Lateral Bound (Skater Bound)

The lateral bound is a horizontal jump in the frontal (side-to-side) plane: the athlete loads one leg, pushes off explosively sideways, and lands on the opposite leg, absorbing and either sticking or immediately re-bounding back the other way. It develops lateral/frontal-plane power and the eccentric control needed to decelerate and re-accelerate during cuts — directly relevant to change-of-direction and agility.

Technique: start on one leg in a slight squat, drive laterally off that leg (using hip extension and abduction), travel sideways, and land on the outside leg in a soft single-leg squat with the knee tracking over the toes (no inward/valgus collapse) and the hip controlling the landing. For power, stick and reset; for reactive work, rebound back immediately. The gluteus medius and hip abductors are key for landing stability.

Progressions: increase distance, add a hold ("stick") requirement for control, then make it continuous/reactive, then add reach or external perturbation. Closely related to the skater hop (often used synonymously; the skater emphasizes a continuous side-to-side rhythm).

• Frontal-plane single-leg jump: push off one leg, land/stabilize on the other.
• Trains lateral power and eccentric control for cutting and COD.
• Land in a soft single-leg squat, knee over toe, no valgus collapse.
• Gluteus medius/hip abductors stabilize the landing.
• Progress distance → stick control → continuous/reactive → perturbed.

• skater-hops — closely related continuous frontal-plane drill.
• cod-mechanics — lateral bounds rehearse cut deceleration/push-off.
• cutting-mechanics — frontal-plane control transfers to cutting.
• gluteus-medius / hip-abductors — landing stabilizers.
• single-leg-hops — sagittal-plane single-leg counterpart.