By Elizabeth Tow
Objectives: Increase core strength and spine stability. This exercise also trains the deeper glutes to hold you erect on one leg while abs and lower back muscles keep the torso stable over the pelvis.
Functional application: Side plank strengthens lateral musculature, which also helps resolve imbalance of the lateral muscles. These muscles are often neglected through repetitive activity of moving in a forward direction. This will help improve balance and stability when weight-shifting in running and cycling.
Exercise:
- Lie on your side, bring the lower elbow under the shoulder and bend the bottom leg to 90 degrees.
- Stabilize the shoulder by pushing the shoulder away from the ear to anchor the shoulder blade down.
- Bring your hips forward to make a straight line between the shoulder and the knees.
- Gently brace your abs and squeeze your glutes.
- Initiate the lift by pressing the outside of the bottom leg into the floor and lifting the pelvis until the spine is neutral (body is in a straight line) and lifting the top leg only parallel with the floor (the emphasis is on the bottom leg).
- Take the top leg slightly behind the body.
- Hold that position for 10-30 seconds, release briefly and continue for five to eight repetitions, maintaining spinal alignment.
# # #
Elizabeth Towe is a runner and a cyclist and the owner of Balanced Movement Studio in Carrboro. She graduated from East Carolina with a degree in exercise and sports science and has been personal training for over 20 years. Her ultimate goal for all of her clients is to help them realize and achieve the optimal quality in their life – and to remember to have fun doing it.
