When it comes to strength and conditioning, most people tend to focus on traditional movements like squats, deadlifts, and lunges. While these exercises are undoubtedly effective, there is another aspect of training that often gets overlooked - lateral movements. Incorporating lateral movements into your workout routine can bring a wide range of benefits and take your fitness to the next level. In this blog post, we will explore the importance of lateral movements in strength and conditioning.
1. Enhanced Muscular Strength:
Lateral movements engage muscles that are not typically targeted in traditional exercises. By incorporating lateral lunges, lateral shuffles, or lateral bounds, you can activate and strengthen muscles in your hips, glutes, and thighs in a unique way. This added muscle activation helps improve overall lower body strength, stability, and balance.
2. Injury Prevention:
Lateral movements require a greater range of motion and joint stability compared to linear movements. By training your body to move laterally, you can reduce the risk of injuries, particularly in the knees and ankles as weakened glute medius can cause "adverse changes in kinematics" (Statsny et al, 2016). Strengthening the muscles and connective tissues involved in lateral movements can enhance the stability of these joints, providing a solid foundation for overall injury prevention. Additionally, incorporating movements in different planes can stave off chronic overuse injuries often seen in repetitive sports like weightlifting, powerlifting, running, and cycling.
3. Improved Athletic Performance:
Lateral movements are essential for sports that involve quick changes in direction, such as basketball, soccer, tennis, and martial arts. By training your body to move laterally with speed and control, you can enhance your agility, quickness, and reaction time. These improvements can give you a competitive edge on the field or court, allowing you to perform at your best.
4. Core Stability and Balance:
Lateral movements engage not only the lower body but also the core muscles. These movements require the activation of the abdominal muscles, obliques, and lower back to maintain stability and balance. By incorporating lateral exercises into your routine, you can develop a strong and stable core, which is crucial for overall functional strength and injury prevention.
5. Brain-body Connection:
Lateral movements challenge your brain-body connection in a unique way. As you move laterally, you activate different neural pathways that improve your coordination and proprioception. This enhanced connection between your brain and muscles can have a positive impact on your overall body control and movement efficiency.
Prescription:
A little goes a long way. Adding some lateral movement 1-2x/week can yield all of the above-mentioned benefits. One of my favorites is the slide board. Slide boarding can be an effective way to add low-impact cardiovascular conditioning while also incorporating our sought-after lateral movement. Similarly, lateral lunges can help build some lateral hip strength while also minimizing impact. Alternatively, lateral bounds and other variations on lateral plyometrics are fantastic options to add to any speed or power training day.
Conclusion:
Lateral movements are often overlooked in strength and conditioning programs, but they offer a wide array of benefits that can help you reach your fitness goals. By incorporating lateral lunges, shuffles, bounds, and other lateral exercises into your routine, you can enhance muscular strength, prevent injuries, improve athletic performance, and develop core stability. Our flagship Building Better Athletes program includes both static and dynamic lateral movement every week!
We'll be kicking off a new cycle right after Thanksgiving.
Are you ready to get strong enough for any adventure?
Coach Julia
Stastny, Petr PhD; Tufano, James J. MS; Golas, Artur PhD; Petr, Miroslav PhD. Strengthening the Gluteus Medius Using Various Bodyweight and Resistance Exercises. Strength and Conditioning Journal 38(3):p 91-101, June 2016. | DOI: 10.1519/SSC.0000000000000221
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