Have you ever wondered why players like Cristiano Ronaldo, my favorite soccer player, are never injured while other professional athletes have seasonal injuries?
Their off the ball exercises involve movement in all directions This may look like a simple case of fitness. However, most of these athletes are already-fit and exercise almost every day.
But, some players avoid doing lateral movement exercises because they are not popular and they are extremely tiring.
These exercises are the most important to professional athletes and normal people (like us non-athletes) training to avoid injuries that would put them out of training for a long time.
What is Lateral Training?
Lateral Training is the movement from side-to-side during training or exercise programs.
Many of the training programs do not have exercises that require you to move from side to side.
A lot of times, we have professional athletes getting more injuries when they are moving in the lateral directions instead of moving forward or backward.
For example, if a basketball player is trying to defend a crossover or if a football player is trying to change direction in the defense position, they are more likely to get injured than if they are defending a forward movement or a backward movement.
In our normal day to day lives, we are always moving forward or backward.
There is absolutely no reason to move side to side in an office unless you need to let someone pass.
This is why many people disregard lateral movements in training because they do not see the need for it.
However, my trainer was insistent on it when I started getting injured in our daily soccer matches.
At first, I only knew the basic side to side lunges and I did a few of them occasionally. I rarely saw the need.
I even told him he wanted to add more injuries to my not so perfect body at the time. He sent me a few videos of world-renowned trainers who have experienced drastic improvements for their bodies and those of their clients.
That is when I saw the importance of the whole concept of lateral training.
Overall movement in training should always incorporate 360 degrees body movement.
This is usually because you need your whole body to move around and feel the intensity of the training.
That’s if you are trying to lose weight you can move and lose weight uniformly. It is also ideal when you are doing fitness training, your body does not look awkward.
I involve my body in 360 degrees movements every time I’m training. At the beginning of my fitness journey, my goal was to lose a few pounds.
After I achieved my goal, the next step was to be fit. I struggled with my fitness for a long time because I avoided lateral training.
Since I discovered side-to-side training, my fitness journey picked up and improved drastically. My body fat has reduced to about 17%.
This means that I’m performing at the most optimal level for my body mass index. I feel light and I move faster than I used to.
Should I Incorporate Lateral Training to My Workout Routine?
It is important to add lateral training into your workouts.
I have been doing exercises and training for more than three years and the most difficult exercises have been side-to-side movements.
However, since I started exercising with lateral training, my body’s fitness has improved tremendously and I have been able to do things I couldn’t do before adding the side-to-side movements into my daily program.
If you start side-to-side movement training, your body reacts faster in instances that need reflex action.
Lateral Training Techniques
Training properly with lateral moves ensures that you avoid many forms of injuries.
Here are some of the techniques that I use to increase my lateral training.
Side shuffles
From a standing position, you can turn your body sideways and lift one of your legs then shift your weight to the standing leg.
Do this interchangeably for 10 seconds each. This helps you grow your strength and stability muscles around the leg area.
This exercise is common for warming up before intense workouts and functional training.
Do this repeatedly about 10 times and you can improve your balance during training, as well as your day-to-day movements.
The Grapevine
I love doing this exercise a lot. For this part of the exercise, lift your left leg then skip to the right side and repeat it 10 times. The movement from right to left is counted as one movement.
Using these movements helps you improve your muscle strength and reflex muscles.
While doing the grapevine, it is important to note that you’re not supposed to jump or skip above your waist level. I enjoy doing this exercise before a soccer match.
Lateral Weight Movement
This involves lifting weights with both hands and moving from side to side. Do this repeatedly for ten rounds, one back and forth movement is regarded as one rep.
The advantage of this is that you can easily swing your hands and carry heavy objects without any straining of the muscles.
Since I added this to part of my day to day training, I can easily do chores and lift heavy materials at my day job without straining.
Lateral Band Walking
This training exercise needs the use of the resistance bands. When doing this exercise, you need to make a loop using the band.
Move side to side using the resistance band for 20 reps. This exercise builds endurance while moving from side to side without stretching the body muscles.
Resistance bands build muscle strength.
Do The Lateral Crab Walk
Crabs walks are featured in many training programs, with the only difference here being that the movement is done sideways. Walk around the training area for as many you can do.
Do not overdo them. I do not like doing this exercise but, it is a very effective mode of building the muscles on the ankles.
My trainer pushes me to involve this exercise in my daily activities since I play soccer where ankle muscles need to be strong and intact.
Side to Side Lunges
You can also incorporate side to side lunges into your day-to-day workout programs as well.
Side to side lunges help you carry your whole body weight into one side of the body.
This improves your core strength and muscle formation along the joints that are commonly injured when moving in lateral directions.
Side-to-Side Step Ups
I also enjoy doing the side to side step-ups. This exercise needs you to get a lifted area that is not higher than your knee level.
From the step, use the left leg to lift your whole body then interchange the leg with the right one and do this repeatedly.
I use this exercise to improve my calf muscles and also give me strength since I am carrying my whole body weight on my legs, one leg at a time
These are some of the few exercises I incorporate in my daily program that help me with my fitness and overall body’s fitness.
Is Lateral Training Worth It?
Since I started incorporating lateral training into my daily and weekly workouts, I have seen an improvement in my fitness journey and my overall health.
So for anyone who is asking whether it is worth the risk and time, the answer is absolutely yes. This is why:
Strength
The sideways movement ensures that you get strength. Lateral training enables you to improve your muscle strength.
Additionally, for the smaller stability muscles, you gain enough strength to complement the main muscles hence dealing with any imbalance.
Having strong muscles enables you to be more flexible and helps you attain the strength goals you set for yourself.
Improving muscle capability is of utmost importance. I have been able to play soccer more regularly.
I can move in any direction during defense and offense and make better decisions since I can move into any direction faster.
This gives me a competitive edge over my opponents on a soccer field.
Injury Prevention
Most of the time that people have injuries from very small tasks like hopping or skipping rope.
Most of the time, these people are fit and do day-to-day training. The problem comes in if that fit people are not in any way linear.
If you train your body into side-to-side movements, it automatically becomes ready when there is a sudden lateral training, or in any real-life situations where reflex is involved.
Since I added lateral training to my workout schedule, I have reduced the number of injuries I get.
On the soccer field, I rarely get normal muscle strains. Most of the injuries are as a result of the rough tackles. I enjoy more game time since I am always 100% fit at all times.
Exercise Variety
Lateral training increases the variety. A lot of people who are undertaking fitness journeys are most often stuck doing the same old drills, making the journey boring.
If you add lateral training to your daily regimen, you are more likely to continue training than when you continue doing the same old thing.
Adding side to side movements in your training program improves your balance and the capability to handle any new stimuli.
Agility & Speed
Lateral training helps you improve your reaction time in speed drills. To be a great athlete, you have to be able to stop any speed movement instantly.
This is called agility. This helps you to ever stop a pass, move through traffic, and maybe stop an opponent.
For people who are doing normal training, speed drills can be done more effectively without any risks of pulling muscles or even falling abruptly.
For me, I can move in any direction on the pitch with minimum effort. Gaining agility is very advantageous to your body growth and movement if you train regularly.
Warming Up
Before any intense training, it is important to do warm-up drills.
They can either be jogging or a few lunges. Adding lateral training to your warm-up drills ensures that you have warmed up the whole body.
You can train without any level of strain. The most important thing that happened to me when I added side to side movement to my warm-up exercises is that I was able to go through my exercises without feeling fatigued.
The exercises make training feel lighter since the whole body is ready for intense training exercises. Remember, for warm-up exercises, you must always do the least strenuous activities.
Flexibility
Flexibility is an important trait for any fitness enthusiast. Due to the sideways movement, you can easily respond to any directional stimuli.
This is because your muscles are always ready to adjust to any situation. Side to side movements is key for the best reflexes in case of dangerous things happening.
I have been able to respond faster to any situations in real life and also on the soccer pitch. As a fitness enthusiast, I advise you to do the running suicides that involve changing directions fast.
This way, you will be able to improve your response rate to anything. You can avoid any situations that are dangerous by faster reflexes and changing movement a little faster.
Increased Mobility
If you exercise the lateral training you are most likely to continue walking upright even with age.
Old people who exercised using lateral training have a longer walking span than any other group growing old.
I am not an old person, I am just a thirty-year-old who plays Sunday league soccer. However, I have seen the people in our training gym that do not strain in the movement even in old age.
This means that the side to side movements are very important for bone strength and longer-lasting muscles.
Final Thoughts
Day-to-day working out and exercise helps you maintain a fit body as well as your mental health.
Not all side to side exercises should be done every day. Some of these exercises are extremely intense and should be done with the guidance of a professional trainer.
You can also decide to do the training by yourself but you have to make sure you do it right.
Incorporating lateral training into your fitness routine does not have to be a hassle. Speaking from my experience as a soccer player, just a few minutes of lateral training with a few exercises are effective and enough to realize the benefits.
