The Best Slider Workout: Sliders Will Take Your At

By Emily Abbate

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Bad news first: You will have a hard time bragging about banging out a slider workout. In the era of at-home pandemic fitness, if you’ve got a Peloton bike or somehow got ahead of the great kettlebell shortage, everyone will be jealous. If you’ve taken up outdoor running, you at least get to humblebrag about how much it sucks to sweat while wearing a mask.

Sliders—also often called gliders—are extremely low-key in comparison. They're unassuming plastic disks the size of a dinner plate. They are super cheap. They take up almost no space—perfect for travel or tiny apartments. And they deliver some of the most punishing workouts around. They add an element of instability to all kinds of moves, demanding your muscles work harder to find balance—your core will be screaming, in a good way, almost instantly.

"Lately, I like to focus on what I have available to me rather than thinking about all the traditional gym equipment that I’m missing," says Nike Master trainer Kirsty Godso, who created a stronger-core-guaranteed slider workout for GQ. "You should expect to know that you’ve done a workout with them the next day, and maybe the day after."

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Do each exercise below for 10 reps in order, resting for 90 seconds between each. Repeat the circuit two to three times. If the exercise says "repeat on opposite side," do that after you’ve finished all 10 reps on side one.

Reverse slider lunge: Stand with your feet together and your right foot on top of a slider. Push about 90 percent of your weight into your left foot and set your right toes at the center of the slider with your heel up. Place your hands on your hips and hinge forward slightly with a long flat back. (This will also be your starting position for the next two drills.)

Pushing weight into your left foot, glide the right leg back straight behind you until your left knee is stacked over the left ankle, then drive weight down through your left foot to come back to the starting position.

"Keep the weight that you're pushing into the slider light, Godso days. "Whichever foot is grounded, that's the side you are working."

Lateral slider lunge: Go back to that starting position. Extend your right leg directly to the side into a lateral lunge, keeping the leg straight as you extend and simultaneously lower your hips down and back into a squat position on the left. At the bottom position of the move, push your weight down through your left foot to come back to start position, gliding the right leg back in.

Wide glider sweep: Go back to that starting position. Anchor your weight through the left foot, and drop your hips slightly to sweep your right leg in a wide arc from that starting position to roughly 7 o’clock, keeping your leg straight as it sweeps all the way around. Reverse through the arc to the starting position. Repeat on the opposite side.

Modified archer push-ups: Get into a modified push-up position with your knees on the ground, hands just wider than the shoulders, and a slider under your left hand. As you lower down with control into your push-up, extend your left arm out straight in front of you, only lowering as far as you can control the exercise with good form. Use a strong exhale to get you out of the bottom of the move. Repeat on the opposite side.

Alternating hamstring curl: Start lying on your back with your head on the ground, arms braced by your side, feet hip distance apart, and one slider under each foot. Digging your heels into the sliders, lift your hips into a glute bridge position. Extend one leg at a time, digging the heel strongly into the slider as you extend the leg to straight while keeping your hips up and square. Draw back to starting position then alternate to the other side for one rep.

Slider pike: Start in a high plank position with a slider under each foot. Keeping your weight in your toes, draw your lower abs in towards your spine while you transition your weight forward into your hands into a pike position. There should be barely any weight pushing into the slider. Then glide back to starting plank position.

Modified 90 degree abs: Start in a high plank position with one slider under your right foot. Draw your right knee toward right elbow, then slide your right foot out from under your body to the left, trying to get the leg as straight as possible. Drop your right shoulder and right hip to facilitate more rotation and let your gaze follow your foot. Return to starting in a high plank position.