Warm-up: 5 easy ground crawling exercises

Ground crawling exercises (perfect even for beginners)

In this article, we want to see 5 types of ground crawling exercises for beginners.

Note – This article has been asked by one of our Core Course practitioners on Patreon (see how to attend our home study classes hereĀ Learn Kung Fu online: a beginner-to-expert course).

Important premises:

Exercise 1: drag from the sitting position

  • Ideal for arms / legs warm-up and to help muscle chain conditioning inside our muscle memory
  • This exercise is useful to get used to employing arms on ground fighting (read Ground fighting)
  • Let’s sit on the ground with the legs partially stretched
  • The palms of our hands and feet rest on the ground
  • The goal of this exercise is to move backward by coordinating our body movements (read Use the body power: the muscle chain)
  • We have to push against the ground with both our hands and feet, moving our buttocks upwards and backward
  • As we push, our legs must stretch out and the palm of our feet lift off the ground (the heels remain instead in contact)
  • Then we return to the initial position and repeat the past steps in a continuous, cyclic motion
  • Let’s try to involve our entire body in a smooth, wave-like motion that starts from your feet and travels up to our head (this will come with time)
  • Let’s try to be as fast and coordinated as possible

Exercise 2: drag the broken leg

  • Ideal to learn how to move with a damaged leg
  • The same as exercise 1 but with one leg
  • The leg at rest remains stretched on the ground as if it is broken
  • The leg at rest must be rigid (for advanced practitioners it can also be suspended from the ground)
  • The leg at rest should obviously be alternated

Exercise 3: soldier crawl

  • Ideal for coordination, body symmetry, stamina and for muscle chain
  • This exercise is useful to move fast on ground fighting and for stealth
  • Let’s lie down on the floor on the stomach (only the head should be raised)
  • We lean on our forearms but without touching the ground with the hands
  • The goal of the exercise is to move forward using a “crossed” body coordination
  • To advance we must first push by stretching the right leg and “grabbing” the ground with the left forearm (in sync) and then vice versa
  • While the left arm pushes the left leg is dragged and vice versa
  • By repeating cyclically these steps we can move forward
  • The more we can engage smoothly shoulders, hips, abs, breathing (etc.), the more we will move quickly and effortlessly
  • The more we are uncoordinated (legs raised, asynchronous movements, etc.), the more we will move slowly
  • Let’s try to gain speed and harmony (if we are working well, we should move fast and quietly)

Exercise 4: inverted soldier crawl

  • Ideal for coordination, body symmetry and muscle chain
  • This exercise can be useful to move on the ground when we need to control what happens above us
  • Let’s lie down on the floor on the back (the head and the arms are raised, the feet touch the ground)
  • The goal of the exercise is to move backward using a “crossed” body coordination
  • To advance we must push with the right foot and with the left shoulder (in sequence) and then vice versa
  • While the left foot pushes the left buttock raises and vice versa
  • Repeating cyclically these steps we can move backward (in head direction)
  • The movement must look like a side swing (almost as if we were giving hooks)
  • The more we can engage smoothly shoulders, hips, abs, breathing (etc.), the more we will move quickly and effortlessly
  • The more we are uncoordinated (asynchronous movements, etc.), the more we will move slowly
  • Let’s try to gain speed and harmony (if we are working well, we should move fast and quietly)
  • The exercise can be also performed without completely touching the ground with the feet (only the external side)

Exercise 5 (rolling in length)

  • Ideal for, coordination, ground fighting and to accustom our balance to the unusual movements of the struggle
  • This exercise is one of the fastest ways to move when we’re on the ground
  • Let’s lie down on the floor on the side with the body completely stretched
  • If we want to go to the left, the left forearm and the right palm of the foot are bent to touch the ground
  • The goal of the exercise is to move laterally using a loop rotation
  • To advance we have to rotate the shoulders and (in sync) press on the ground with the right foot (in the left direction)
  • When the right arm touches the ground, it pushes (together with the shoulders) in the left direction to perpetuate the revolution
  • During the rotation, the movement must follow a straight line and the passive elements of our body must remain rigid
  • We can also try to push with the right toes to add extra speed
  • Repeating cyclically these steps we can move on the left (or, inverting the parts, on the right)
  • The more we are coordinated, the more we will move quickly and effortlessly
  • The more we are uncoordinated (unwanted bending of the lower part of the body, etc.), the more we will move slowly
  • Let’s try to gain speed and harmony (if we are working well, we should move fast and quietly)
  • The first time we will suffer a little dizziness, it’s normal (remember to go first in one direction and then immediately in the other)

All of these exercises have to be performed for (at least) 10 minutes. We can do specific sessions for each of them or we can divide the amount of time dedicated executing altogether (eg. 2 minutes each).

Variations

These are safe and extremely simple ground crawling exercises ideal for beginners (or as a warm-up) but they can be performed also by advanced practitioners or (with some adaptations) as stealth techniques.

Let’s see some interesting variations (not for novices):

  • Tie an elastic rope to the wall and to our abdomen to slow down / hinder our movement
  • Wear a weighted vest (15-25 Kg) to make the exercise harder
  • Add obstacles on the ground
  • Let’s retrieve or lift items at each turn (weights, weapons, etc.)

A note by Master Kongling – If we want to train stealth skills, let’s concentrate on noises, on staying as low as possible and on taking up as little space as possible. In addition to this, we should try to cover uneven paths and prolong the workout for well over 10 minutes (so as to build the right stamina).

In the next article of this series, we will see more ground crawling exercises.

Special thanks

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Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

  • Do you find it difficult to find coordination in crawling?

Author: Master Kongling

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