maratoolMonster Walk
How to do the monster walk
- Place a band around both ankles and another around both knees. There should be enough tension that they are tight when your feet are shoulder width apart.
- To begin, take short steps forward alternating your left and right foot.
- After several steps, do just the opposite and walk backward to where you started.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the hip abductors — gluteus medius and minimus, which drive the thigh away from the midline and keep the pelvis level when you stand on one leg.
Every exercise for:Abductors
How this movement works
The load travels toward you and several joints bend to bring it there. The arms finish work the back starts, so grip and elbow flexors sit in the path of every repetition: when people stall on a compound pull, it is more often the hands giving out than the primary muscle running out of force.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
A band gets harder the further it stretches, so resistance peaks at the end of the range rather than the middle. It is also the easiest way to scale a movement in small steps.
Every exercise using:Band
These train the abductors too, using equipment this one does not:
- Standing Hip Circlesbody only
- Thigh Abductormachine
- Iliotibial Tract-SMRfoam roll
Difficulty
Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.
Of the 8 abductors exercises in this database, 4 are listed at beginner level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.