We had a recent post about the subtle similarities of various squats here in our Functional Fitness program. Click here to see the post. In the same vein, I wanted to put out a post about some very close elasticity movements that may be so similar that folks get a touch confused.
Here is the list of the exercises and the matching video links: Lateral Bound Slalom Ice Skaters I’ll start with Lateral Bound. A Lateral Bound is one of the more slower of the three exercises. Essentially, you are lifting up the inside leg and pushing off the ground with the outside leg. For example, you lift up your left foot, push off with your right foot and land on your left foot as far to the left as you can. When you land, there is a “stick,” meaning you hold it on that left foot for a split second to absorb the shock that way. Make sure to bend your knees to help with the force absorption. An Ice Skater looks very similar to the Lateral Bound. The difference is more in the upper body. You are swinging your arms and bending over at the waist more to create the illusion you are an actual ice skater (yes it is a mystery why we call these Ice Skaters). Also, as in the example above, when you land on your left foot, your right leg continues past the left leg by sliding across the ground behind your left leg – another motion that creates the ice skating feel. This is usually done faster than the Lateral Bound, especially when you are challenging yourself. In other words, you can speed skate! The Slalom is the fastest of the three, but it stays with the winter theme 🙂 . With the Slalom, you are moving both legs at the same time. Basically, you are hoping to the right, then left, with both feet landing at the same time. Feel free to add in the arm swings like you are skiing…and sound effects are always welcome. Swooosh. Swooosh.