Mobility · Baseline Mobility
Bear Crawl Hold
Core stability, shoulder endurance, breathing under tension
Minimum Effective Dose
1 min
The shortest time that still creates real, measurable change. Hit the dose and the benefit starts. Everything after is bonus.
Why it works
The bear crawl hold loads your core, shoulders, and hips simultaneously while demanding you maintain a neutral spine. The key challenge is breathing normally while under isometric load.
How to do it
Get on all fours. Lift knees off the floor and hold.
Hands under shoulders, knees under hips. Breathe. Don't hold your breath. Neutral spine under load is the whole point of this one.
- Get on all fours with hands under shoulders, knees under hips
- Lift your knees just a few inches off the floor and hold
- Keep breathing and maintain a neutral spine throughout
- Don't hold your breath, because that defeats the purpose
Variants
Easier
Lift knees and hold. Rest knees between holds.
Hold for 5 seconds, rest knees, repeat.
Harder
Knees hovering. Crawl forward and back slowly.
Crawl forward 4 steps, back 4 steps. Knees stay hovering.
Related exercises
Pair with breathwork
Wind down after your session with a Shift breathwork protocol.
Baseline builds this into your session automatically.
The system decides what you need, sequences the exercises, and runs the timers. All you do is press start.
Launching May 2026 · Free to try
