When it comes to lower body work, squats and deadlifts seem to get all the attention. But if you want to be powerful, explosive and well-balanced from the ground up, you should also be lunging. There’s a reason that TRX has made the lunge one of its seven foundational movements, it’s a component of the NFL Combine’s Functional Movement Screen, and it’s one of the hip archetypes explored in movement manifesto Becoming a Supple Leopard.
Lunging is one of the fundamental shapes that doesn’t just exist in the gym, but is also transferable to sports and daily life outside it.
A snowboarder in the midst of a turn, a surfer in their stance and a yoga practitioner in Warrior I or II are all practicing some form of a lunge. So are you when you bend down to tie your kid’s shoe, put air in your car tires or do pretty much anything else with one leg behind the other in a split stance.
In addition to being a valuable strength and conditioning exercise, we can use the lunge as a diagnostic tool to shine a light on ankle, foot and hip mobility issues. If you can perform an unweighted lunge correctly, your back knee should be positioned behind your hip, with adequate flexion in your back ankle and the ability to bend your toes while planting them. But if you’re missing hip extension and/or internal rotation you’ll struggle to get that rear knee back and will overextend your lumbar spine to compensate, while lack of ankle flexion and toe dorsiflexion will manifest itself in the rear foot collapsing and turning out. If a training partner or coach sees these faults when you lunge, you’ll know it’s time to work on your hip capacity and ankle mobility.
Photo: Runningthecape.com
How to Lunge Well
Before we get into the loaded variations, you need to be able to perform an unloaded, bodyweight lunge correctly. To do it:
–Standing with your feet shoulder width apart, take a large step forward with your right leg
— Make sure you step far enough so that your front shin is vertical and your foot is ahead of your knee
— Also make sure that the front foot is flat on the floor, neutral (aka straight) and screwed into the ground to create stabilizing torque in your hips. Force the front knee out to prevent valgus knee – where it collapses inward and places excess strain on the knee ligaments.
— As you’re stepping forward with the right leg, the back leg should bend until the knee touches the floor. The knee should be behind the hip, with the toes bent
–As your leg stance splits, you should slowly lower your torso toward the ground. To prevent tipping at the pelvis, keep your abs braced and look straight ahead
— Repeat with the other leg. Try taking 10 steps on each side until you feel stable. Have an experienced training buddy or coach check your form.
Challenge The Integrity of Your Position
Once you’ve mastered the bodyweight lunge, try doing it again with both arms above your head. This will make the lunge more challenging by raising your center of gravity. Once you can complete 10 steps on each side in this progression, it’s time to add some load with a couple of variations:
Photo: Weighttrainingexercises4you.com
Dumbbell/Kettlebell Walking Lunge
— Perform the lunge holding a dumbbell or kettlebell in each hand.
–Pin your shoulder blades back and avoid rounding your shoulders.
–Also make sure your arms are straight so you’re not cheating the movement by loading your forearms too much.
–Take 10 steps on each side and if you can’t do so without feeling tippy, reduce the weight.
SEE THE EXERCISE IN ACTION IN THIS VIDEO
Photo: Barbellshrugged.com
Overhead Walking Lunge
Here’s where things can get really interesting (see: difficult).
–In the start position, hold a weight plate or stubby barbell above your head. It should be positioned as if there was an imaginary line running down from the load, through your arms, behind your ears and down to your hips.
–As you step forward, make sure you keep your arms extended and try to keep your shoulder blades back and down to ensure the weight doesn’t stray from your midline.
–Also dial up the ab tension to provide a stable platform, while still maintaining controlled breathing.
–Take 10 steps on each side, only adding more distance or weight once someone else has validated that you’re doing it right.
–You can make this exercise even more changing by making it unilateral – i.e. using a single kettlebell overhead. The same goes for the DB/KB walking lunge.
