Bizarre new fitness trend that sees people walk on all fours like animals, but fans insist they are NOT furries

The internet is crawling with a wild new fitness trend where people unleash their inner beasts through animal-like movements on all fours.

But fans of Quadrobics insist they are not part of the ‘furry’ community.

The unconventional art of channeling your inner cat or bear by running, jumping and bounding around on all fours has taken social media by storm. 

While many leap through the air in masks and tails, fully embracing their primal instincts, quadrobics fans say they are a world apart from therianthropy – a community of people who actually identify as nonhuman. 

Enthusiasts say the unusual workout is less about pretending to be animals and more about pushing physical limits, with some even crediting it for their newfound six-packs.

‘It’s definitely a full-body workout,’ Soleil – known as wild.soleil on social media and a TikToker who requested anonymity – told The New York Post. 

‘I’ve actually lost a lot of weight since I started doing it, and I really see the definition in my body,’ she added. ‘I started getting a six-pack. Try it for five minutes and you will be out of breath.’

In recent years, both therians and so-called furries have left the internet baffled as more participants seemingly shed their human traits to adopt a more animalistic identity. 

The two are slightly different, while therians identify as something completely nonhuman, furries engage with and dress up as anthropomorphic animals. 

Soleil discovered quadrobics last year through her interest in therians, but even after months of practice, she admits the complex movements remain ‘very, very complicated’.

Though she confessed she’s ‘still not very good’ at the moves, she’s carved out a unique niche on TikTok by blending her love of travel, nature, and quadrobics amid the rugged landscapes of Southern Germany and Austria.

Soleil, who admitted to being drawn to the mountain ibex, wears cat masks she makes and sells on Etsy – though she says they’re not essential for sculpting that summer body. 

Instead, the mask ‘definitely makes you feel like an animalistic spirit’, she told The Post.

Quadrobics seemingly blurs the lines between therian and furry communities, but therians insist not everyone in their circle practices it.

‘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,’ Alexia Kraft de la Saulx, a Belgian-born documentary filmmaker, told the outlet.

‘I’m just a being that enjoys moving and playing around and feeling this primal instinct when I’m outdoors,’ she added.

But despite its growing popularity, quadrobics is at the center fierce debate on social media, mostly from people who don’t quite understand what’s happening. 

‘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?”‘ Soleil told The Post.

‘Everyone in the community is always like, “No, no, that’s not it at all. Why would you assume that?”‘ she added. 

Kraft de la Saulx underwent a physical transformation after discovering quadrobics and its primal cousin, primal movement, in 2021.

At 28, she was scouting film subjects in Barcelona when she caught wind of a ‘random guy doing monkey movements in the trees’.

The ‘monkey-mimic’ turned out to be Victor Manuel Fleites Escobar, founder of the Tarzan Movement, a primal movement offshoot. 

Primal movement involves fundamental human motions: Crawling, climbing, walking and squatting, rooted in the natural, functional patterns our ancestors used to survive.

The pair teamed up as she filmed her 2022 documentary, Tarzan Movement, during which she discovered her body was moving in ways it never had before, even compared to her days as a volleyball player and runner.

Instead, Fleites Escobar taught her to move on all fours, climb trees, and swing from branches – ultimately building strength in her arms, shoulders, chest and core. 

Training barefoot, she developed ‘very thick soles’ as her feet adapted to the terrain, recalling that she felt sore or exhausted almost every day during the first six months. 

‘I could definitely see the difference, physically, in my body,’ Kraft de la Saulx told the outlet. ‘I was like, “Wow, I really look strong”.’

While a traditional gym-goer might chuckle at the seemingly childlike play, their workouts actually ‘overlap heavily’ with natural human movement patterns – including quadrupedal, or all-fours, training. 

‘It is an intense workout, and even though it looks funny, it really should be treated like one,’ Soleil told the outlet. 

Jarrod Nobbe, a personal trainer and USAW national coach, confirmed that the ‘six-pack effect is real’ when it comes to the physical benefits of quadrobics – especially when combined with proper nutrition. 

‘Quadrobic movement is a full-body workout, but it really hits the core hard,’ Nobbe told The Post.

‘You’re constantly engaging your abdominals, obliques and deep stabilizers (like the transverse abdominis) to support your spine and stay balanced,’ he added.

‘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.’

Much like old-school fitness regimes, this unorthodox workout can boost mobility, stability, and coordination, all while offering a few unexpected benefits. 

‘Mentally, it can boost body awareness, reduce stress and build confidence in movement,’ Nobbe told The Post. 

‘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,’ he added.

Fans of quadrobics agree, often crediting its unpredictable, ‘wildcard’ movements with boosting their mental health and helping them feel more grounded.

Kraft de la Saulx, for example, credits the practice with teaching her to be ‘present and in tune with her primal instincts,’ describing it as ‘almost like a spiritual practice’. 

‘You enter a meditative state for sure,’ she told The Post.

Beyond its accessibility – requiring no gym or equipment – Nobbe suggests that quadrobics may be gaining traction simply because it’s so radically different from decades-old workouts. 

‘Primal movement, animal flow and similar practices are gaining traction because people are craving more functional, holistic and playful ways to move,’ he told the outlet.