Lateral band walk

What it is

Put a loop band around both legs, above the knees or around the ankles. Ankles make it harder.

Take a half-squat stance, feet about hip width with the band already under tension. Step sideways, then bring the other foot part of the way in — not all the way, or the tension disappears. Continue in one direction for several steps, then come back.

Keep your feet pointing forward and your torso upright.

What it demands

Sustained hip abduction against resistance, from gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, with tensor fasciae latae assisting.

Endurance rather than strength. The loads are small and the sets are long.

What usually goes wrong

Standing up tall. The half-squat is what keeps tension through the step. Standing up makes it much easier.

Feet turning out. Toes point forward; turning them out changes the movement.

Bringing the feet together. The trailing foot comes part way, not all the way, or the band goes slack between steps.

Leaning away from the direction of travel to help the leg out.

Where it sits

This movement is worth being straight about, because it is surrounded by more marketing than almost anything else in home training.

What is fair: it loads hip abduction directly, it needs one cheap piece of equipment, and hip abduction is genuinely under-trained in most programmes.

What is not: the claim that it "activates" the gluteal muscles in some special way before other exercise. That idea belongs to the same family as the ones discussed in the gluteus maximus record — muscles do not need waking up, and a band before a squat has not been shown to change what happens in the squat.

The single-leg glute bridge and side plank load the same pelvic-control job at higher intensity with no equipment at all, and for most people are the better use of the time.