-by-step cues, easier versions, pacing, and how they fit a HIIT circuit and a hybrid week with running.

What muscles do mountain climbers work?

A mountain climber is a plank with moving legs, so much of the work happens around your middle. Your abs and obliques (the muscles down your sides) keep your back flat and your hips still while your legs move. The hip flexors at the front of your hips pull each knee in, and your glutes and thighs drive each leg back.

Your shoulders, chest and triceps (the backs of your arms) hold you up, and the serratus anterior, a muscle around the side of your ribs, keeps your shoulder blades steady. Done at speed, climbers also raise your heart rate quickly, which is why they are a HIIT favourite. That mix of core control and cardio is what makes them useful, and easy to do badly.

How do you do a mountain climber with good form?

Set up slowly before you add any speed. Run through these cues every time.

• Hands. Place them on the floor directly under your shoulders, fingers spread and pointing forwards.
• Plank. Step your feet back into a high plank (the top of a push-up) so your body makes one straight line from your head to your heels.
• Brace. Tighten your stomach as if about to be poked in the belly, squeeze your glutes and draw your ribs down so your lower back does not arch.
• Shoulders. Push the floor away so your chest does not sink, and keep your shoulders stacked over your hands.
• Drive. Bring your right knee in towards your chest, then return that foot to where it started.
• Switch. Repeat with your left leg, then keep alternating.
• Hips. Keep your hips roughly level with your shoulders, not bobbing with each step.
• Head and breathing. Look at the floor just ahead of your hands and breathe steadily. If you have to hold your breath, slow down.

Tip: film a set from the side. If your bum is the highest point of your body, you have drifted into a downward dog shape.

What are the easier versions of mountain climbers?

Two dials make the move easier or harder: how much weight is on your hands, and how fast your legs move. Pick the rung that lets you keep a straight line, then climb. If holding the plank itself is the hard part, build that first with our beginner's guide to doing a plank properly.

• Rung 1: Incline step-ins. Put your hands on something sturdy that will not slide, such as a weight bench or kitchen worktop, and walk your feet back until your body is straight. Step one knee in, tap the foot down and step it back, then swap. The higher your hands, the easier it is.
• Rung 2: Floor step-ins. The same slow stepping action from a high plank on the floor. One foot comes in, lands, goes back, then the other. No jumping or switching in the air.
• Rung 3: Steady climbers. Keep the rhythm going without pausing, at a pace where your hips stay still. Think quick feet, quiet body.
• Rung 4: Cross-body climbers. Drive each knee towards the opposite elbow, so your right knee travels towards your left elbow. This asks more of your obliques. Keep it controlled, as the twist makes it easy to let your hips swing.
• Rung 5: Fast climbers. The classic HIIT version, where your legs switch quickly and both feet may leave the floor for a moment as they pass. Only go here once rungs 3 and 4 feel solid.

Move up a rung when you can do 3 rounds of 30 seconds at your current level with your hips level and your shoulders over your hands. Some people find cross-body climbers harder than fast ones, and that is fine. Swap rungs 4 and 5 if it suits you.

How fast should you do mountain climbers?

Only as fast as you can keep your form. Speed is the last thing to add, not the first. Rushing usually means bouncing hips, short steps and shoulders sliding back behind the hands.

In a strength or core session, do them slowly and deliberately. In a HIIT session, pick up the tempo, but keep each knee driving all the way in and your hips low. If your form breaks mid-interval, slow down for the rest of it rather than stopping. A slower, tidy climber still does the job.

What are the most common mountain climber mistakes, and how do you fix them?

• Hips too high. Your bum rises into a downward dog shape. Lower your hips until your shoulders, hips and heels line up, and slow down.
• Hips sagging. Your lower back dips towards the floor. Brace your stomach, squeeze your glutes and drop back a rung.
• Shoulders behind your hands. Your body slides back towards your feet. Reset with your shoulders stacked over your hands and push the floor away.
• Tiny steps. Your knees only travel a few centimetres. Drive each knee in towards your chest, even if that means going slower.
• Sore wrists. Holding dumbbells or push-up handles keeps your wrists straighter, or stay on the incline version for longer. If pain does not settle, stop and get it checked.
• Holding your breath. Breathe steadily throughout. If you cannot, the pace is too high for now.

How many sets and reps of mountain climbers should you do?

Climbers are usually done for time rather than counted. A rough guide:

• Starting out. 3 to 4 rounds of 20 seconds, with 40 seconds of rest between them.
• Building up. 4 to 6 rounds of 30 seconds, with 30 seconds of rest.
• Slow and controlled. If you prefer to count, do 3 sets of 10 to 20 slow reps (each leg counts as one), resting about a minute between sets.
• How often. 2 to 3 times a week is plenty, usually as part of a HIIT or strength session.

What does a 4-week mountain climber plan look like?

Follow this plan three times a week with a day off in between, after a short warm-up. If a week feels too hard, repeat it.

By week 4 you should manage 30 seconds of steady climbers without your hips bouncing. If not, stay on step-ins for another week or two. That is completely normal.

How do you use mountain climbers in a HIIT circuit?

Climbers raise your heart rate without any kit and pair well with moves that work other areas. Here is a simple beginner circuit. Do each move for 30 seconds with 15 seconds of rest between moves, rest for 60 seconds at the end of the round, and complete 3 rounds after a 5-minute warm-up.

• Bodyweight squats.
• Push-ups, on your knees or with your hands on a bench if you need to.
• Mountain climbers, at whichever rung you are on.
• Glute bridges.

Putting climbers straight after push-ups means your arms are already a little tired, so drop to an easier rung if your shoulders start to sink. If you want a longer session to follow, our 20-minute HIIT workout at home includes mountain climbers in a full no-equipment routine.

How do mountain climbers fit into a hybrid week with running?

Easily. They need no kit and little time, and because they lean on your core and shoulders more than your legs, a few slow rounds rarely leave your legs heavy for the next run. A hard HIIT circuit is different: count it as one of your harder days, not an extra on top of a speed session. Our guide to HIIT for runners covers how many hard sessions a week make sense.

A simple week could look like this:

• Monday. Strength session, finishing with 3 rounds of slow mountain climbers.
• Tuesday. Easy run.
• Wednesday. HIIT circuit that includes mountain climbers.
• Thursday. Easy run.
• Friday. Strength session.
• Saturday. Rest or a walk.
• Sunday. Long run.

At Edge we treat running, strength and HIIT as one plan rather than three separate ones, so sessions like this sit alongside your runs instead of competing with them. Edge is free to use, and Edge Pro, from £19.99 a month with a free 7-day trial, gives you a fully personalised plan across running, strength, HIIT and mobility, ready within 24 hours, with a real coach to message anytime if you are not sure which rung to be on.

This article is general guidance, not medical advice. If you are new to exercise, returning from injury, or managing a health condition, speak to your GP before starting, and see a physio for any niggle that does not settle.