5 Best Lateral Exercises to Gain Power & Strength

Lateral exercise, an incredibly functional exercise, should be incorporated into your routine if you're interested in enhancing your training regimen to improve both your life and athletic talents.

Latitudinally moving from side to side is frequently absent from most of our training and workout regimens. Lunges, squats, push-ups, and pull-ups are just a few examples of front-to-back and up-and-down motions we frequently see, but strangely, lateral exercises are uncommon.

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Best Lateral Exercises to Include in Your Routine

Running and riding puts stress on your hamstrings, calves, and quadriceps since they employ the same dominant muscles. An imbalance can result in tissue deterioration and damage if you overuse the dominant muscle groups, making them stronger while your smaller muscles shrink or remain the same. This may cause an imbalance.

The danger of anything from aging-related mobility loss to fewer sports injuries is decreased by lateral exercise.

Check out some of the best lateral exercises:

1. Lateral plank walk

This full-body lateral exercise requires frontal plane movement. Try to keep your entire body tight as you move sideways, and avoid letting your hips drop. Reduce the number of reps to ease the difficulty.

Instructions to follow:

• Start out in a high plank posture, keeping your core and glutes tight. Your palms should be flat on the floor with your hands shoulder-width apart. Your shoulders should be stacked over your wrists and your legs extended behind you.
• As you go to the right, keeping your body in a plank position, start with your right hand and right foot, then switch to your left hand and left foot. That is one rep.
• Perform 8–12 repetitions in one direction, then switch to the other direction and repeat.

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2. Skater hop to floor touch

This exercise involves motion in the transverse and frontal planes. Maintain a tight core and an elevated chest as you hop.

Instructions to follow:

• Place your feet shoulder-width apart as you stand.
• Kneel down a little, then leap as far to the right as you can, with your right foot leading and your left leg swinging just behind your right.
• Land on your right foot, bending your right knee just a bit while briefly balancing on it. As your left arm extends down to tap the floor, your right arm should swing behind you.
• After pausing briefly, jump back to the left, landing with your knee slightly bent over your left foot. As your right arm extends down to tap the floor, your left arm should swing behind you.

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3. Lateral lunge

This is another excellent lateral exercise to do in a small area. It's a good variation on the standard lunge/squat.

Check out the benefits of doing squats for fat loss.

Instructions to follow:

• Place your feet about hip distance apart when you first stand.
• Lift one leg straight up and lunge to the side with that leg.
• Return to a neutral position.
• Repeat on the opposite side.
• Keep lunging while switching sides, performing as many repetitions as you can.

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4. Lateral shuffle

This is one of the best lateral exercises. It improves your ability to change directions rapidly to help avoid accidents both inside and outside the gym.

Instructions to follow:

• Turn your torso sideways while standing up and extend your right leg out to the side.
• Put the weight on your right leg, then move your left leg in that direction.
• Repeat by placing weight back on your left leg.
• Keep your feet directly in front of you and your chest high.
• Remember to turn around and perform the exercise the other way.

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5. Lateral step-up

This lateral exercise increases your eccentric strength. It also Increases the range of motion of your quads by strengthening them.

Check out the best quad exercises for stronger legs.

Instructions to follow:

• Stand on one side of a bench that is somewhat shorter than your knee height (lengthwise).
• Use the foot that is nearest to the bench to ascend.
• One foot at a time, raise the other foot onto the step, change which foot is supporting you, and then descend to the opposite side.
• Then go in the opposite direction.

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Conclusion

Lateral exercises have a ton of advantages that make them a valuable addition to your regimen. You can withstand impact pressure and support your balance and rotation by using lateral movement. Additionally, the body is built to move in all directions, making it essential to strengthen your muscles in all directions as well.