Learn the physiology and kinesiology of slideboard exercise. Learn how slideboard training improves cardiovascular capacity, strength, power, balance and stability. In ideal functional training tool that improves strength through accommodating eccentric load in all three planes of movement.

1. Introduction to Lateral
Motion Training

2. History of Lateral Motion Training
Slideboard training, also
referred to as Lateral Motion
Training, has existed for decades
likely starting with skaters using
homemade glideboards. In
recent years lateral training has
gained increasing prominence in
all fields of athletics and
rehabilitation.

3. Key Benefits of Lateral Motion Training
Lateral training is an often neglected
but essential component of training
programs because much of human
movement occurs in the frontal plane
(side to side) and transverse plane
(rotational).
Lateral training with a slideboard uses
sliding as a foundational movement.
Sliding provides a superior method for
training the body in a closed chain
functional manner with movement in
all three planes.

4. Key Benefits of Lateral Motion Training
• Slideboards amplify proprioceptive feedback during
all movements resulting in faster motor learning
because the user can feel correct alignment versus
faulty alignment.
• All effective movement training depends on the
ability to teach participants how to feel the
distinction between “right” and “wrong” posture and
movement.

5. Key Benefits of Lateral Motion Training
• Allows the user to change his position in a variety of
directions and levels accommodating motions and
loading of muscles through all three planes.
• Affords the user the opportunity to move
dynamically as well as functionally with relationship
to daily activities and sports.
• Provides aerobic and anaerobic conditioning while
developing sport specific strength, power and
stability.

6. Specific Benefits by Location
• Foot – strengthens plantar and dorsal muscles of the
foot.
• Ankle – strengthens the deltoid, anterior talofibular, and
calcaneofibular ligaments.
• Knee – recruits both dynamic and static stabilizers.
• Core Stabilizers - are activated in all planes of motion to
maintain balance.
• Hip – perform all hip movements including:
– ab and adduction
– internal and external rotation
– flexion and extension.

7. Cardiovascular Benefits of Slideboard Training
• Research shows that slideboard training
provides highly effective, low impact
cardiovascular exercise, eliciting the following
cardiovascular responses:
– Heart Rates of 70% - 100% of predicted
maximum
– Oxygen Consumption of 24ml/kg to 41.6ml/kg
– Achieved MET Levels of 7 – 12 METS.
• See final slide for references

8. Muscular Contractions in Slideboard Training
Sliding involves all three types
of muscular contractions:
– Eccentric – muscles
lengthen under load to
absorb/decelerate.
– Concentric – muscles
shorten under load to
project force externally.
– Isometric – muscles
contract without movement
to stabilize.

9. Three Phases of the Basic Skating Slide
Phase I: Push Off for
Concentric Emphasis
Phase II: Glide for
Isometric Emphasis
Phase III: Landing for
Eccentric Emphasis

10. Eccentric Emphasis
Users acquire strength through accommodating
levels of eccentric load.
– Users decelerate inertia (created through acceleration
during push off) and their body mass thus generating
a force greater than their own body mass.
– This inertia is variable and is directly related to the
force of accelerations generated by the user.
– This means that there is an inherent tendency to
adjust eccentric load based on the size and strength of
the user -- larger and/or stronger users can accelerate
more during push-off resulting in greater eccentric
load during the landing phase.

11. Benefits of Eccentric Training
• Eccentric strength helps prevent injury because injuries
usually occur during landing and deceleration where
eccentric force absorption needs to occur.
• Eccentric strength is necessary for power generation
which is dependent on the stretch-shortening cycle: you
must be able to handle rapid and intense eccentric
loading to achieve explosive concentric contractions!
• Most weight training and other training techniques do
NOT improve functional eccentric capacity and those that
do can be risky and difficult to perform because they use
extremely high loads.

12. Plyometric Effect
Sliding at a faster cadence produces a plyometric effect.
– After decelerating eccentrically as the foot contacts the
bumper, the user immediately generates force
concentrically during the push off phase.
– This pattern of eccentric loading followed by concentric
unloading is known as the Stretch Shortening Cycle or SSC.
As specific exercise tolerance increases and users increase
sliding speed and cadence this effect becomes more
pronounced resulting in an increased plyometric effect
resulting in increased power.

13. Metabolic Conditioning
Slide exercise is ideal for metabolic
conditioning where intervals of
cardio, strength and power exercise
are combined.
Slide exercise allows for quick and
easy transitions between each type
of exercise thus providing a highly
efficient, functional workout to
improve cardiovascular capacity,
strength, power, and movement
quality.

14. Slide Length, Cadence, Muscular Engagement
and Caloric Expenditure
•
Slide length and slide cadence are inversely related. The longer the slide length
(relative to the individual’s size and fitness level) the slower the maximum slide
cadence (number of slides/minute).
• Most of the muscular engagement occurs in landing and pushing off the
bumpers. However, during the glide phase a skilled slider just maintains position
isometrically.
• Although a longer slide requires a stronger push-off, more time is spent gliding on
a longer slide and there tends to be less energy required to decelerate because the
user contacts the bumper with less force. A longer slide requires a stronger
muscular contraction during each push-off placing more emphasis on muscular
strength and anaerobic processes.
• A shorter slide with higher slide cadence can be more challenging in terms of
cardiovascular overload (more calories burned during the workout) because a
greater sliding distance is covered per unit of time. The user is also landing and
pushing off the bumper/exerting energy more frequently.
Examples:
• An person sliding on a 5.5 foot surface 60 times per minute will cover 330 feet
per minute.
• An person sliding on a 6.5 foot surface 40 times per minute will cover 260 feet
per minute

15. •
Other Acute Variables for Controlling
Intensity
In addition to altering slide length and cadence there are other variables that allow
you to adjust exercise intensity:
– Arm Movements – adding arm movements will increase metabolic demand,
particularly if the arms are raised over the head.
– Slide Music – the faster the music the higher the slide cadence for any given
type of sliding movement done to music. For example, a 2 count slide at 120
beats per minute is 60 slides per minute while at 140 bpm it is 70 slides per
minute.
– Work/Recovery Ratio – refers to time spent actually sliding back and forth
(work time) versus time spent doing recovery movements or resting (recovery
time). As with all exercise a good starting point is ratio of 1:2 or one part
work to two parts recovery.
– Lever Length – increasing lever length by extending arms and legs fully while
doing arm or leg movements on the bumper (or arm movements while sliding)
increases exercise intensity.
– Slide Level
• The deeper the slide position (i.e., more knee,, ankle or hip flexion) the
more difficult sliding becomes.
• More challenging variations such as the ski slide movement can increase
intensity. The ski slide movement involves sliding in a down/up/down
pattern with a squat position on bumpers and a more straight leg position
during the glide phase
.

16. Slideboards in Rehabilitation
In addition to functional
training, slideboards are
used extensively in
rehabilitation for conditions
such as:
– Patellar Femoral Disorders
– Medial and Lateral
Meniscus Injury
– Ligament injuries including:
•
•
•
•
Anterior Cruciate
Posterior Cruciate
Medial Collateral Ligament
Lateral Collateral Ligament

17. Slideboards for Group Exercise
• Group slideboard classes were initially popular in
the early ‘90s, but quickly lost traction due to a
incompatibility in product and programming.
– Some Choreographed group slideboard classes
(programmed to music) were not successful in the
past because most slideboards were too long in
length.
– However, incorporating a slideboard as a station in a
circuit training class where participants are not sliding
to music was and continues to be successful.

18. Music, Slide Length and Cadence
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Experience and research shows that class participants cannot slide continuously
at a cadence of 60 slides/minute for even 3 minutes with a slide length that is 6
feet or longer.
For dance based classes done in time with the music and the eight count phrase,
each slide must be completed in 2, 4, 6, or 8 counts of music played. Uneven
count will not work because the class cannot to stay in time with the music.
Typical music used for step and other group fitness classes ranges from 120 – 160
beats per minute.
Therefore a slideboard class with a slide length that is 6 foot or longer must
utilize a 4, 6, or 8 count slide if done in time with the music since 2 count does
not work as per above.
The solution is a slide with a 5.5 foot sliding distance which allows for faster slide
cadence and energetic choreography.
Having a shorter slideboard also means that it requires a less forceful push to get
across the slideboard.
So like cycling with a relatively smaller gear at a higher cadence there is a higher
emphasis on cardio versus strength.

19. Dance Based Slide Classes
• For dance based slideboard classes choreography is based on
a mixture of sliding movements interspersed with
recovery/bumper movements and/or strength or power
exercises.
• The key variable used to control exercise intensity is the
number of slides per 8 count phrase of the music which
determines the slide cadence (number of slides/minute).
– 4 slides per 8 count phrase is high intensity
– 3 slides per 8 count phrase is slightly lower intensity
– 2 slides per 8 count phrase is low intensity
– 1 slide per 8 count phrase is very low intensity

20. Slides with Recovery/Bumper Movements
•
•
•
•
Recovery movements can be done in 2, 4, 6 or 8 counts.
– Bumper movements can be linked by sliding side to side or forwards and backwards
(forward and backwards slide are ADVANCED techniques!).
– Recovery can also be achieved by doing standard low impact movements such as jacks,
side lunges, cross country ski, twists, etc.
Very Low Intensity 1 slide per 8 count phrase
– 8 count bumper movements or twisting movements across the slide for a full 8 count .
– 6 count bumper movements (“triple bumper moves” or “repeaters”) linked with a 2
count slide are also very low intensity.
Low Intensity – 2 slides per 8 count phrase
– 4 count bumper movements (“double bumper moves” done on a single bumper) linked
with two 2 count slide s are slightly more intense because you perform 2 slides per 8
count.
– 2 count bumper movements (single bumper moves done on each bumper) linked with a
2 count slide give the same intensity because you are also doing 2 slides per 8 count.
– Two four count slides can also be linked providing 2 slides per 8 count.
Moderate Intensity – 3 slides per 8 count phrase
– 3 two count slides linked with a 2 count bumper movement (a single bumper move done
at the end of the third two count slide) are more intense because you are doing 3 slides
per 8 count.

21. Works Cited
• Tolle JR, Latin RW, Berg KE, Stuberg W. Oxygen cost of slideboard exercise
at selected cadences. J Strength Cond Res. 1996;10:197–199.
• Pies NA, Provost-Craig MA, Neeves RE, Richards JG. Cardiopulmonary
responses to slideboard exercise in competitive female ice skaters. J
Strength Cond. Res. 1998;12:7–11.
• Scharff Olson M, Williford HN, Wang N. Cardiorespiratory responses to
lateral motion exercise with and without ankle weights. J Strength Cond
Res. 1997;11:273–277.
• Williford HN, Scharff Olson M, Wang N, Blessing DL, Kirkpatrich J. The
metabolic responses of slideboard exercise in females. J Sports Med Phys
Fitness. 1995;35:43–49.
• Otto, Robert – Unpublished Study examining Energy Cost of slideboard
exercise. Director of Human Performance Lab Adelphi University in an
unpublished study 1992.
• Krause and L. A. Golding, "The Energy Cost of Sliding on the Kneedspeed
Slideboard". Sports Med., Training and Rehab., Vol. 4:1993, pp. 139-157