Inchworm
From standing, you fold to the floor with straight legs, walk your hands out to a plank, then take short steps with your feet back up to your hands. Each cycle takes the hamstrings through their end range under a little tension while the shoulders and trunk hold a plank, which is why it belongs in a warm-up rather than in a stretching routine.
Own the movement
Set up first, then execute. Every cue below is something you can check on your next set.
Before the first rep
- Stand with your feet together or no more than a few centimetres apart, arms hanging.
- Give yourself two metres of clear floor in front of you — the drill travels.
- Bare feet or flat shoes. A thick heel tips you forward and shortens the hamstring stretch.
- Fold forward from the hips with the legs straight and set your hands flat on the floor in front of your toes. Bend the knees to reach the floor on the first rep if you must.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Breathe continuously — this is a moving drill and holding your breath is what makes people dizzy on the way up. Exhale as you walk out to the plank, inhale as you fold, roughly three seconds per phase.
How much, how often
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Bodyweight only. Five to eight cycles is a complete dose in a warm-up, and there is little reason to go past ten. Progress by keeping the knees straighter and walking the hands further out before the hips sag, not by adding cycles. Bending the knees on the first rep or two while you loosen up is normal and not a failure.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Stop walking your hands out sooner and squeeze your glutes hard as you arrive. If the sag still happens, your abs are the limit, not your hamstrings — shorten the walk-out until you can hold a flat line.
Take smaller steps instead — 10 cm at a time. Bent knees remove the entire hamstring component and leave you with a slow crawl.
Look at a point between your hands and drive your heels back. A piked hip is a downward dog, which is a different stretch with none of the trunk demand.
Take one full breath at the plank and one at the folded position. Five deliberate cycles do more than fifteen fast ones.
Why bother
This is a travelling stretch, not a held one. The hamstrings reach end range twice per cycle — once as you fold down, once as you walk the feet back in — but never sit there long enough to blunt force production the way a 45-second static hold can. That makes it one of the few hamstring drills that fits comfortably minutes before a heavy squat or deadlift.
The hand walk is doing separate work. Between the fold and the plank your shoulders move from full flexion overhead to a loaded plank position, and your abs have to stop the lower back sagging as your hands get further from your feet. The furthest point out is the hardest anti-extension moment of the whole drill, and it is where most people's hips drop.
Where it fits
Early in a general warm-up, 5-8 cycles, before any loaded lifting. It also works as a low-cost movement break on a desk day. It is not a strength exercise and it is not conditioning — if you find yourself doing thirty of them for a burn, you have picked the wrong tool.
If this one isn't it
No kit, too hard, or too easy — here's where to go instead.
Same job, different kit
Asked and answered
Why do my wrists and shoulders complain more than my hamstrings?
Because the walk-out is a moving plank and your hands are carrying more of your bodyweight than you expect. If it is the wrists, walk out onto fists or push-up handles so they stay neutral. If it is the front of the shoulder, your hips are sagging and the shoulders are absorbing the whole line — shorten the walk-out by 20 cm and squeeze the glutes as you arrive. Neither is a reason to drop the drill, both are a reason to stop the walk-out earlier.
I cannot reach the floor with straight legs. What now?
Bend the knees enough to plant your hands, then straighten them once the hands are down. Over a few weeks the bend you need shrinks. You can also start the fold with your hands on a low step or a couple of books to raise the floor toward you.
Is this a core exercise or a hamstring exercise?
Both, with the split depending on where you fail. If your hips sag as the hands walk out, your abs are the limiting factor. If you have to bend the knees to walk the feet back in, your hamstrings are. Watch which one gives first and you will know what to work on separately.
Should I add a push-up at the plank?
Only if you want a different exercise. The push-up turns a warm-up drill into upper-body work and slows the cycle enough that the hamstring component gets diluted. Keep this one clean and put the push-ups in the session where they belong.