The forward ape walk is a bodyweight locomotion drill performed in a deep squat with the hands reaching the floor, planting the hands ahead and hopping the feet up to them. The heels come off the floor and the hands briefly carry your weight, which is what separates it from aduck walk, where the heels stay down and the hands never touch. It also travels in hops rather than steps, so the hips have to load and unload at their deepest range while the shoulders take a landing. Coaches use it in warm-ups and conditioning circuits.
What Muscles Does the Forward Ape Walk Work?
- Primary: quadriceps (vastus medialis, lateralis, rectus femoris)
- Secondary: gluteus maximus, adductors, anterior deltoid
- Tertiary: triceps brachii, calves (gastrocnemius, soleus), rectus abdominis
How Do You Set Up for the Forward Ape Walk?
Clear a lane of six to ten yards of flat, non-slip floor. Stand with your feet a little wider than shoulder width, toes turned out. Sink into your deepest squat, letting your heels lift so you sit on the balls of your feet. Reach both hands to the floor between your knees, fingers spread and elbows soft. Brace your abs and hold your chest up so your back does not round.
How Do You Perform the Forward Ape Walk?
- Set your squat depth with both hands on the floor inside your knees and your weight on the balls of your feet.
- Plant both hands forward a foot or two ahead, taking your weight onto your arms.
- Hop both feet up to your hands and land on the balls of your feet, back in the same deep squat.
- Absorb the landing by letting the hips sink low again, feet outside your hands.
- Take your weight off your arms and reload the legs before the next reach.
- Reach the hands forward again from the same depth, ready to repeat the cycle.
What Are the Key Form Cues?
- Keep the hips below the shoulders: your seat stays low the whole way down the lane so the legs, not the back, carry you.
- Land on the balls of your feet, soft: meet the floor with bent knees so each hop is absorbed rather than banged out.
- Spread your knees to the outside of your arms so the hips can reach full depth.
- Push the floor away with your palms during the hand-support phase instead of sinking into your shoulders.
- Keep your gaze a yard ahead of your hands so the neck stays long and the chest stays open.
What Are the Most Common Mistakes?
- Standing up between hops: the hips rise, the drill becomes a squat and travel, and the deep range it trains is skipped, so keep the seat low.
- Rounding the lower back to reach the floor: a rounded spine at the bottom of a loaded hop puts the strain on the lumbar tissue, so widen your stance until your hands reach with the chest up.
- Landing flat and heavy: slamming the feet down jars the knees and ankles, so land on the balls of the feet and let the hips absorb it.
- Reaching the hands too far ahead: the hips get dragged into extension and the shoulders take all the weight, so keep the reach short.
- Racing the lane: speed turns the hops into flailing, so cover distance in controlled cycles.
What Are the Best Forward Ape Walk Variations?
- Ape walk in place: hop the feet up without travelling, the regression for learning the depth.
- Lateral ape walk: hands and feet move sideways, loading the hip abductors and adductors.
- Reverse ape walk: travel backwards, which forces you to hold the depth without vision.
- Single-leg ape hop: one foot lands, doubling the demand on that hip.
- Duck walk: the same low travel with the heels down and no hand support.
How Do You Progress the Forward Ape Walk?
- Progress by leverage and distance rather than weight, since the load is your bodyweight.
- Build each set from six to fifteen yards before adding sets.
- Take the work from two lanes to four in a session.
- Slow the cycle down and pause two counts in the deep squat, then sink an inch lower each week.
How Should You Program the Forward Ape Walk?
Use it in a warm-up before squats or as a conditioning piece at the end of a session, not as a strength lift. Two or three sessions a week suit it, for 2 to 4 lanes of six to fifteen yards with 45 to 90 seconds of rest between lanes. Pair it with a loaded squat, which trains the same depth against real weight while this drill keeps the hips moving.