Bear Crawls are one of my favorite exercises that stresses the entire body metabolically.  I also will utilize it in a warm up.  Much like the Turkish Get up, it hits a lot of the areas I’m looking to warm up and prepare for exercise and will do it in a condensed amount of time.  

Sadly, Bear Crawls can get out of hand quickly.  What I mean by that is they can be compromised if they are rushed.  The most common movement compromise I have seen with the Bear Crawl is the hips being much higher than they should be.  Below in the first video, I’m demonstrating the high hip Bear Crawl which essentially eliminates any core involvement which is unfortunate because one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Bear Crawl is the core activation required to perform it effectively.  With the hips elevated, more stress is placed on the wrist and shoulders.

The Bear Crawl should work to or be performed as I demonstrate in the second video.  A spine that is parallel to the floor.  Opposing arms and legs move together (right arm left leg and left arm right leg).  Shorter strides are important in the Bear Crawl to ensure good core activation and weight balance between all 4 limbs.  I will often coach my clients the Bear Crawl while balancing a stick on their backs.  The stick cannot fall and this indicates good core control and weight balance.  Try this small fix with your Bear Crawls for a higher quality of movement.