I like lunges. A lot. The problem with lunges though is 1) They get boring 2) When it comes to performance training and everyday life, they’re really aren’t all that practical. Why not? Well, we aren’t going back and forth and for most athletes, they’re moving in multiple planes.
We put together 5 lunge variations you can do create better stability in your lunge and more multiple plane movement. For athletes, the ability to decelerate is just as important as acceleration. If you want a bigger engine, make sure you build bigger brakes. These variations are great for building big engines as well as big brakes.
These are great smokers for the end of a workout or can be a nice strength change of pace in the middle of the session. I tend to use higher reps with bodyweight or to provide more of a challenge, hold a dumbbell or kettlebell in the goblet position or 2 dumbbells or kettlebells at your side. In addition to the added weight, holding weights for these exercises will provide sneaky isometric for grip and forearm strength.
STEP-THROUGH
This is probably my least most favorite. I love them, and I do them at least once a week. Why? They’re tough. Tougher than you think and real smokers on your legs and heart rate. They’ll also provide good feedback and a stability challenge. For the step through, you’ll lunge forward and back using the same leg, keeping the opposite leg in place, then switching after your total reps. Each lunge forward and back counts as 1 total rep.
STEP-THROUGH WITH DVRT ROTATION
Q. What’s worse than the Step Through? A. A Step Through Lunge w Rotation. This is the exact same exercise as the Step Through except we’re going to add another plane of movement to challenge stability by rotating across the lead leg as we step forward and back. With this exercise, you’ll hold a DVRT Ultimate Sandbag or a backpack, or some object we can hold with both hands. A light to medium weight dumbbell would work as well. As you step forward you’ll rotate your upper body over the front leg. As you step back in to the reverse lunge, you’ll rotate over the new front leg. Using T Spine rotation while using lower body strength is a great compound movement
FORWARD TO LATERAL
In keeping with our multiple planes for lunges, I like this variation because it adds to the frontal plane, but forward lunges also adds in a certain amount of deceleration when we step back up. As an added benefit, because we’re always working with the same leg (right foot lunges forward, then pushes back up, steps laterally and pushes back up), we get tremendous work capacity and leg strength.
LATERAL TO CROSSOVER
This lunge variation is great for competitive and everyday athletes alike. It’s great for getting a lot of the neglected glute and hip muscles like the abductors, adductors and rotators. In terms of lunge movements, these tend to be easier for people with knee issues or those who want a bit more glute focus. I LOVE the Crossover lunges because it gets the hip in to both the frontal AND the transverse plane so we’re getting a lot of bang for our lunging buck.
REVERSE TO CROSSOVER
Similar to the previous two, we’re focusing on multiple planes of movement here. MANY people prefer reverse lunges to forward lunges and find the sagittal plane easier to move in. Reverse lunges tend to be little easier for most people and as we talked about in our previous Crossover lunge variation, we get multiple planes of movement at once.