Power Side-to-Sides Over Flat Bench
This exercise provided courtesy of Billy Polson, founder and co-owner of DIAKADI Body training gym, voted best personal training gym in San Francisco by CitySearch in 2006.
Benefits
Focus on explosive power and speed to work your legs top to bottom and side to side with these power side-to-sides over a flat bench. Your quadriceps, glutes, and hamstrings will have to provide both steady strength and explosive power; your calves, adductors, and abductors will lend control as you go sideways, up, and over.
Muscles Worked
Legs
Starting Position
Stand upright next to one long side of a flat bench. You should be perpendicular to the bench, facing toward one of its short ends (see Photo 1).
Exercise
- From the starting position, raise the foot nearer the bench and place it on top of the bench (see Photo 2).
- Push off of the bench with the raised foot using explosive power, changing feet in mid-air, such that you land on the opposite side of the bench with your other foot now on top and your landing leg slightly bent. You may not accomplish it the first few times, but if you put in sufficient power, you should be able to achieve a moment in mid-air when neither foot is touching the bench (see Photos 3 to 5).
