Blog #15 Lateral Lines

by Joe LaCaze August 02, 2022

This is Week 4 of our Motion Lines (Kinetic Chains) exercise program.

So far, we have shared the Spiral Lines, Arm Lines, and Functional Back Lines.

With the Spiral, Arm, and Functional Back Lines, we have basically performed twisting motion, or rotation.

Adding the Lateral Lines, we will be including another critical motion. Rather than twisting, the Lateral Lines exercise focuses mostly on ‘side bending’.

Side bending is crucial in all parts of life and in almost every sport. For example, in golf, we side bend about 32°-34° in each direction from one side to the other, all in about one quarter of a second. Other sports like baseball, softball, volleyball, tennis, and other racquet sports like badminton, paddle ball, racquetball, etc., have similar actions of side bending.

If we don’t train for total body side-bending against a strong resistance, we are putting either our body or our performance at risk.

Side bending is a unique exercise, because when we fully bend to one side against a resistance, we release tension on the other side. So, the exercise itself is dual purpose.

As we do this exercise, we need to keep in mind the purpose. Not only are we striving for mobility, stability, and flexibility, but we are aiming to connect all parts of the body with the brain.

I have written this before, but it bears repeating:

Body-to-Brain Connection…...every joint, muscle, fascial line, and nerve along the designated motion chain or kinetic chain. That includes every joint responsible for either range of motion or stability…… that includes full body movement.

When the brain receives all the information along the entire motion line, not just a portion of it, wonderful things happen regarding movement and performance.

What is the Lateral Line in relation to the skeleton?