Exercise of the Month - Lateral Core

Following on from our anterior core series, these next four videos will look at strengthening the lateral core (or the side) – starting with the leg raise.

Start by lying on your side, with your head resting on your hand, your legs straight and your toes pointed towards your knees.

From there, you want to raise the top leg as high as you can and then hold it at the top – building up from 5-10s to being able to hold it for a total of 60-90s. Repeat the exercise on both legs.

Lateral Core - Part 1

Next, we move on from the leg raise to the side plank on the elbow.

Lie on your side, with your weight on the elbow and place the top foot a little behind the other. From there, extend up, holding the body straight and making sure the should is directly above the elbow. Start by holding for 10-15s and eventually buidling up to 60-90s. Repeat on both sides.

Lateral Core - Part 2

Level three in our lateral core series moves from the side plank on the elbow to a fully extended version.

You want to begin in the same position as we did last week, lying on your side with the top foot a little behind the other, but with the arm straight and the elbow and tricep tucked into the ribs.

Then extend up, making sure the shoulder is directly in line with the wrist and the hips are up high, before bringing your other arm into the air. Build up to being to hold the position for 60-90s on each side.

Once holding the position is comfortable, introduce some movement by completing 10-15reps from the lower position into the upper position, keeping the body strong and the chest square.

Lateral Core - Part 3

The last episode in our lateral core series moves on from the straight arm side plank to our final exercise – which is a similar exercise but with the feet in a raised position.

Get into the side plank position, with your feet placed on a bench (or other raised surface). From here, keep your body strong and raise your arm into the air. Build the hold up to 60-90s on each side.

Once the hold is comfortable, we begin to work the adductors by bringing the front knee slowly up to hip level and then back again, maintaining the strong body throughout. Aim for 5-10 knee taps on each side.

Lateral Core - Part 4

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