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What Muscles Work In A Beast Position, And How To Work It Out For Any Exercise
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in The honest route from scratch to qualified →
In short: A beast position is held by the shoulder stabilisers, mainly serratus anterior and the deltoids, keeping the shoulder blade controlled under load through both arms at once, and the hip flexors and quads holding the knees a few centimetres off the ground without ever setting them down. The deep core, rectus abdominis and the obliques, keeps the spine level rather than letting it sag toward the floor, and the wrist and forearm muscles grip the ground to stop the hands sliding. Nothing about the hold moves, which is what separates it from a bear crawl, where the same joints do a similar job while the limbs are actually taking turns to travel. The four steps that produce that answer are: decide where the force is acting, find the muscles working directly against it (the ones lengthening are easiest to see), find the secondary muscles assisting, then find the muscles supporting the joint. The same four steps already answered the same question about a squat, a lunge, a deadlift, a press-up, a row, a shoulder press, a loaded carry, a suspended plank, a sprint, a medicine ball throw, a vertical jump, a kettlebell swing, a band wood chop, a bird dog, a single-leg overhead reach, a hip hinge, a lateral lunge, a lateral shuffle, a split squat, a single-leg deadlift and a bear crawl.
What muscles work in a beast position
The shoulder stabilisers, mainly serratus anterior and the deltoids, holding the shoulder blade steady under load through both arms at once. The hip flexors and quads, working isometrically to keep the knees a few centimetres off the ground without ever setting them down. The deep core, rectus abdominis and the obliques, keeping the spine level rather than letting it sag toward the floor. And the wrist and forearm muscles, gripping the ground so the hands don't slide as weight shifts through them.
That's the answer, and like the squat, the lunge, the deadlift, the press-up, the row, the shoulder press, the loaded carry, the suspended plank, the sprint, the medicine ball throw, the vertical jump, the kettlebell swing, the band wood chop, the bird dog, the single-leg overhead reach, the hip hinge, the lateral lunge, the lateral shuffle, the split squat, the single-leg deadlift and the bear crawl before it, it came from a method rather than a memorised list.
Nobody's taken a client yet, and that's fine
Somebody weighing up a career change into personal training can watch a class hold a quiet, still position on all fours and read it as a rest between the interesting exercises, missing that the shoulders and hips are working the whole time to stop the position collapsing. One of the things you learn on our CIMSPA-recognised personal training course is a method that turns a position nobody's moving in into a specific list of muscles, each doing exactly the job it's built for, for as long as the hold lasts. The course teaches it in the browser too, so it can be watched, read or answered by dictating the answer back, whichever fits the hour you have.
Twenty-two exercises in, and the method still hasn't changed
A squat, a lunge, a deadlift, a press-up, a row, a shoulder press, a loaded carry, a suspended plank, a sprint, a medicine ball throw, a vertical jump, a kettlebell swing, a band wood chop, a bird dog, a single-leg overhead reach, a hip hinge, a lateral lunge, a lateral shuffle, a split squat, a single-leg deadlift and a bear crawl have all run through the same four steps:
- Decide where the force is acting on the body
- Identify which muscles work directly against that force (muscles that lengthen are easiest to see)
- Identify which secondary muscles assist that movement
- Identify which muscles would support that joint / movement
Run it on a beast position.
One, where is the force acting? At the shoulders and hips, taking the whole body's weight through four points of contact that never change, with the knees held just clear of the ground the entire time.
Two, what works directly against it? The hip flexors and quads, contracting isometrically to stop the knees dropping, and the shoulder flexors, holding the arms in position under a share of bodyweight that a standing exercise never asks of them.
Three, what assists? The glutes, working alongside the hip flexors to keep the hips level rather than piking up or sagging down. The triceps, locking the elbows so the arms don't buckle under the sustained load.
Four, what supports? The deep core and obliques, keeping the spine in a neutral line for as long as the hold runs, and the wrist and forearm muscles, gripping the ground so the hands stay put while everything above them stays still.
Why that fourth answer changes how it's coached
A trainer who only knows "keep your back flat" has nothing specific to watch when a client's hips start creeping upward two thirds of the way through a hold. A trainer who's run the four steps knows that's the hip flexors losing the isometric contraction they're meant to be holding, and can cue the exact job instead of repeating a flatness cue aimed at a part of the body that was never the problem.
Point it at anything
A beast position with one hand lifted to tap the opposite shoulder, where the remaining three points of contact suddenly carry the load the fourth was sharing. A beast position rocking gently forward and back over the hands, where the shoulder stabilisers now have to control a moving load rather than a static one. Any exercise built on a fixed number of points of contact holding weight still can be answered the same way, without a new list to learn.
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Also worth a look: Level 3 Personal Trainer — the anatomy unit this comes from.
See what the course covers →Frequently asked
Is a beast position just a bear crawl that isn't moving?
The joints doing the work are similar, but the muscles are working a different way. A bear crawl asks the core to resist a twist that happens every step; a beast position asks the same core to hold one still position for time, which is a different skill even though the shape looks close.
Why do the knees stay off the ground instead of resting?
Because resting them removes the whole point of the hold. The hip flexors and quads are doing an isometric job the moment the knees hover, and setting them down turns the exercise into something else entirely.
Does finishing the course get me PT Manager?
Yes. PT Manager opens the moment you sign up with FASTER, and adding real clients unlocks once you pass a course.
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