5 Lateral Exercises That Will Seriously Strengthen Your
Entire Body
Fact: A lot of
go-to exercises like squatting, lunging, deadlifting, and pressing involve forward and backward motion. But
incorporating lateral exercises—basically, side-to-side moves—into your workout
routine is also super important.
Lateral
movements are incredibly beneficial to everyday life, certified personal
trainer Francine Delgado-Lugo, CPT, movement and strength coach and cofounder of Form Fitness Brooklyn, tells SELF. The more you incorporate lateral exercises into
your routine, the better you’ll move and feel overall, she explains.
With that in
mind, Delgado-Lugo created a five-move, total-body
workout for SELF that relies on lateral
exercises. It’s great for building well-rounded, functional strength, and is
easily scalable to different fitness levels. But before we dive into those
details, let’s discuss what lateral exercises are, their benefits, and how you
can add them into your exercise routine. Keep scrolling for everything you need
to know, then get ready to seriously strengthen your entire body with
Delgado-Lugo’s awesome routine.
What are lateral
exercises?
Lateral
exercises are exercises in which you move side to side or use your muscles in a
sideways fashion, says Delgado-Lugo. Examples of lateral exercises include
lunging to the side, raising your arms out to the side, and shuffling sideways.
Lateral
exercises happen in the frontal plane of motion, which is one of three planes
of motion. The other two planes of motion include the sagittal plane, which
incorporates forward and backward movement (think: walking, running, squatting,
and pressing), and the transverse plane, which involves rotation or twisting
(like with a bicycle crunch or mountain climber twist).
What are the
benefits of lateral exercises?
There are a ton
of benefits to lateral exercises that make them a worthwhile addition to your
routine. Lateral movement can help support balance and rotation as well as help
you resist impact forces. The latter is because, in part, lateral exercises
strengthen muscles that lengthen and shorten in the lateral direction, Delgado-Lugo
explains. For that reason, lateral exercise plays a big role in injury
prevention. For instance, being strong laterally can up your chances of staying
upright if you slip on ice. It can also better protect your knees and hips when
a dog excitedly barrels into your legs, says Delgado-Lugo.
Moreover, the
body is designed to move in all planes
of motion, which is why it’s vital to exercise and strengthen your muscles in
all planes of motion too. Most of us spend a lot of time in the sagittal plane
both in everyday life and also in our workouts. But by intentionally
incorporating all three planes of motion into our routines, our bodies will be
able to move more safely and effectively in pretty much every scenario.
How can you add
lateral exercises to your routine?
Ideally most of your workouts
should incorporate movements in multiple planes of motion (which, of course,
includes the frontal plane), says Delgado-Lugo.
That said, most
of us could stand to incorporate more lateral work specifically, so it can also
be a good idea to occasionally do workouts that primarily focus on side-to-side
exercises. The below five-move workout checks that box, while also
incorporating doses of movement in the transverse and sagittal planes.
Delgado-Lugo
suggests adding this circuit to your routine about once a week. As with any
workout, just make sure to do a warm-up first—here are five pre-workout
stretches you can try. Keep scrolling
for an amazing lateral workout that you’ll want to add to your weekly routine.
The Workout
What you
need: One pair of light dumbbells (3–8
pounds) and one pair of medium to heavy dumbbells (10–20 pounds). The “right”
weight, of course, varies per person, but you can use this range recommendation
as a jumping-off place! You’ll know the weight you chose is too heavy if you’re
gassed before you hit the minimum recommended reps, or if your form starts to
falter before you get there. On the other hand, you can probably go heavier if
you still have a few reps in the tank after hitting the max recommended reps.
Exercises
- Lateral plank walk
- Lateral lunge
- Skater hop to floor touch
- Forearm rainbow plank
- Lateral raise
Directions
- Complete each move for the designated
number of reps listed below. Rest minimally in between moves (though of
course take breaks if your form starts to falter or you feel like you
can’t catch your breath).
- After you’ve done all five moves, rest
60–90 seconds, then repeat the circuit. Complete 3–4 rounds total.
This full-body exercise involves movement in the frontal plane. As you move sideways, try to maintain tension throughout your entire body and don’t let your hips sag, says Delgado-Lugo. Make it easier by lowering the rep count.
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Hold
a medium to heavy dumbbell in each hand and rest them on the tops of your
shoulders with your palms facing in toward each other and your elbows
bent. You can also hold one weight with both hands at your chest. This is
the starting position.
- Take a big step out to the right. Bend
your right knee, hinge forward at the hips, and sit your butt back to
lower into a lateral lunge. Keep your chest lifted and core engaged, and
make sure your knee doesn't move forward beyond your toes.
- Push through your right heel to return to
the starting position. That’s 1 rep.
- Do 6–10 reps on one side, and then repeat
on the other side.
This lunge
variation combines movement in frontal and sagittal planes. Stepping out to the
side is a frontal motion, and bending and straightening your knee is a sagittal
motion. Make sure to engage your core and keep your chest up as you lunge.
Also, keep the dumbbells in front of your shoulders and think about pushing
your elbows together and slightly up to help keep your core strong, says Delgado-Lugo.
Make it easier by lowering the rep count and/or just using your bodyweight.
This exercise combines movement in both the frontal and
transverse planes, says Delgado-Lugo. The side hop of your front leg is the
frontal plane and the diagonal swing of your back leg is the transverse plane.
As you hop, keep your core engaged and chest up. Make it easier by stepping out
to the side instead of jumping.
This full-body exercise involves movement in both the frontal
and transverse planes. It engages your hip flexors and obliques, which help
support sideways movement of the spine, says Delgado-Lugo. As you perform reps,
push your elbows into the floor and maintain tension in your core and legs. Go
at a slow, controlled pace. Make it easier by lowering the rep count.
- Stand with your feet about hip-width
apart, a lighter dumbbell in each hand, arms resting slightly in front of
your thighs, palms facing your legs.
- With a slight bend in your elbows, slowly
lift your arms out to the side to shoulder level. Pause for a moment, then
slowly lower them. This is 1 rep. Do 8–12 reps.
This movement,
which takes places in the frontal plane, targets the entire shoulder complex,
including the shoulder blades, mid-back muscles, and shoulder muscles, says
Delgado-Lugo. As you perform reps, make sure to keep your arms slightly bent
and, as SELF reported previously, focus on bringing the
weights away from each other rather than up, which helps make sure you’re engaging the medial or lateral head
of your shoulder rather than your traps. As with the rainbow plank, go at a
slow, controlled pace. Make it easier by using lighter weights or lowering your
rep count.
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