Animal Crawl Prep for Strength Day

A warm-up before a strength lesson in which students travel 10 m lanes using different crawls: bear, crab, inchworm, and lizard. It activates shoulders, wrists, core, and hips all at once and prepares the body for loaded work with controlled support.

How to play

1. Mark 6 lanes of 10 m (11 yd) with cones; groups of 4 per lane in a line, starting when the previous student reaches halfway.
2. Wrist mobility (1 min): kneeling, make circles with hands on the floor and rock forward and back.
3. Bear crawl (2 min): hands and feet on the floor, knees a few inches up, flat back; move opposite hand and foot together. Walk back.
4. Crab walk (2 min): face up, hips raised, moving backward while squeezing the glutes.
5. Inchworm (1 min): standing, hands to the floor, walk hands out to a plank and walk feet up to the hands.
6. Lizard crawl (2 min): low crawl, bringing elbow and knee on the same side together each step; finish with a down-and-back run of the lane.

Rules

• Keep a flat back; if the hips rise too high, slow down.
• Stay in your own lane and start when the previous student passes halfway.
• Place hands with fingers spread, never on the knuckles.
• If the wrist hurts, use a closed fist or do the exercise on the forearms.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: replace the crawls with hands-on-bench supports and side steps.
• Autism: a poster with a picture of each crawl, always in the same order.
• Lower fitness: crawl half the lane and walk the other half.

Learning goals

• Activate shoulders, core, and hips before strength work.
• Keep a neutral spine in different support positions.
• Coordinate opposite arms and legs.

Equipment for a class of 25

• cones: 12

Teacher tip

Demonstrate the bear crawl yourself, since it's the hardest one to picture. If the outdoor surface is rough, move to a covered area or use yoga mats.

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