Run and jump on all fours like an animal for ‘quadrobics’ fitness trend

It’s now hot to trot.

A rising fitness trend has fans channeling their inner animal by walking, running and even jumping on all fours, a form of movement known as “quadrobics.”

The unconventional style of exercise is gaining traction on social media, where devotees are showing off their bear crawls and cat leaps — often while wearing furry masks and tails.

TikToker Soleil (@wild.soleil), who asked to remain anonymous, started doing quadrobics last year after learning about therians, a group of people who identify as nonhuman animals — not to be confused with furries, who both engage with and dress up as anthropomorphic animals.

It’s a popular activity within the subculture, for obvious reasons, but the practice is not exclusive to therians — nor is it something every therian does, the twentysomething from Germany explained.

“It’s definitely a full-body workout,” Soleil told The Post. “I’ve actually lost a lot of weight since I started doing it, and I really see the definition in my body. I started getting a six-pack.”

The therian content creator admitted that she is “still not very good” at quadrobics, despite doing the workout for a year, saying it is “very, very complicated.”

“Try [it] for five minutes and you will be out of breath,” she insisted.

Soleil may not boast the highest jumps or the fastest sprints, but she has created a niche for herself on TikTok by combining her love of travel and nature with quadrobics. She spends hours hiking in Southern Germany and Austria in search of the perfect backdrops for her videos.

Although she feels most connected to ibex, or wild goats, she wears cat masks that she sells on Etsy to conceal her identity, simply because they look nicer and are easier to make.

It “definitely makes you feel like an animalistic spirit,” she said.

The average gym-goer may scoff at the idea of wearing a mask and prancing around like a horse, but chances are their workouts already feature similar movements.

Jarrod Nobbe, a personal trainer and USAW national coach, told The Post that quadrobics “overlaps heavily” with what is known in the fitness world as primal movement (natural human movement patterns) or quadrupedal movement training (movement on all fours).

“Primal movement, animal flow and similar practices are gaining traction because people are craving more functional, holistic and playful ways to move,” he said.

It’s also highly accessible — you don’t need a gym or equipment — and it trains your body in ways traditional lifting often misses.

Alexia Kraft de la Saulx, a Belgian-born documentary filmmaker, experienced her own physical transformation after being introduced to quadrobics and its caveman cousin, primal movement, in 2021.

The 28-year-old, who splits her time between Spain and the UK, was looking for a film subject in Barcelona when she heard about a “random guy doing monkey movements in the trees.”

The man in question was Victor Manuel Fleites Escobar, founder of the Tarzan Movement, a primal movement offshoot. Within an hour of speaking, they agreed to work together.

Kraft de la Saulx told The Post that she spent two to three hours a day training with him while filming her 2022 documentary Tarzan Movement.

Fleites Escobar had her moving her body in ways she wasn’t used to as a former volleyball player and runner. He taught her how to carry herself on all fours, climb trees and swing from branches.  

What may have looked like child’s play was a grueling workout that carved out the muscles in her arms, shoulders, chest and stomach.

Kraft de la Saulx did all her training barefoot and developed “very thick soles” as her feet adjusted to the terrain. She recalled feeling either sore or tired every day for the first six months.

“I could definitely see the difference, physically, in my body,” she said. “I was like, ‘Wow, I really look strong.’”

When it comes to the physical benefits of quadrobics, Nobbe, the personal trainer, said the “six-pack effect is real, especially when paired with smart nutrition.”

“Quadrobic movement is a full-body workout, but it really hits the core hard,” he explained. “You’re constantly engaging your abdominals, obliques and deep stabilizers (like the transverse abdominis) to support your spine and stay balanced.

“Your shoulders, chest, lats, glutes and quads are also heavily recruited. Because the movement is dynamic and constant, it also elevates your heart rate and helps with fat loss.”

He added that it also improves mobility, stability and coordination, but those aren’t the only reasons to get on all fours.

“Mentally, it can boost body awareness, reduce stress and build confidence in movement,” he said. “There’s also a playful, almost meditative aspect to it — it forces you to be present and connected to how your body moves in space.”

Kraft de la Saulx credited quadrobic movement with teaching her how to be “present and in tune with [her] primal instincts,” explaining that it is “almost like a spiritual practice” for her.

She recalled how her training with Fleites Escobar prepared her to climb a roughly 130-foot tree in Costa Rica. Without that level of focus, she could have fallen and hurt herself — or worse.

“You enter a meditative state for sure,” she said.

Kraft de la Saulx shares videos of herself running on all fours and climbing trees and rocks barefoot on Instagram, where her @alexias.films account has more than 76,000 followers.

She admits she’s gotten “a lot of hate” but “also a lot of love” online, and like many creators, she has learned to brush off negative comments.

“[My videos] will touch the people that it needs to touch in a positive way, in a beautiful way, and those are the people that I’m focusing on,” she explained.

Soleil said that she has found the therian community to be “very supportive,” but she has also received backlash from viewers who don’t understand what she is doing or why.

“Many people who have never seen this before, they might think it’s something sexual … ‘Oh, you look like an animal? Are you … attracted to animals?’ Everyone in the community is always like, ‘No, no, that’s not it at all. Why would you assume that?’” she said.

She typically doesn’t wear a mask or practice quadrobics in public. It’s an aspect of her life that she doesn’t share with her co-workers, but her close family and friends, including her ex-boyfriend, know about her account.

Soleil noted that most people don’t understand that she is “living a very normal life.”

“I have a healthy family, two jobs, friends and I pay all my bills and my rent, so I don’t know why everyone could be mad with what I’m doing,” she said. “The only thing I can say to myself is, ‘Yeah, they don’t really understand because it’s just something harmless that I want to show on social media.’”

Kraft de la Saulx admittedly didn’t know anything about the therian community until members started responding to her posts.

“I feel like it’s such an interesting way to explore and to play around with movement and with identity … But I don’t identify myself as a therian,” she said. “I’m just a being that enjoys moving and playing around and feeling this primal instinct when I’m outdoors.”

Kraft de la Saulx no longer works or travels with Fleites Escobar, but she continues to be an advocate for primal movement and quadrobics.

She co-hosts tree climbing retreats called Roots of Play with her friends, and she is also in the process of filming an online quadrobics course for beginners.

Nobbe said “beginners should focus on form and control, not speed,” explaining that the “biggest risks are wrist strain, shoulder overload, or low back stress from poor form.”

He recommended starting with simple yet effective movements such as bear crawls, beast holds, leopard crawls, kick-throughs, and crab reaches.

The personal trainer added that traditional exercises like planks, push-ups, bird-dogs and glute bridges will also help strengthen the core, shoulders and hips.

Soleil agreed that newbies should “always start slow,” recalling how she “snapped” her wrist trying to do a jump before she was ready.

“It is an intense workout, and even though it looks funny, it really should be treated like one,” she said.