Training guide
An inchworm takes you from standing to a plank and back: fold forward from your hips, put your hands on the floor, walk them out until your body is straight, then walk them back, or walk your feet up to your hands to travel forward. It moves the backs of your legs through their range and asks your shoulders and trunk to hold a plank while one hand at a time leaves the floor.
It's a warm-up move more than a strength builder. Moving stretches like it slightly help performance when done just before exercise, but the extra range fades within about half an hour, and stretching on its own doesn't prevent injuries. No study has measured the inchworm itself.
This guide covers both versions step by step with 3D demos, what to do with tight hamstrings, sore wrists and head-down positions, easier and harder versions, and how many to do.
From standing, fold forward from your hips with soft knees, put your hands on the floor and walk them out to a straight high plank, then walk them back and roll up. The American Council on Exercise (ACE) adds a push-up and travels 9 to 13 metres, and rates that version advanced.
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Moving stretches done within minutes of exercise slightly help performance, while long static holds slightly hinder it, and any warm-up activity loosens you about as much as stretching does. By our reading, inchworms earn their place because they move several joints at once and lead into planks and push-ups.
Bend them as much as your hamstrings need. The stretch from a warm-up is short-lived: for lasting range, regular static stretching does more than moving stretches.
Stretching programmes didn't lower sports injuries across 25 trials, while strength training did, and structured warm-ups with strength, balance and jumping drills, such as the FIFA 11+, cut injuries in team sports.
The high plank bends your wrists back: use fists, push-up handles or a bench if they complain. The fold puts your head down, which raised eye pressure within a minute in a small study, so keep it brief with glaucoma and come up slowly.
4 to 6, or a few metres, in a warm-up (our move page's editorial starting point); our workouts use 4 or 5. As a strength move, 2 or 3 sets of 5 to 8, stopping with 2 or 3 reps to spare (our editorial starting point). ACE's travelling version covers 9 to 13 metres.
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The inchworm walkout walks your hands out to a plank and back, and stays in one place. The travelling inchworm walks your feet up to your hands instead, so you move forward. Both have 3D demos below.
These names usually mean the walkout. Some classes walk the hands well past the shoulders into a long plank, which is much harder: in a lab study of 14 men, a walkout from a push-up position challenged the tummy muscles substantially.
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Our plank walk-up moves between a forearm plank and a high plank (an up-down), not from standing; it isn't an inchworm.
Your shoulders, chest and trunk hold a plank while one hand at a time leaves the floor, and the backs of your legs (hamstrings and calves) move through their range as you fold. It keeps useful mobility more than it builds strength, as our move page says, and it ends in the plank and push-up position, so it leads naturally into them.
A steady high plank, as our move pages say; wrists that are comfortable taking your weight; and no dizziness when you stand up after bending (our suggestion).
Long legs or tight hamstrings make the fold harder: bend your knees as much as you need. Short arms or a long trunk make the walk out longer, so take smaller hand steps, as ACE advises: it suggests steps of 6 to 12 inches.
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From our inchworm walkout and travelling inchworm move pages and ACE's inchworms page (hinge, small hand steps, a flat back). The pause and the breathing cue are editorial.
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The movement on the figure: Inchworm walkout
From our travelling inchworm move page: 4 to 6 repetitions, or a few metres, as part of a warm-up (its editorial starting point). ACE's version adds one push-up in the plank each time and travels 9 to 13 metres; it rates that version advanced.
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The movement on the figure: Travelling inchworm
We found no study of the standing inchworm's muscle activity, energy cost, effect on hamstring range or injuries. The evidence below is about warm-ups and stretching in general, and one lab study of a long walkout.
In 14 men, a walkout from a push-up position, walking the hands well out past the shoulders, challenged the tummy muscles substantially, as did the body saw and the hanging leg raise. The standard inchworm, with your hands under your shoulders, asks less (our reading).
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In studies testing performance within 3 to 5 minutes, moving (dynamic) stretching improved it by about 1.3% on average, while static stretching reduced it by about 3.7%: about 4.6% with holds of 60 seconds or more per muscle and about 1% with shorter holds, and no clear loss when dynamic activity followed. The extra range usually lasted under 30 minutes.
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A 10-minute dynamic warm-up beat a static-stretching warm-up and no warm-up on power and agility tests in 30 young military cadets, and in 60 children, dynamic warm-ups beat static stretching for jumping and shuttle runs, with no difference in a sit-and-reach test.
Across 38 studies of 1,134 people, stretching and foam rolling gave no better short-term range or stiffness than other warm-up activities (low to moderate certainty).
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Twenty stretching researchers agreed that stretching improves range of motion and lowers stiffness, but isn't an all-round injury prevention strategy and doesn't improve posture or recovery.
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Across 25 trials of 26,610 people, stretching programmes didn't prevent sports injuries, while strength training cut them to under a third, balance training by about 45% and programmes combining several types by about a third.
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A structured warm-up with running, strength, balance and jumping drills, the FIFA 11+, cut injuries overall by about a third over a season in 1,892 girls aged 13 to 17 playing football. No study has tested the inchworm for injury prevention.
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After a few minutes of easy movement, such as marching or step jacks, and before the main session. Our dynamic warm-up uses 4 walkouts after leg swings; our warm-up guide covers the rest.
They move your hips, hamstrings, shoulders and trunk in one go and end in the plank and push-up position, so they lead into planks, push-ups and burpees. That's the reason to use them, not because a warm-up must include stretching (our reading).
Any warm-up activity loosens you about as much as stretching, and short static stretches cost little; long holds of 60 seconds or more per muscle can slightly reduce performance straight afterwards.
Use a structured warm-up with strength, balance and landing drills, such as our knee control or FIFA 11+ warm-ups. Inchworms don't replace them.
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The NHS's warm-up advice is to stop the exercise straight away if you feel any pain or become unwell, and to get help from NHS 111 if you're concerned about any symptoms or they don't go away. It also suggests getting advice from a GP or other health professional first if you have a health problem or an injury, or you're pregnant or have recently given birth.
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Bend them as much as your hamstrings need, as our move pages and dynamic warm-up say: your hips, shoulders and trunk still do their job. If your hands can't reach the floor, put them on a step or bench.
The extra range from a warm-up usually lasts under 30 minutes.
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Across 77 studies, stretching over weeks raised range of motion moderately, more with static and contract-relax stretching (PNF: proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation) than with moving stretches.
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One bout of moving or static stretching gave similar short-term gains in hamstring range, but repeated static stretching gave more lasting range. Our touch-your-toes guide has a plan: a 30-second hold, 1 to 3 times, at least 5 days a week (the dose on our standing toe touch and lying hamstring stretch move pages).
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If folding forward sends pain, tingling or numbness down a leg, leave the fold out and follow our back pain guides.
The high plank bends your wrists back, which raised pressure in part of the wrist joint in a lab study of 8 donated wrists, compared with a straight-wrist knuckle position. Make fists, use push-up handles, shorten the walk or put your hands on a bench, as our mountain climber guide advises, and warm up with wrist rocks.
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Eye pressure rose within a minute in head-down yoga poses, including a standing forward fold and a downward dog, and was back to normal within 2 minutes of sitting up, in 10 people with glaucoma and 10 without. With glaucoma, keep the fold brief or start from a bench, and ask your eye team first if your glaucoma is advanced or you've had eye surgery, as our move pages say.
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With proliferative or severe non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, or after recent eye laser treatment or surgery, leave out head-down positions until your eye team says they're safe, as our move pages say.
Come up slowly, and sit down if you feel faint or dizzy. With high blood pressure that isn't controlled, keep head-down positions brief, as our downward dog move page says.
In order: hip hinge folds, 5 slow folds with 3 breaths at the bottom (the move page's dose), to learn the fold; knee planks, 20 seconds (our beginner bodyweight workout), then high planks, 3 holds of 15 to 30 seconds (the move page's dose), to build the hold; the inchworm from a bench, walking your hands out along a bench into an incline plank set up as for the incline push-up, 4 to 6 walkouts (our editorial starting point); the walkout to your knees, ending in the knee push-up position; the inchworm walkout, 4 or 5 in a warm-up (our workouts) or 2 or 3 sets of 5 to 8 as a strength move (our editorial starting point); a walkout with one push-up each time, from your knees or toes, 4 to 6 reps (our editorial starting point, after ACE); the travelling inchworm, 4 to 6 or a few metres (the move page's dose); and from the plank, a downward dog for 5 breaths (the cool-down in our high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, workout at home), the world's greatest stretch, 4 slow reps each side (the move page's dose), or spider crawls, 2 to 3 sets of 4 to 6 knee drives each side (the move page's dose).
3D demoHip hinge foldBeginner · No equipment
3D demoKnee plankBeginner · No equipment
3D demoStraight-arm plank (high plank)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoIncline push-upBeginner · A bench or box
3D demoKnee push-upBeginner · No equipment
3D demoInchworm walkoutIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoPush-upIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoTravelling inchwormIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoDownward-facing dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoWorld's greatest stretchIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoSpider crawl (low push-up knee drive)Advanced · No equipmentWalking your hands well past your shoulders makes it much harder for your tummy and shoulders, as a lab study of the walkout from a push-up position found. Build up to it from the standard walkout.
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In the plank, tap each hand to the opposite shoulder before you walk back, keeping your hips still: harder for your trunk.
From the plank, walk your feet in a little with your hips high and bend your elbows to lower your head towards the floor: a shoulder press with your body weight. It's another head-down position, so take the same care with your eyes.
Bend your knees as much as your hamstrings need, as our move page says.
Keep one line from head to heels. ACE warns against letting your lower back sag or your hips hike.
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Smaller steps help you keep your position, and reaching too far forward with your arms puts unnecessary stress on your shoulders, ACE says.
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Keep your hips still as each hand leaves the floor, as our walkout move page cues.
Come up slowly, especially if you feel light-headed, as our travelling inchworm move page says.
UK guidance for osteoporosis advises changing or avoiding forward bending that is sustained, repeated or taken as far as it goes. Hinge with a long back and bent knees, and stop when your back starts to round, as our hip hinge fold move page says, or start from a bench.
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4 to 6, or a few metres (the travelling inchworm move page's editorial starting point). Our dynamic warm-up, HIIT and Tabata workouts use 4 walkouts, and the full-body bodyweight workout 5.
2 or 3 sets of 5 to 8, stopping with 2 or 3 reps to spare, or 3 or 4 in your first two weeks (our editorial starting point, in line with our plans).
About 9 to 13 metres, with a push-up each time: a version ACE rates advanced.
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Before most sessions, as part of your warm-up (our suggestion).
Walk further out, then add a push-up, then travel: one change at a time (our suggestion).
Not many on their own: the Compendium of Physical Activities rates light or moderate calisthenics at about 3.5 METs (multiples of your resting energy use) and mild stretching at 2.3. Their value is getting you moving and ready for the rest of the session.
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For lasting hamstring range, a standing toe touch or the lying hamstring stretch with a strap, held 30 seconds, 1 to 3 times, at least 5 days a week (the move pages' dose); front-to-back leg swings, 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 15 each leg, as a moving hamstring stretch before exercise (the move page's dose); and quadruped wrist rocks, 10 in each hand position (our wrist and forearm routine), before the plank.
Our dynamic warm-up uses 4 walkouts after leg swings, bending your knees if your hamstrings pull; the HIIT, Tabata and teenagers' strength workouts use 4 in the warm-up and the full-body bodyweight workout 5; and the animal moves workout for kids has 4 inchworms.
A 10-minute warm-up for any workout: raise your heart rate, move each joint through its range, rehearse the main movements, then ramp up to your first lift.
10 minBeginner12 movesA wall, A bandA 20-minute no-equipment HIIT workout: jumping jacks, jump squats, mountain climbers, burpees, skips and bear crawls.
20 minIntermediate10 movesNo equipmentThree 4-minute blocks of 20 seconds hard and 10 seconds easy, with bodyweight moves and a minute between: the timing of the Tabata study, at home.
22 minIntermediate10 movesA wallAn intermediate no-equipment workout: push-ups, split squats, single-leg bridges, pike push-ups and core work.
30 minIntermediate11 movesNo equipmentA 40-minute first strength workout for teenagers: a warm-up, landing and jump drills, then squats, hinges, push-ups, rows, step-ups and carries, kept light.
40 minBeginner19 movesA wall, A dumbbellFifteen minutes of animal moves, jumps and balance games for children, building the muscle- and bone-strengthening activity they need, with nothing to buy.
15 minBeginner16 movesA wallThese plans include the full-body bodyweight workout or the strength workout for teenagers, with inchworm walkouts in the warm-up.
A 12-week calisthenics plan for beginners: three bodyweight sessions a week with push-up, pull-up, squat and dip ladders, and a bar if you have one.
3 training days40 minBeginner3 days a weekFor after about 8 weeks of a beginner plan: three full-body sessions a week, one heavy, one moderate and one light, in a gym or at home, for 12 weeks.
3 training days50 minIntermediate3 days a weekA 12-week workout plan for 13 to 17 year olds: technique first, then light weights, 2 or 3 sessions a week around sport and school, at home or in a gym.
3 training days40 minBeginnerHinge with a long back and bent knees, stop when your back starts to round, or start from a bench: UK guidance advises changing or avoiding forward bending that is sustained, repeated or taken as far as it goes.
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In pregnancy, ask your midwife about plank positions as your bump grows, as our mountain climber guide suggests. After a birth, the NHS advises avoiding planks to start with, so the plank part waits too.
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Keep the head-down part brief or start from a bench, and follow the eye notes above.
Our high plank move page advises asking your cardiac team before long holds with heart disease, and avoiding planks with heart failure.
Use fists, push-up handles or a bench, or shorten the walk, and see the warning signs below.
If folding forward sends pain down a leg, leave the fold out: start from a bench, or skip inchworms for now.
If you get chest pain or pressure, feel faint or dizzy, are unusually breathless, or your heart races or beats irregularly during exercise, as our plans advise. The American Heart Association says these need immediate medical evaluation.
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For chest pain that doesn't go away, feels tight or like squeezing, or spreads to your arms, neck, jaw, stomach or back, or comes with sweating, feeling sick, light-headedness or breathlessness; severe difficulty breathing; someone who faints while exercising; palpitations that don't go away, or come with chest pain, shortness of breath or feeling faint; or a headache that starts suddenly and is extremely painful. Don't drive yourself to A&E.
If you haven't exercised for some time or have a medical condition, speak to your GP first, as the NHS advises. Get advice before hard exercise if your blood pressure is uncontrolled, or you have heart disease or chest pain when you're active, a pacemaker or defibrillator, diabetic eye disease, glaucoma, a hernia, recent eye or tummy surgery, or you're pregnant, as our breathing guide lists.
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See a GP after any faint, and for dizziness that won't go away or keeps coming back.
Call 999 or go to A&E if glaucoma symptoms come on suddenly, such as intense eye pain, a red eye, tenderness around the eyes, rainbow-coloured circles around bright lights, blurred vision, feeling or being sick, or a headache.
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Contact NHS 111 for severe wrist pain, a snap, grinding or popping noise at the time of an injury, a wrist you can't move or hold things with, or one that has changed shape or colour. See a GP if wrist pain stops your normal activities, is getting worse or keeps coming back, hasn't improved after 2 weeks, or comes with tingling or loss of feeling.
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A sharp pain at the back of your thigh during the fold may be a hamstring strain: stop, and follow our hamstring strain guide. Get help from NHS 111 if it's very painful, there's a lot of swelling or bruising, or you can't walk more than a few steps.
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Call 999 or go to A&E for back pain with pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs, loss of feeling around your genitals or bottom, or new trouble peeing, or peeing or pooing yourself.
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Any warm-up activity loosens you about as much as stretching. Short static stretches cost little, long ones of 60 seconds or more per muscle slightly reduce performance straight afterwards, and moving stretches slightly help. A few inchworms make a good moving warm-up, but stretching isn't required.
Stretching programmes didn't prevent sports injuries across 25 trials; structured warm-ups with strength, balance and landing drills do in team sports. No study has tested the inchworm.
The extra range from a warm-up usually lasts under 30 minutes. Lasting range comes from regular stretching, more with static or contract-relax holds.
Bend your knees as much as your hamstrings need, as our move pages say; your hips, shoulders and trunk still do their job.
Moderate activity, where you can talk but not sing, counts towards the NHS's 150 minutes a week; the World Health Organization says some activity is better than none; and short bouts count. A gentle warm-up with a few inchworms is part of that.
Stand, fold forward from your hips with soft knees and put your hands on the floor. Walk your hands out to a straight high plank, pause, then walk them back and roll up, or walk your feet up to your hands to travel forward. The version that walks the hands back is also called a walkout or hand walkout.
Your shoulders and trunk hold the plank while one hand at a time leaves the floor, and your hamstrings and calves move through their range as you fold. It's mainly a warm-up and mobility move; walking the hands well out past your shoulders works the tummy much harder.
A bit of both: a moving stretch for the backs of your legs and a plank for your shoulders and trunk. Moving stretches like it suit a warm-up, where they slightly help performance.
4 to 6, or a few metres, in a warm-up. As a strength move, 2 or 3 sets of 5 to 8 with a couple of reps to spare. These are starting points, not tested doses.
Bend your knees as much as you need, or put your hands on a step or bench. For lasting flexibility, regular static stretches do more than moving ones; our touch-your-toes guide has a plan.
Not on their own. Stretching programmes didn't prevent sports injuries across 25 trials, while strength training did, and warm-ups with strength, balance and landing drills prevent injuries in team sports.
No. Any warm-up activity loosens you about as much as stretching, and a few minutes of easy movement plus moving stretches like inchworms are enough. Long static holds can slightly reduce performance straight after.
The high plank bends your wrists back, which raised pressure in part of the wrist joint in a lab study. Make fists, use push-up handles, shorten the walk or use a bench, and see a GP if wrist pain hasn't improved after 2 weeks.
Keep the head-down part brief: eye pressure rose within a minute in head-down yoga poses and settled within 2 minutes of sitting up. If your glaucoma is advanced or you've had eye surgery, ask your eye team first. With high blood pressure that isn't controlled, keep head-down positions brief too.
Both use your shoulders and trunk on all fours. The inchworm adds a hamstring stretch and holds a plank; the bear crawl keeps your knees hovering and travels on hands and feet. Our bear crawl guide covers it.
Walk your hands further out past your shoulders, add a push-up in the plank, or travel by walking your feet up to your hands. Spider crawls or the world's greatest stretch from the plank add more.
Not many on their own: the Compendium rates light or moderate calisthenics at about 3.5 METs, a few times your resting energy use. Their value is getting you moving and ready for the rest of the session.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
