Lunges are an important exercise and they are often undervalued in comparison to squats and deadlifts.
There are many different types of lunges and there is the lunge that is just wrong.
The lunge like all other main leg exercises is about hip extension not leg extension.
You should drive through your lead heel and squeeze the glutes forward, fully extending the hip and maxing out the glute contraction.
Pulsing up and down, pressing off the ball of the foot or toes of either foot, pushing off with the back leg instead of the front leg, not keeping a neutral spine with braced abs and not coming up to full hip extension are all signs that I cue clients to correct.
Some people do these things because they say they are working their quads on purpose.
I say they do it because nobody taught them right and somebody forgot to tell them it's a glute exercise.
The lunges are now hard for me with my old injuries but I still do them. My mobility isn't what it used to be so I work on body weight lunges to keep form as best I can while strengthening the legs and posterior chain.
Focus on form and technique and don't worry about the big weights.
It's also a great finishing exercise after squats or deadlifts.
There are many different types of lunges and there is the lunge that is just wrong.
The lunge like all other main leg exercises is about hip extension not leg extension.
You should drive through your lead heel and squeeze the glutes forward, fully extending the hip and maxing out the glute contraction.
Pulsing up and down, pressing off the ball of the foot or toes of either foot, pushing off with the back leg instead of the front leg, not keeping a neutral spine with braced abs and not coming up to full hip extension are all signs that I cue clients to correct.
Some people do these things because they say they are working their quads on purpose.
I say they do it because nobody taught them right and somebody forgot to tell them it's a glute exercise.
The lunges are now hard for me with my old injuries but I still do them. My mobility isn't what it used to be so I work on body weight lunges to keep form as best I can while strengthening the legs and posterior chain.
Focus on form and technique and don't worry about the big weights.
It's also a great finishing exercise after squats or deadlifts.
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