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Chris Freytag demonstrating Mountain Climbers on a Step

Incline Mountain Climbers is a cardiovascular exercise that strengthens the upper body and core muscles while increasing your heart rate to burn calories. While the basic Mountain Climber exercise has your hands on the floor, the Incline Mountain Climbers, requires the equipment of a step or a nearby bench to slightly elevate your upper body taking a bit of the pressure off the shoulder joints and lower back.

Slightly modified, don’t be fooled- this exercise is sure to spike your heart rate and boost your metabolism in no time.

Learning how to do Incline Mountain Climbers is a great exercise for improving cardiovascular health and weight loss, and it’s also a great exercise for building isometric strength in virtually every upper body muscle. And of course, Incline Mountain Climbers are an awesome core exercise.

This is why we love Incline Mountain Climbers so much. This exercise is one of the few abdominal workouts that engages the entire abdomen while burning calories at the same time, making this one of the best exercises to flatten your belly and strengthen your lower back.

Before you get started, here are a few reminders to get the most out of your Incline Mountain Climbers: keep your arms straight on the step/bench, keep your spine straight and engage your core so that your lower back doesn’t sink.

You are sure to feel the burn with this exercise, but it’s important to follow through your repetitions without losing proper form in order to reap the best results!

Incline Mountain Climbers Exercise Instructions

  • Place hands slightly wider than shoulder distance apart or on the edges of your step. Bring your body into plank position and engage your abdominals.
  • Bring one knee in towards your chest then switch feet and draw the other knee in alternating back and forth quickly like you are running.

Targets: core, shoulders, glutes