The lunge is probably one of the most versatile exercises in our strength training toolbox. It gives you the most bang for your buck. It is also the exercise that is most often done incorrectly. Lunges can be a problem for knee health, especially when you don’t have the glute, hip, and posterior chain strength to perform this movement properly.
Some of the benefits of performing lunges are:
- strengthen the glutes, quads, and hamstrings
- improve posture
- develops core strength and stability
- improves balance and coordination
The lunge is one of our primary patterns. This is a movement that is stored in our brain from early development. Unfortunately, although we are born connected to this pattern of movement, over time we lose the ability to perform it correctly.
How to perform a lunge correctly:
Start with an upright posture. Think about making yourself as tall as possible. This will engage your core muscles. Keeping tight, take a long step out, landing on your heel. Lower yourself under control until your back knee almost touches the ground. Once again, standing tall and steady, push your heel back to the starting position. A good lunge when done correctly should look smooth and effortless. You should not see any jerky movements in your upper body when you return to the starting position.
A longer stride in the lunge will work your glutes, hamstrings, and posterior chain more. A short step lunge will emphasize the quads. Personally, I prefer the long stride lunge as it’s also safer on the knee.
Some common flaws seen in a lunge:
Forward Bending – This can be caused by tight hip flexors or quads. Or it can be as simple as being lazy and not working to keep your upper body posture strong at all times. If you are in a hurry to complete the exercise, you may not be focused on staying upright and this allows your body to lean. Take your time and reset your posture before each rep.
knees cave in – If a person has weak glutes, they cannot adequately stabilize or decelerate hip movement. This leads to the knees bending. That’s where glute activation exercises (bridges, tube walking) come into play. You see there’s a reason to walk around with those damn tubes around your feet!
foot sinks into – This is often seen in conjunction with the knees moving inward. Usually a muscle imbalance in the lower leg will cause this (tight calf muscles) and weak tibialis anterior muscles. These are the reasons we do calf stretches, ankle mobility work (specifically toes up) before and after workouts.
Improper landing – landing on the toes or pushing off with the toes is usually due to weak muscles around the hip. If you lack the strength in your glutes and posterior chain to return to the starting position, then you’ll be pushing off your toes using more of your quads. Focus on pushing through your heel, not your toes.
Variations and progressions of the lunge:
The lunge is an exercise that can start out very basic and progress to very complex and difficult. Typical lunge progressions are:
- static lunge (or split squat)
- reverse lunge
- lunge forward
- walking lunge
- spinning lunges.
The progression per load for this exercise is:
- bodyweight lunges
- lunges holding dumbbells
- barbell back lunges
- lunges above the head.
There is also a multitude of variety with the lunge. Once normal progression has occurred, lunges can be performed in a number of different ways:
- lunge forward
- side lunge
- walking lunge with twist
- walking overhead lunges
- spinning lunges
Hopefully this will help you understand the dynamics behind the lunge and help you focus on doing it in the most correct way possible the next time you’re in the gym.