Squats and lunges are two very effective compound exercises that build lower-body strength and muscle. But for various reasons, people might struggle to perform squats or lunges properly.
One strength and mobility exercise I highly recommend adding to your routine to boost squat mobility, build strength and activate your glutes is the platypus walk.
This exercise strengthens the lower body muscles, opens the hips, engages your glutes, and improves range of motion. You can hold a weight or two, like the best adjustable dumbbells, if you like, or try it just using your bodyweight.
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Here’s how to do the platypus walk, the benefits and why I’m adding the strength and mobility drill to my clients’ routines.
What is the platypus walk?
A bit like the duck walk, you’ll sit low into a squat, place your hands behind your head, draw your shoulder blades together, then walk forward a few steps, keeping your back straight, chest proud and butt low. You’ll then walk backwards, reversing the motion to your starting position.
Unlike the duck walk, your hips sit higher with your thighs roughly parallel to the ground, which will really work your quads hard, and you’ll position your feet wider than shoulder-width apart, which you may feel in your inner thighs and outer glutes.
I find most clients prefer adding a dumbbell or kettlebell as they get stronger
I train people from all walks of life and all age groups, and I’ve found this exercise to be the key to unlocking mobility while building lower-body strength. It’s beginner-friendly and, like all the best mobility exercises, can be built on with consistency and progressive loading.
Progressive loading doesn’t just refer to lifting heavier weights over time — you can add intensity in different ways, including the reps or sets you use, the depth you squat at, or the amount of time you work for. It’s about considering volume. However, I find most clients prefer adding a dumbbell or kettlebell as they get stronger.
How to do the platypus walk
- Stand with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart, similar to a sumo squat
- Slightly turn your toes outward to help engage the glutes
- Place your hands behind your head and pull your elbows back to open your chest
- Sit your hips back into a squat as if lowering into a chair behind you
- Keep your back straight, engage your core and lift your chest proud
- Take one step forward, then another, keeping the same distance between your feet. Continue to walk forward
- Reverse the platypus walk by stepping one foot backward, landing the entire foot, then the other, and continue back to your starting position
- 45 seconds on, 15 seconds off, 5-6 rounds.
Try to land your entire foot, leading with the heel. The most common mistake I see is people trying to land with the ball of the foot first, which prevents the heel from landing properly, limiting ankle mobility.
I also see people dropping their chests forward and drawing their elbows together. Focus on a proud chest and squeeze your shoulder blades together as if holding a pen between them.
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If you don’t want to load weight at your chest or shoulders, another option is to hold a weight plate behind your head and gently press your head back into it. To test your thoracic mobility (how well you can move through your spine, chest and shoulders), reach your arms overhead and pull your shoulders back.
You can also hold a weight overhead. If your chest drops forward, stop immediately. The overhead squat variation, for most people, feels toughest. Build up to it if you’re new to the exercise.
What are platypus walks good for?
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Lower-body mobility doesn’t discriminate; it can become an issue at any age, however, the more sedentary you are, the more likely your joints and muscles are to become weak or tight. Equally, you might be very active but overuse and underuse certain muscles and joints, creating instability.
As we reach past 35, fitness markers can begin to decline, and especially for women moving into their 40s and 50s, hormonal changes also shift things within our bodies. Regardless of sex or gender, in the later years, without consistent movement, resistance training and mobility exercises, we begin to naturally lose strength and muscle, which can impact things like balance.
In short, I recommend prioritizing both strength training and active mobility at any age.
I recommend prioritizing both strength training and active mobility at any age.
Historically, I used to turn up to workouts and throw myself straight in without warming up or cooling down. A hard lesson was learned in my early 30s when my body started telling me this couldn’t go on, and as a coach, I now know how important strength, control and range of motion are in how well you move inside and outside the gym.
If you haven’t paid much attention to mobility versus stretching thus far, mobility refers to your joints dynamically moving through a range of motion with strength and control. That means rather than using hip and hamstring stretches to warm up before squats, you’ll include exercises like the platypus walk to prepare your joints and muscles instead.
Learning moves like this will be a game-changer for your daily routine or workouts, and platypus walks can be both a warm-up exercise and a strength exercise, depending on how you use them.
You might aim for 3-4 sets and up to 20 reps per set with load, or focus on using your bodyweight and work for a time period, as I mentioned above.
Why not give it a try and let us know how you find it?
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