Can ‘quadrobics’ improve fitness and build mobility or it just a social media spectacle?

In a new online trend, people are scuttling, crawling, and bounding around on all fours while filming themselves – and their videos are getting a lot of attention. The practice is called quadrobics, and it’s quite the spectacle.

Quadrobics evangelists claim the movements promote fitness, strength, mobility and even spirituality, as a chance to reconnect with nature and the “primal” self.

The word quadrobics comes from quattuor (Latin for four) and aerobics (exercise that is rhythmic and repetitive, and which uses the body’s large muscle groups, such as in running).

But is this form of workout actually good for you? Is it just another fad made viral by our attention economy? Or perhaps, a bit of both?

World records to the therian subculture

Quadrobics gained notoriety back in 2008 when Japanese sprinter Kenichi Ito set a Guinness World Record by sprinting 100 metres on all fours.

Since then, the records have been tumbling. In 2022, American Collin McClure clocked 15.66 seconds, and this year Japanese runner Ryusei Yonee smashed the mark again, with a blistering 14.55 seconds.

Yonee said he studied animal movement from childhood and trained by observing dogs, cats, and monkeys before refining his...

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