How to perform the perfect lunge
1. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and keep your back straight the whole time.
2. Take a long step forward. If your step is too short then your knee may go past your foot and will overload the knee, which can cause discomfort.
3. Slowly lower your body until you make a 90-degree angle with your leading leg. Your knee should never go past your foot.
4. Slowly push back up by driving with your heel bringing your trailing leg up next to your leading leg.
5. Repeat with other leg.
Watch this video from bodybuilding.com to help you visually understand the exercise.
Muscles targeted:
Glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, Hip adductor and abductor, and abs
Benefits from exercise:
Increased Balance and Core. Lunges help improve your core strength because it is a unilateral exercise. A unilateral exercise is where you workout one side of your body independently from the other. Some examples are one-legged deadlifts, alternating dumbbell press, and alternating dumbbell curl.
Better Flexibility. Lunges are often used as a stretch without weight. Adding dumbbells make no difference. You will feel the stretch in the hip flexor of the back leg. Added weight does not affect the deepness of this stretch but rather it will be on the leading leg in which you will use to drive your heel into the ground to make yourself upright again.
Mimics common daily movements
In 1999, Justin Keogh wrote an article in the “Strength and Conditioning Journal” giving reason that lunges are better than squats because you are more likely to perform a lunging motion than a squatting motion in regular daily activity.
Deloads the back. If you back problems it is tough to work out your legs (often times the cause of most back problems are weak legs or imbalance of back muscles). Lunges help give your back a rest from spinal loading exercises like squats and leg presses.
Workout: Start with lighter weight and do 15-20 reps for 3 sets. Once you get stronger and more confident in the movement, increase your weight while decreasing your reps.
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