Introduction to Lateral Motion Training

History of Lateral Motion Training

Slideboard training, also referred to as Lateral Motion Training, has existed for decades likely starting with skaters using homemade glideboards. In recent years lateral training has gained increasing prominence in all fields of athletics and rehabilitation.

Key Benefits of Lateral Motion Training

Lateral training is an often neglected but essential component of training programs because much of human movement occurs in the frontal plane (side to side) and transverse plane (rotational).

Lateral training with a slideboard uses sliding as a foundational movement. Sliding provides a superior method for training the body in a closed chain functional manner with movement in all three planes.

Key Benefits of Lateral Motion Training

• Slideboards amplify proprioceptive feedback during all movements resulting in faster motor learning because the user can feel correct alignment versus faulty alignment.

• All effective movement training depends on the ability to teach participants how to feel the distinction between “right” and “wrong” posture and movement.

Key Benefits of Lateral Motion Training

• Allows the user to change his position in a variety of directions and levels accommodating motions and loading of muscles through all three planes.

• Affords the user the opportunity to move dynamically as well as functionally with relationship to daily activities and sports.

• Provides aerobic and anaerobic conditioning while developing sport specific strength, power and stability.

Specific Benefits by Location • Foot – strengthens plantar and dorsal muscles of the

foot.

• Ankle – strengthens the deltoid, anterior talofibular, and calcaneofibular ligaments.

• Knee – recruits both dynamic and static stabilizers.

• Core Stabilizers - are activated in all planes of motion to maintain balance.

• Hip – perform all hip movements including:

– ab and adduction

– internal and external rotation

– flexion and extension.

Cardiovascular Benefits of Slideboard Training

• Research shows that slideboard training provides highly effective, low impact cardiovascular exercise, eliciting the following cardiovascular responses:

– Heart Rates of 70% - 100% of predicted maximum

– Oxygen Consumption of 24ml/kg to 41.6ml/kg

– Achieved MET Levels of 7 – 12 METS.

• See final slide for references

Muscular Contractions in Slideboard Training

Sliding involves all three types of muscular contractions:

– Eccentric – muscles lengthen under load to absorb/decelerate.

– Concentric – muscles shorten under load to project force externally.

– Isometric – muscles contract without movement to stabilize.

Three Phases of the Basic Skating Slide

Phase I: Push Off for Concentric Emphasis

Phase II: Glide for Isometric Emphasis

Phase III: Landing for Eccentric Emphasis

Eccentric Emphasis

Users acquire strength through accommodating levels of eccentric load.

– Users decelerate inertia (created through acceleration during push off) and their body mass thus generating a force greater than their own body mass.

– This inertia is variable and is directly related to the force of accelerations generated by the user.

– This means that there is an inherent tendency to adjust eccentric load based on the size and strength of the user -- larger and/or stronger users can accelerate more during push-off resulting in greater eccentric load during the landing phase.

Benefits of Eccentric Training • Eccentric strength helps prevent injury because injuries

usually occur during landing and deceleration where eccentric force absorption needs to occur.

• Eccentric strength is necessary for power generation which is dependent on the stretch-shortening cycle: you must be able to handle rapid and intense eccentric loading to achieve explosive concentric contractions!

• Most weight training and other training techniques do NOT improve functional eccentric capacity and those that do can be risky and difficult to perform because they use extremely high loads.

Plyometric Effect Sliding at a faster cadence produces a plyometric effect.

– After decelerating eccentrically as the foot contacts the bumper, the user immediately generates force concentrically during the push off phase.

– This pattern of eccentric loading followed by concentric unloading is known as the Stretch Shortening Cycle or SSC.

As specific exercise tolerance increases and users increase sliding speed and cadence this effect becomes more pronounced resulting in an increased plyometric effect resulting in increased power.

Metabolic Conditioning Slide exercise is ideal for metabolic conditioning where intervals of cardio, strength and power exercise are combined.

Slide exercise allows for quick and easy transitions between each type of exercise thus providing a highly efficient, functional workout to improve cardiovascular capacity, strength, power, and movement quality.

Slide Length, Cadence, Muscular Engagement and Caloric Expenditure

• Slide length and slide cadence are inversely related. The longer the slide length (relative to the individual’s size and fitness level) the slower the maximum slide cadence (number of slides/minute).

• Most of the muscular engagement occurs in landing and pushing off the bumpers. However, during the glide phase a skilled slider just maintains position isometrically.

• Although a longer slide requires a stronger push-off, more time is spent gliding on a longer slide and there tends to be less energy required to decelerate because the user contacts the bumper with less force. A longer slide requires a stronger muscular contraction during each push-off placing more emphasis on muscular strength and anaerobic processes.

• A shorter slide with higher slide cadence can be more challenging in terms of cardiovascular overload (more calories burned during the workout) because a greater sliding distance is covered per unit of time. The user is also landing and pushing off the bumper/exerting energy more frequently.

Examples:

• An person sliding on a 5.5 foot surface 60 times per minute will cover 330 feet per minute.

• An person sliding on a 6.5 foot surface 40 times per minute will cover 260 feet per minute

Other Acute Variables for Controlling Intensity

• In addition to altering slide length and cadence there are other variables that allow you to adjust exercise intensity: – Arm Movements – adding arm movements will increase metabolic demand,

particularly if the arms are raised over the head. – Slide Music – the faster the music the higher the slide cadence for any given

type of sliding movement done to music. For example, a 2 count slide at 120 beats per minute is 60 slides per minute while at 140 bpm it is 70 slides per minute.

– Work/Recovery Ratio – refers to time spent actually sliding back and forth (work time) versus time spent doing recovery movements or resting (recovery time). As with all exercise a good starting point is ratio of 1:2 or one part work to two parts recovery.

– Lever Length – increasing lever length by extending arms and legs fully while doing arm or leg movements on the bumper (or arm movements while sliding) increases exercise intensity.

– Slide Level • The deeper the slide position (i.e., more knee,, ankle or hip flexion) the

more difficult sliding becomes. • More challenging variations such as the ski slide movement can increase

intensity. The ski slide movement involves sliding in a down/up/down pattern with a squat position on bumpers and a more straight leg position during the glide phase.

Slideboards in Rehabilitation

In addition to functional training, slideboards are used extensively in rehabilitation for conditions such as:

– Patellar Femoral Disorders – Medial and Lateral

Meniscus Injury – Ligament injuries including:

• Anterior Cruciate • Posterior Cruciate • Medial Collateral Ligament • Lateral Collateral Ligament

Slideboards for Group Exercise • Group slideboard classes were initially popular in

the early ‘90s, but quickly lost traction due to a incompatibility in product and programming.

– Some Choreographed group slideboard classes (programmed to music) were not successful in the past because most slideboards were too long in length.

– However, incorporating a slideboard as a station in a circuit training class where participants are not sliding to music was and continues to be successful.

Music, Slide Length and Cadence • Experience and research shows that class participants cannot slide continuously

at a cadence of 60 slides/minute for even 3 minutes with a slide length that is 6 feet or longer.

• For dance based classes done in time with the music and the eight count phrase, each slide must be completed in 2, 4, 6, or 8 counts of music played. Uneven count will not work because the class cannot to stay in time with the music.

• Typical music used for step and other group fitness classes ranges from 120 – 160 beats per minute.

• Therefore a slideboard class with a slide length that is 6 foot or longer must utilize a 4, 6, or 8 count slide if done in time with the music since 2 count does not work as per above.

• The solution is a slide with a 5.5 foot sliding distance which allows for faster slide cadence and energetic choreography.

• Having a shorter slideboard also means that it requires a less forceful push to get across the slideboard.

• So like cycling with a relatively smaller gear at a higher cadence there is a higher emphasis on cardio versus strength.

Dance Based Slide Classes

• For dance based slideboard classes choreography is based on a mixture of sliding movements interspersed with recovery/bumper movements and/or strength or power exercises.

• The key variable used to control exercise intensity is the number of slides per 8 count phrase of the music which determines the slide cadence (number of slides/minute).

– 4 slides per 8 count phrase is high intensity

– 3 slides per 8 count phrase is slightly lower intensity

– 2 slides per 8 count phrase is low intensity

– 1 slide per 8 count phrase is very low intensity

Slides with Recovery/Bumper Movements • Recovery movements can be done in 2, 4, 6 or 8 counts.

– Bumper movements can be linked by sliding side to side or forwards and backwards (forward and backwards slide are ADVANCED techniques!).

– Recovery can also be achieved by doing standard low impact movements such as jacks, side lunges, cross country ski, twists, etc.

• Very Low Intensity 1 slide per 8 count phrase

– 8 count bumper movements or twisting movements across the slide for a full 8 count .

– 6 count bumper movements (“triple bumper moves” or “repeaters”) linked with a 2 count slide are also very low intensity.

• Low Intensity – 2 slides per 8 count phrase

– 4 count bumper movements (“double bumper moves” done on a single bumper) linked with two 2 count slide s are slightly more intense because you perform 2 slides per 8 count.

– 2 count bumper movements (single bumper moves done on each bumper) linked with a 2 count slide give the same intensity because you are also doing 2 slides per 8 count.

– Two four count slides can also be linked providing 2 slides per 8 count.

• Moderate Intensity – 3 slides per 8 count phrase

– 3 two count slides linked with a 2 count bumper movement (a single bumper move done at the end of the third two count slide) are more intense because you are doing 3 slides per 8 count.

Works Cited • Tolle JR, Latin RW, Berg KE, Stuberg W. Oxygen cost of slideboard exercise

at selected cadences. J Strength Cond Res. 1996;10:197–199. • Pies NA, Provost-Craig MA, Neeves RE, Richards JG. Cardiopulmonary

responses to slideboard exercise in competitive female ice skaters. J Strength Cond. Res. 1998;12:7–11.

• Scharff Olson M, Williford HN, Wang N. Cardiorespiratory responses to lateral motion exercise with and without ankle weights. J Strength Cond Res. 1997;11:273–277.

• Williford HN, Scharff Olson M, Wang N, Blessing DL, Kirkpatrich J. The metabolic responses of slideboard exercise in females. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 1995;35:43–49.

• Otto, Robert – Unpublished Study examining Energy Cost of slideboard exercise. Director of Human Performance Lab Adelphi University in an unpublished study 1992.

• Krause and L. A. Golding, "The Energy Cost of Sliding on the Kneedspeed Slideboard". Sports Med., Training and Rehab., Vol. 4:1993, pp. 139-157