The mule kick is a bodyweight plyometric performed from a crouch with hands on the floor, kicking both legs back and up into the air, that trains the glutes, hamstrings and shoulders. Unlike a donkey kick on all fours, the whole body leaves the ground: your hands take your weight while your hips extend fast, so the shoulders and trunk hold a brief handstand-like position. The landing back into the crouch loads the quads and calves. Coaches use it as a conditioning drill, a burpee substitute or a handstand lead-in early in a bodyweight session.
What Muscles Does the Mule Kick Work?
- Primary: gluteus maximus, hamstrings
- Secondary: quadriceps, gastrocnemius (calves), deltoids
- Tertiary: triceps brachii, rectus abdominis, erector spinae, forearm flexors
How Do You Set Up for the Mule Kick?
Clear a body length of floor behind and in front of you. Stand with your feet hip-width apart, then squat down into a deep crouch and place both hands flat on the floor a little in front of your feet, shoulder-width apart. Keep your heels down, chest up and eyes on the floor just ahead of your hands. Lock your elbows and lean your weight onto your hands until your feet feel light.
How Do You Perform the Mule Kick?
- Load the crouch by sinking your hips and shifting your shoulders forward over your hands.
- Drive both feet off the floor together, kicking your legs back and up as your hips extend hard.
- Reach the top when your hips are above your shoulders and your legs are straight behind you, with your arms locked and taking your weight.
- Hold the top for a split second, keeping your head neutral and your shoulders pushed tall.
- Pull your knees back toward your chest and let your feet return to the floor under your hips.
- Land softly in the crouch with heels down and hands still on the floor, ready for the next kick.
What Are the Key Form Cues?
- Kick with your hips, not your knees: the legs rise because the glutes fire, so the knees stay nearly straight as they leave the ground.
- Push the floor away through locked arms: the shoulders should feel tall and stacked over your wrists at the top.
- Keep your eyes on the floor between your hands through the whole rep.
- Squeeze your glutes together at the top so the legs travel as one unit.
- Land on the balls of your feet and let the heels sink to finish the crouch.
What Are the Most Common Mistakes?
- Kicking too high too soon: the hips pass over the shoulders before the arms are ready and you tip forward onto your face; kick to hip height until the shoulders hold.
- Bending the elbows: the arms buckle under the landing of your hips and the wrists take a sharp load; lock your elbows before your feet leave the floor.
- Letting the lower back arch at the top: the spine hyperextends under the swing of both legs and the erectors, not the glutes, do the work; brace your abs and keep your ribs down.
- Landing with straight legs: the knees and ankles take the impact instead of absorbing it; bend into the crouch on every landing.
- Splitting the legs: one leg leads and the hips twist, sending the landing off to one side; drive both feet up together.
What Are the Best Mule Kick Variations?
- Small mule kick: a short hop with both feet, for beginners learning to load the hands.
- Single-leg mule kick: one leg kicks while the other stays low, for lifters with a strength or coordination gap.
- Mule kick to handstand: kick until the hips stack fully over the shoulders, for lifters building an inversion.
- Bent-knee mule kick: knees tucked at the top, shifting work from the glutes to the hip flexors.
- Donkey kick on all fours: the same hip extension without leaving the ground, for lifters isolating the glutes.
How Do You Progress the Mule Kick?
- Add height only when you land in the crouch with heels down on every rep; bodyweight progresses by leverage, not plates.
- Add two reps per set each week until you reach 15 clean kicks.
- Add a set every two weeks up to five sets before raising height further.
- Hold the top position for two seconds when height and landing are sound.
How Should You Program the Mule Kick?
Place the mule kick early in a bodyweight or conditioning session, after the warm-up and before slow strength work, because the drop in coordination once tired makes it unsafe late. Train it two or three times a week for 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 15 reps, resting 60 to 90 seconds between sets. Pair it with a squat or lunge pattern so the quads get direct volume too.