Lateral band walks, also called monster walks, are where a hip programme gets off the floor: a loop band around the legs, a slight squat, and small side steps against the band's pull. The target is the gluteus medius, the muscle on the outside of the pelvis that stops the knee drifting inward on one leg. Hence its place in plans for knee valgus, patellofemoral pain, runners, and the weeks after hip surgery.
Why it comes after the floor exercises
Clamshells and side leg raises work the gluteus medius with the pelvis supported. Band walks ask it to do its real job: hold the pelvis level and the knee in line with your weight on one leg while the other moves. One hip arthroscopy protocol introduces lateral and backward walking in its second phase, around weeks 4 to 8, without a band at first, then adds one and moves it down the leg as strength returns. Your surgeon and therapist set the timing.
Where the band sits changes which muscle works
A 2012 study in Clinical Biomechanics measured hip muscle activity in nine healthy men doing monster walks and side-step walks with the band at the knees, the ankles, or the forefeet. Gluteus medius activity rose with each move down the leg. Gluteus maximus was preferentially activated only with the band around the feet. The tensor fasciae latae (TFL), a smaller hip muscle, increased from the knee to the ankle position but not from the ankles to the feet, probably because the foot position adds an outward rotation effort that favours the gluteals. A 2025 narrative review covering 13 studies reached the same conclusion: band at the ankles or forefeet, semi-squat posture, less TFL compensation.
The leg you stand on works hardest
A 2013 Mayo Clinic study in Physiotherapy Theory and Practice recorded EMG in 21 healthy adults during resisted lateral band walking. Gluteus medius activity averaged 52 percent of maximum on the stance leg and 35 percent on the moving leg, so the authors suggested standing on the involved limb.
How to do it
- Band just above the knees to start; ankles or feet later, when your therapist says so.
- Feet hip-width apart, knees softly bent, hips back a little: an athletic stance, not a deep squat.
- Step sideways with the lead foot and plant it with the knee over the toes.
- Follow with the trailing foot and stop while the band is still tight.
- Trunk upright and still. The pelvis travels sideways; the shoulders do not tip.
The trailing foot mistake
The most common fault is letting the trailing foot drag in to meet the lead foot. The band goes slack. Lift the trailing foot, place it, and stop at hip width. The second fault is swaying: if your trunk lurches with each step, the band is too strong or the steps too fast. Slow down, or go lighter.
Reps, distance, and progression
Therapists prescribe band walks as a set number of steps each way or as a distance. Four ways to make it harder: a stronger band, the band moved down the leg, a deeper squat, slower steps. Your therapist changes one at a time, and a heavier band is no progression if it costs you form.
If side leg raises are still on your sheet, see our guide to side-lying hip abduction
Doing this exercise in a guided session
Trunk sway and a dragging trailing foot are hard to feel from the inside. In a KineTrue camera-guided session, the camera tracks stance width, knee position and trunk angle, and the recorded results go to your therapist, who decides when the band moves lower.
Stop and check with your physical therapist or clinician if band walks bring on sharp hip or groin pain, front-of-knee pain that grows during the set, or a deep pinching in the hip after surgery. After surgery, do not add or lower the band until you are cleared.