Sliding exercises exist in a realm of their own. While there are many fine exercises to choose from to get in better shape and improve your health, many can be enhanced with the addition of a sliding component. Sliding movements can increase the difficulty of an exercise and force your body to increase muscle coordination, especially core muscles within the abdomen and pelvis.
I find that there’s a “teaching” component to these exercises in that you have to learn to use your muscles together while also carefully attending to your exercise form.
It’s all about the control.
5 Sliding Exercises to Power Up Your Core
The following set of exercises is great for maximizing your core strength. You will need furniture or exercise sliders, or a good pair of thick socks and plenty of space to move.I find these exercises safe and effective for a large percentage of my patients, but I suggest that you confer with your medical provider to ensure they are right for you.
1. Sliding Body-Saw
Let’s start this series with a planking movement. The normal body-saw movement focuses on the shoulders and ankles. Adding sliders into the equation and eliminating ankle movement refocuses increased effort onto your core musculature.Why I like it: One simple modification takes the already excellent body-saw exercise and makes it even better by kicking the effort up a notch.
Step 1: Start face-down on the floor, with your forearms and feet supporting your weight, and upper arms straight up and down. Be sure your body is straight from your shoulders to your feet, without arching or sagging in the middle.
Step 2: Using your arms, pull and push your body forward and back, with your feet gliding on the sliders. It won’t be a large movement, with the slide being only about six inches or so total.
Step 3: Sliding forward and back counts as one repetition. Try to perform three sets of 12 repetitions total.
Modifications: If you can’t pull yourself back and forth, just give it your best effort. The static effort will still be effective in helping you build your core strength.
2. Sliding Knee Tucks
This time, instead of holding your legs still and directing movement with your arms, you’re going to keep your arms still and direct movement with your legs.Why I like it: Performed properly, sliding knee tucks are a work of art in motion. Not only do you give your hip flexors and leg muscles a good workout, but also, you perform a high plank the entire time.
Step 1: Start this exercise in the same position as you did with the body-saw movement. Instead of being on your elbows, however, start with your arms straight, in a pushup position, and your toes on the sliders.
Step 2: Slide your feet up toward your hands, bending your hips and knees to do so.
Step 3: As soon as you move your feet up as far as you can, slide them back into the starting position. Moving your feet up and then back down counts as one repetition. Try to perform three sets of 10 repetitions.
Modifications: If you can’t do many of these at a time, just do what you can. You can try to lean forward on your arms a little to help increase your ability to slide your legs forward if your core isn’t strong enough yet to move them from the standard plank position.
3. Sliding Planks to Pikes
Now that we’ve gotten familiar with plank-based sliding exercises, let’s increase the effort. Sliding planks to pikes is a great movement for your core and also brings a deep focus to your hip flexors while reducing knee movement.Why I like it: Strong hip flexors are wonderful for giving you a powerful, well-controlled walk. They also play a fantastic role in reducing falls.
Step 1: Start in the same position as you did for the knee tucks exercise.
Step 2: Bend your hips and slide your feet toward your hands as far as you can while keeping your knees straight. Your hips will rise high during this movement.
Step 3: Once you glide up as far as you can, slide back down into the plank position. Moving up and then back down counts as one repetition. Try to perform three sets of 10 repetitions.
Modifications: As with the body-saw, if you can’t move far, just move as far as you can. This exercise looks hard, and it definitely isn’t easy, but it also isn’t quite as hard as it may first appear. Feel free to modify sets and repetitions to make it work best for you. Potentially challenging at first, it will get easier over time.
4. Sliding Leg Curls
We’ve done two exercises facing the floor, now let’s perform one facing upward. Sliding leg curls work on your shoulders and core, and even more than that, place heavy emphasis on your hamstring muscles.Why I like it: This exercise is very approachable for most people, emphasizing both hamstrings and core muscles while teaching you to balance body movements.
Note: This exercise can feel awkward at first, but your movements will smooth out with practice.
Step 1: Lie on the floor face up, with your legs straight and your heels on sliders. Place your arms straight out to the sides for support.
Step 2: Slide your feet toward your midline as you keep your hips straight. This will lift your hips off the ground as if you are doing a bridge.
Step 3: Once you slide your feet up as far as you can, slowly straighten your legs as you lower your hips back down. Sliding your feet up and then back down counts as one repetition. Try to perform three sets of 10 repetitions.
Modifications: Can’t slide your feet very far? Just slide them as far as you can. It may help to slide one foot at a time at first.
5. Sliding Lateral Lunge
Now that we’ve performed several exercises at the floor level, let’s try a standing one. Where the standard lunge involves a step-squat movement, sliding your feet into and out of position increases the movement challenge for your hip abductors and adductors.Why I like it: Your hip adductor muscles get an excellent workout from this exercise, and lateral movements can make you more sure-footed.
Step 1: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your hands clasped together in front of you at belt level. Have your right foot on a slider, with your left foot standing on the ground. (A slider under both feet could potentially lead to a lovely but unintended—and painful—split.)
Step 2: Initiate movement by sliding your right foot straight out to the side while performing a squat with your left leg. As you move down, tuck your hands up toward your chin.
Step 3: Rise back up while lowering your hands and sliding your right foot back into the starting position before continuing with more repetitions. After finishing the movements with your right foot, move the slider under your left foot and repeat the exercise on your left side.
Step 4: Sliding your foot out and back in counts as one repetition. Try to perform three sets of 12 repetitions on each side.
Modifications: If you can’t perform large movements, just move out as far as you can at first, knowing that you will get stronger as time goes on.
Combined as a routine, these unique sliding exercises can work together to increase your core and leg strength, promote increased sure-footedness, and lower your risk of falls. I hope you find them useful.
About the fitness model: Aerowenn Hunter is a health editor and fitness model for The Epoch Times. Vibrant in her 60s, she’s an accredited yoga therapist who has dedicated three decades to teaching yoga.
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Epoch Health welcomes professional discussion and friendly debate. To submit an opinion piece, please follow these guidelines and submit through our form here.
