Welcome to the Get Fit Guys quick and dirty tips to get moving and shape up.

My name is Brock Armstrong and I am the Get Fit Guy.

If you are interested in improving your exercise program to enhance both your life and your sport abilities,

then the extremely functional activity known as lateral movement

should be included in your regimen.

And that's what we're going to talk about today.

Side to side or lateral movement is very often missing from most of our training and exercise programs.

We see plenty of front to back and up and down motions

like lunges, squats, push-ups, and pull-ups, but oddly, we don't see a lot of lateral movements.

Think back to the last time you did a full-body workout. When you did that, you were probably

mostly either moving forward or simply standing in place, right?

Now, maybe there were some reverse lunges that snuck in there, but those were few and far

between, unless you happen to be a very serious runner.

But if you have ever watched high-level competitive athletes, you know that most of their

lower body injuries actually occur during

lateral movement, like twists, abrupt changes in directions, and even collisions. Think about a

football player, zigzagging down the field, or a skier carving up a slope, or a hockey player

slamming on the brakes and suddenly reversing direction, or maybe even a soccer player,

diving dramatically to the ground, clutching his knee. Well, okay, maybe not that last one,

but you get my drift. Ultimately, not training properly for these lateral movements can often

result in injuries, low performance, and sure, also a less aesthetically pleasing

appearance. When I think back on all the fit folks that I've coached over the years, I would say that

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