Victor Forge
Lateral exercises are a great way to improve your overall physical fitness. They target the muscles on the inside and outside of your legs, which help stabilize your hips and pelvis, improving your balance. The side-to-side movement also helps strengthen the shoulder complex, including the shoulder blades, mid-back muscles, and shoulder muscles. Additionally, lateral movements can help prevent injuries by building reflexes, resilience, and agility, allowing you to bounce back faster from injuries. These exercises can be easily incorporated into your fitness routine through activities such as jumping jacks, star jumps, or sports like tennis and pickleball.
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Shoulder health
The shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint that allows for a wide range of movements. It is the most flexible joint in the body, which also makes it prone to instability and
There are about eight muscles in the shoulder that support the joint, giving it strength, stability, and shape. These muscles are skeletal muscles, which means tendons attach them to bones. They are also voluntary muscles, meaning you control how they move and work. The shoulder muscles surround the top of your arm where it connects to your body’s trunk. Tendons connect your shoulder muscles to bones such as the scapula (shoulder blade), humerus (bone between the shoulder and elbow), and clavicle (collarbone).
The four muscles of the rotator cuff are the most important in the shoulder. They help to raise and rotate the arms, and keep the head of the upper arm bone, the humerus, from popping out of the shoulder blade socket. The four rotator cuff muscles are:
- Subscapularis: This muscle attaches to the middle part of the scapula and stretches to the bottom part of the ball of the humerus. It helps to stabilise the shoulder joint and allows the arm to rotate in towards the body's midline.
- Supraspinatus: This muscle stretches from the top of the scapula to the top of the humerus, at the ball of the shoulder joint. It is responsible for beginning the upward motion of the arm.
- Infraspinatus: This muscle stretches from the bottom of the scapula and connects to the humerus behind the supraspinatus. It helps with the rotation of the arm away from the centre of the body.
- Teres minor: This muscle attaches to the side of the scapula and attaches to the humerus beneath the infraspinatus. It helps with the lateral rotation of the arm.
Other muscles that support the shoulder include:
- Deltoid: This muscle is responsible for flexion and medial rotation of the arm, as well as arm abduction, extension, and lateral rotation.
- Pectoralis major: This muscle is responsible for arm adduction and medial rotation of the arm.
- Rhomboid major: This muscle helps keep the shoulder blade attached to the rib cage and allows you to pull your shoulder blades back.
- Trapezius: This large triangular muscle extends along the back of the neck and shoulders and partway down the spine. It is responsible for elevating the shoulder blade and rotating it during arm abduction.
To improve shoulder health, it is important to strengthen the muscles that support the joint. This can be done through exercises that involve lateral movement, which can help support balance and rotation, as well as help resist impact forces. Lateral exercises strengthen muscles that lengthen and shorten in the lateral direction, which can help prevent injury.
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Hip and pelvis stability
The hip and pelvis are controlled and stabilised by a variety of muscles. The hip joint is formed by the femur (the long leg bone) and the pelvis, with the head of the femur fitting into the acetabulum (a notch at the side of the pelvis). The hip muscles can be divided into the following categories: hip flexors and extensors, and external and internal hip rotators. Hip flexors are the muscles that lift your leg up in front of you, and extensors bring your leg back behind you. External hip rotators turn your femur bone outward, and internal hip rotators turn it inward.
The gluteus medius muscle, located on the outside of the buttocks, has the most influence on hip stability. This muscle is responsible for keeping the hips level when you stand on one leg or walk. Weakness or injury to this muscle can cause hip instability.
The tensor fascia lata (TFL) muscle, the upper portion of the gluteus maximus (UGM) muscle, and the vastus lateralis (VL) muscle also play a role in hip and pelvis stability. The TFL and UGM contribute to the tension in the ITB, a band of tissue that runs along the outside of the thigh, which helps to stabilise the pelvis. The VL muscle acts as a "hydraulic amplifier" on the fascia lata, increasing lateral stability at the hip and pelvis.
Lateral movements and exercises can improve hip and pelvis stability by strengthening the supporting muscle groups and improving balance and coordination. Lateral exercises target muscles that lengthen and shorten in the lateral direction, which helps to prevent injuries and improve overall stability. By incorporating lateral movements into your workout routine, you can improve your hip and pelvis stability and enhance your overall movement and coordination.
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Injury prevention
Lateral exercises are an important addition to your workout routine. They are exercises that involve side-to-side movements, which target the entire shoulder complex, including the shoulder blades, mid-back muscles, and shoulder muscles. They also strengthen the muscles that lengthen and shorten in the lateral direction, which helps improve balance and rotation and protects the body from injury.
Most standard workouts involve motions that bring the body forward and backward, such as lunges, squats, push-ups, and pull-ups. However, forward movements like running and biking use the same dominant muscles, stressing the hamstrings, calves, and quads. This can lead to an imbalance where the dominant muscle groups become stronger while the smaller muscles shrink or stay the same, causing tissue degeneration and increasing the risk of injury.
Lateral movements, on the other hand, help to work the smaller, stabiliser muscles, improving overall stability and coordination. They can also help to reduce the risk of losing mobility as we age and can reduce the number of sports injuries incurred. For example, being strong laterally can increase your chances of staying upright if you slip on ice and can better protect your knees and hips.
To incorporate lateral exercises into your routine, you can try simple side-to-side movements or more challenging exercises like lateral hops, speed skaters, and up-and-unders. You can also use resistance bands, such as Kbands, to increase the difficulty and intensity of lateral movements. It is recommended to start with a few lateral movements per week and gradually increase as your strength and mobility improve.
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Leg strength
The human body has three planes of motion: the sagittal plane, the transverse plane, and the frontal plane. The frontal plane, which separates the front and back of the body, is where lateral exercises take place.
Lateral exercises are side-to-side movements that can help improve your overall strength, stability, and coordination. They can also help reduce the risk of losing mobility as you age and reduce the number of sports injuries.
Lateral leg raises, for example, target the gluteus minimus and can be done in a standing or lying position. To do a lateral leg raise, keep your shoulders back and abs engaged, and lift your leg to the side as much as your mobility, flexibility, and strength allow. Hold for a second, then bring your leg back down as you exhale. Repeat until you get tired, then switch sides.
Another lateral exercise is the fire hydrant, which is done on all fours. To do this exercise, bring one leg out to the side as much as you can. This movement targets the gluteus minimus and the gluteus medius.
You can also try side lunges, which are done in a standing position. Turn your body sideways and extend your right leg out to the side. Shift your weight onto your right leg, then shuffle your left leg toward it. Shift your weight back onto your left leg and repeat. Keep your chest up and your feet pointing straight in front of you.
Lateral exercises can also be done with equipment such as dumbbells or resistance bands. For example, you can stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand with your arms resting in front of your thighs, palms facing your legs. Slowly lift your arms out to the side to shoulder level, pause, then slowly lower them. This targets the muscles in the shoulder complex.
By incorporating these and other lateral exercises into your workout routine, you can improve your leg strength and overall fitness.
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Core strength
Lateral movements are an important addition to any workout routine. They improve overall movement, coordination, balance, and rotation. They also help to strengthen the muscles that lengthen and shorten in the lateral direction, thus reducing the risk of injury.
Some examples of exercises that improve core strength include the plank, which is a great beginner move as it forces you to support your body weight on your forearms and toes. Another example is the Turkish get-up, which involves lying down and holding a kettlebell just above your right shoulder. You then extend your right arm and push the kettlebell directly above you, straighten your left arm out to your side, and bend your right knee, placing your foot on the floor. As you move into a standing position, you keep watching the kettlebell, and then slowly reverse the movement until you are lying down again.
Another core exercise is the hanging leg raise. This involves grabbing a pull-up bar and lowering yourself into a dead hang. You then let your legs straighten and pull your pelvis back slightly. After tensing your core, you raise your legs until your thighs are perpendicular to your torso, hold, and then lower slowly back to the starting position.
Lateral exercises can also improve core strength. For example, the dumbbell side bend is a powerful tool to tackle both strength and flexibility in your core training.
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Frequently asked questions
Lateral movement is side-to-side movement, which is often missing from training and exercise programs.
Lateral movement targets the muscles on the inside and outside of the legs, the hip flexors, leg abductors, lower core, hips, pelvis, glutes, hamstrings, calves, quads, and the entire shoulder complex.
Lateral movement improves balance, coordination, physical fitness, and stability, and helps prevent injuries.
Examples of lateral movements include jumping jacks, star jumps, speed skaters, lunges, kicks, knee lifts, and tennis or pickleball.
Start by incorporating a few lateral movements into your routine each week and gradually increase the intensity and number of lateral movements over time.
