What Is a Spider Walk? Tips, Technique, Correct Form, Benefits and Common Mistakes

There are several exercises that can help with strengthening your body overall, and the spider walk is one of them. This exercise works on both the upper and lower body, and focuses on improving muscle endurance and strength.

It is important to learn how to do the spider walk properly. If not done properly, it could lead to injuries or inadequate gain from the exercise.

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The correct form of the spider walk

The following instructions illustrate how one should execute a spider walk:

1. This is an exercise which is done on the floor and takes some back and forth movement. Ideally, you would want to use a bigger space such as a gym studio or something similar for the workout.
2. Go down on the floor in a plank position. From there on, extend your hands and put your weight on them. Also. keep your hands shoulder-width apart.
3. Ensure to keep your legs hip-width apart.
4. Move your right knee towards your right elbow while pressing down on the floor with your left toes. When moving the knee forward, rotate it externally.
5. Extend your left arm in front of you while your right knee comes closer to your right elbow.
6. Repeat on the other side.

Tips to know when doing the spider walk

While doing the spider walk, you have to keep the following pointers in mind:

1. Always engage your core and hand muscles.
2. Ensure to stay low all the time.
3. Control your breathing for better output.
4. Keep doing this until you’ve achieved your goal.

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Benefits of the spider walk

It wouldn't be enough to just learn about executing a spider walk. The best way to move forward is to understand its benefits as well. Knowing the benefits, it gives you the motivation to implement it in your workout routine.

1) Targets the bigger muscles

When you do a spider walk, quite a bit of pressure falls on the shoulders, chests, and back muscles. This aids in opening up these muscles, whilst helping the smaller ones grow as well.

2) Helps with core muscles

This exercise requires you to engage your core muscles almost all the time. As a result, your abdominal muscles will strengthen and tone themselves.

3) Reduces back pain

When you’re doing the spider walk, the back muscles are constantly working. This helps in reducing back pain whilst improving balance and stability.

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Common mistakes

Every exercise, when done for the first time, can be slightly difficult to grasp. Therefore, you’re bound to make a few mistakes. Nevertheless, if you keep at it, you’ll be able to perfect the movement without hassle.

However, the following are some of the most common mistakes you should be aware of before doing the spider walk.

1) Letting your hips down

You need to keep your entire body aligned with the floor. Therefore, you cannot let your hips drop. If you drop it, your core muscles will stop working and you may suffer from back pain. Always ensure to focus on your hips and core muscles when doing this exercise.

2) Picking up your posterior

While you cannot let your hips down, you cannot have your posterior in the air. This opens up doors to injuries and back pain, and also takes away the effectiveness of the overall movement. It is of utmost importance to keep your back aligned throughout the movement.

3) Not focusing on core muscles

It’s quite easy to not focus on the core muscles when executing this exercise. Considering the entire movement, you could lose focus from the core muscles and disengage them.

This is something you must be aware of when doing the spider walk. It’s essential for you to engage the abdominal muscles throughout the movement.

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Bottom line

Spiderwalking is a great exercise to burn calories and strengthen your muscles. You can do this exercise as a warm-up or as a part of your overall routine. The benefit of doing this as a warm-up is that it helps in raising your heart rate.

As you know, you want to raise your heart rate before starting any type of heavy workout. This helps in preventing injuries, opening muscles, and maximizing efforts. But, if you’re doing this as part of a workout, ensure you cool down afterwards.

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