It’s the new trend that has spread online: people are running and jumping on all fours while filming themselves – and their videos are getting a lot of attention. But is it a safe and effective exercise?
The practice is called quadrabic and it is a real spectacle.
Quadrobics advocates claim that the movements promote physical conditioning, strength, mobility and even spirituality, as a chance to reconnect with nature and the “primitive” self.
The word quadrabic comes from four (Latin for four) and aerobics (rhythmic and repetitive exercise that uses the body’s large muscle groups, such as running).
But is this form of training really good for you? It will be just one more fad that went viral due to our attention economy? Or maybe a little of both?
The practice gained notoriety in 2008, after the Japanese sprinter Kenichi Ito set a Guinness World Record by run 100 meters on all fours.
Since then, records have been broken. In 2022, North American Collin McClure clocked 15.66 seconds, and this year Japanese runner Ryusei Yonee broke the mark again, with an impressive 14.55 seconds.
Yonee said that studied the movement of animals since childhood and trained by observing dogs, cats and monkeys before refining his own technique on the race track.
Recently, we have seen an increasing number of social media users, especially young people, publishing their own content about quadribics.
In some places, like Russia, entire subcultures of “quadrobics” have emerged. Mix quadrupic with fantasy games and can be seen crawling around outdoors wearing animal masks.
Much of the quadrabics content online comes from the therian community. Therians are people, usually children, who identify as non-human animals.
Adult Therians were among the first to begin practicing quadrobics. Although not all Therians practice quadrabics, those who do often state that moving on four limbs is a bodily expression of your identity.
Therians can also be easily confused with the “furry” fandombut they are different. While Therians identify as animals, Furries are interested in anthropomorphic animal characters (animals with human characteristics).
Furries create personal avatars called “fursonas” and attend events and conventions wearing “fursuits”.
In Russia and other former Soviet states, the sight of young people running around wearing masks and fox tails provoked moral panic among some politicians and religious leaders.
Last year in Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Interior issued a warning to parents that children’s involvement in quadrabics would be treated as parental neglect. And a Russian politician, Vyacheslav Volodin, blamed the West for the trend for people to dress up as animals, calling it a “dehumanization project.”
Fitness ou performance?
Quadrobics is primarily concerned with movement, rather than identity, costume, or role play.
It belongs to a broader wave of “ancestral” wellness trends or “primitive”. Think paleo diets, ice baths, or the Liver King’s raw meat diet. These practices promise to reconnect us with nature, as well as providing performance.
Even traditional health and wellness sources are starting to pay attention to quadrobics, with several articles listing its supposed benefits for training major muscle groups and improving coordination.
Fans highlight movements such as crawl like a bearwalking like a leopard, jumping and balancing. (Although many of these movements and exercises have been practiced for years as warm-ups or mobility exercises).
Some quadrobics practitioners claim tangible benefits, such as increased physical conditioning and weight loss.
There is some research evidence to suggest that quadrupedal movement may help improve balanceflexibility and stability of the abdominal muscles. And, given its rhythmic nature, it can also increase your heart rate, which can have aerobic fitness and health benefits.
However, this does not mean that quadrabics has no limitations.
The risks and limitations
As quadrabics relies solely on body weight resistance, the load placed on the muscles is restricted to your body weight. This means it’s probably not as effective as lifting weights for improving bone strength and density, where lifting weights allows you to lift progressively more weight.
And while quadrobics provides aerobic stimulation, it requires a lot of skill, which means it’s difficult to practice for long periods and at higher intensities. You would get better cardiovascular benefits from something like running.
Furthermore, like any exercise, quadrabics presents potential risks of injury – although probably small.
If you want to try quadrabics, your muscles and joints will need time to adapt. adapt to the load that is being placed on them. This is particularly important for your hands, wrists, elbows and shoulders, which may not be used to being used in this way. This means you should start very slowly and monitor how you feel after each session.
In general, there is not much evidence that suggest quadrobics is better for you than traditional forms of exercise. Although crawling and jumping can develop stability and flexibility, scientific studies have not yet tested their long-term benefits or risks. At best, it is a complement to established training.
Quadrobics’ current success on social media has less to do with exercise science and more to do with visual spectacle. The entertainment value is clear and will reliably attract likes, shares and comments — making it as much about theater and identity as it is about fitness.
