- A lunge is a simple exercise to strengthen your lower body and core, with or without weights.
- Proper form and correction will help avoid joint pain by relieving knee stress.
- Versions like hand-supported lunges and pendulum lunges can change exercises at all skill levels.
Lunge is a basic exercise and has many advantages for building strength, stability and balance between the lower body and the core. You can advance your lunge exercises to make them more challenging, or use weights or your body for resistance and scale them for more access.
According to the trainer, it is important that your form is perfect for maximizing the rush and that t0 protects your joints. To do this, choose a variation that suits your level of experience and goals.
Lunge basics
According to Ben Foster, head coach and founder of People’s Athletic Club, lunge is also a good exercise for those who are just starting out in fitness.
The mechanism is as follows.
- Start by standing with your legs separated by the width of your hips.
- Step straight forward on one foot, with your knees and toes facing forward, and the heels of your hind feet off the ground.
- Straighten your torso, bend your front knees, and sit straight until both knees are at an angle of approximately 90 degrees, keeping your core firmly in place.
- Press the forefoot to return and repeat.
Add some hand-supported rush to facilitate movement
According to Foster, you can easily fix or “scale” the lunge by supporting the movement with your hands by grabbing sturdy furniture on one or both sides as you complete the exercise.
According to Foster, if you’re building more exercise sets, you can also add hand-supported lunges to your workout. For example, if your goal is a set of 20 lunges, but you can only complete 10 of them, and you start to feel tired, you can fill the gap with supported lunges. Over time, you can pull yourself apart and increase the difficulty.
How to get the perfect shape
According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), rushing depends on hip, knee and ankle mobility, so improper shape can exacerbate existing lower body and joint problems.
NSCA recommends that you keep your knees away from the inside or outside and keep your knees straight forward for the duration of your movement. Also, do not lean too far forward when rushing. There may be pressure on your knees.
Stress on the joints can also affect your body shape. You can focus on the backward rush instead of the forward to relieve stress from your knees.
“Step back lunges are the most joint-friendly,” Foster said.
You can also change the movement by not extending it completely to the bottom of the lunge. “We find a painless but rewarding depth,” Foster said.
Rush with steps, prio, and balance
Thomas Berwick / Getty Images
If you have mastered the perfect lunge form and are looking for additional challenges, you can make the lunge more difficult. Check with a good coach first, as adding weight and strength can be dangerous if not done properly.
From the most difficult to the most difficult, the variations include:
Walking lunge: If you raise the other foot up and immediately enter another rush, each rush will move forward.
Pendulum lunge: Perform an anterior lunge, then push down on the forefoot and immediately step on the posterior lunge.
Jump lunge: Explosively pushes up from the rush, pushing the foot off the ground and switching the other leg forward when landing in the opposite rush position.
Weighted lunge: To load the lunge, place your arms on your side or in the front rack position and place your weights in front of your shoulders.
Overhead lunge: For very advanced tasks, stretch your weight overhead as you rush, increasing work balance, core strength, shoulder stability, and mobility.
