Have you ever seen a soccer, basketball or football player that can sprint down the field or court like a lightning bolt but when it comes to cutting, zig zagging or any agility and lateral movements they look like a tortoise.
For athletes that play in dynamic sports with a lot of changes of direction it is crazy how many of these athletes only train in a linear plane. They spend their time in the gym only in the saggital plane doing exercises like squats, deadlifts, forward lunges, pushups, etc. Don’t get me wrong these are excellent exercises for athletes when it comes to building strength. However athletes need to be diverse and able to quicly change direction.
Lets look at soccer specifically for a second. All position require movement in each direction. For instance midfielders and forwards will make explosive movements or lateral fakes to try and get by defenders. Defenders have to be able to react and track these movements. Lastly, keepers need to dive side-side to make saves.
A lot of injuries like knee tears and ankle sprains occer from when athletes struggle to absorb force when changing direction. Athletes can do movements in the gym which can strengthen the muscles required for these lateral movements.
Here are a few exercises that can help:
- Lateral Lunges
- Skater Jumps
- Lateral shuffle
- Lateral Agility Ladder Drills
These exercise will help to strenghen and develop the muscles that power your lateral movement when you play. Helping you to become a compete athlete while making openents hate to play against you!
