Lunge To Greatness - The Second Greatest Leg Exercise!
The second greatest leg exercise in the known cosmos can only be...drum roll
, please...The Lunge. Yes, the lunge is the second, greatest leg exercise to my puny, little mind. There are so many great exercises out there, yet few can match the total package that the lunge approaches.
The lunge done correctly works your quadriceps, the inner and outer thighs, your hips, your glutes, your groin muscles, your calves, your hams, and every little muscle in between. And, let us not forget the static work your upper torso gets from holding the body upright throughout this endeavor. It will work your heart, your lungs, your stamina, flexibility, and power. Wow, can you handle all that?
The squat, the lunge, and the stiff-legged dead lift are the one, two, three movements for your legs. Done correctly, you need no other movements to build mass and strength into your lower body.
There are a number of variations which I will cover a little later, but for now, let us discuss the barbell lunge.
The movement:
1.Position the bar where your traps and your upper back meet - just imagine where the base of your traps is, about 3 or 4 inches below the neck. I personally do not like having the bar right at the base of my neck. I keep thinking that I am compressing my spine.
2.Loop the arms under and behind the bar. The hands should come to rest on the inside collars of the barbell.
3.Step back a couple of feet from the power rack, or even 3 to 4 feet as you will need the space.
4.With chest high, a slight arch in your back, looking straight ahead, lunge forward with your right foot.
5.This is a key point. Your stance is initially shoulder width. When you lunge out, keep that distance the same. I have seen some guys move the foot in, as they lunge. They end up with one foot in front of other and lose their balance. Not good.
6.Lunge out about 2 to 2 feet and as you descend, make sure that your forward knee moves directly over your forward feet. Do not let the knee travel inward or outward, keep your knee travelling directly over the lead foot.
7.Right before your trail knee touches the ground - with authority - push back with your forward leg and come back to the standing position. You really have to push back hard (almost explode up), otherwise you may not come back to your standing position smoothly.
8.Lunge forward with your left foot and repeat the movement.
9.That is one rep.
This is a potentially dangerous movement. If you are not familiar with the lunge, by all means, practice it without weights until you are comfortable with it. And it is a gut check exercise. A set of 15 reps for each leg translates to 30 reps for your torso and mind. It will test you.
For sets and repetitions, I recommend no more than 3 sets of 15, 12, and 10. It is a difficult exercise to spot and potentially dangerous. I would not recommend going to failure or going heavy. Moderate weights for 12 to 10 reps should be fine. After all, you should do this exercise after the squats where you did go very heavy. Lunge simply gets every other "little" muscle in your thighs and hips that squat did not directly affect.
As you get stronger, instead of increasing the weights, you should increase the range of the motion. One method would be for you to stack 3 or 4 45 lb plates about 2 feet in front of you. The exercise movement is the same, but stepping out to an elevated block allows you to descend deeper. The Inner thighs and the groin muscles get stretched much farther. This is a brutal variation.
Variations:
1.Dumbbell - Do the exact same movement except you do it holding dumbbells. Use waist straps. The benefit is that the danger part of the exercise is almost eliminated. If you have troubles, then you just drop the dumbbells.
2.Walking Lunge - This is very straightforward. With dumbbell or barbell, lunge around the perimeter of the gym. Obviously, this is not practical for small gyms.
3.Smith Machine - Easy to do. Get under the bar and place one foot forward about a foot and a half. Place your other foot behind you about a foot and a half. With your legs position in front of and behind you, simply squat down for say 12 reps. Switch legs and repeat.
4.Back lunges - Instead of stepping forward, you would step back. All other variations apply.
5.Side Lunges - I do not like.
Lunge is a tremendous movement. It will make your heart pound and your sweat glands will go into overdrive. On the third set, use moderate, but heavy enough weight to make you gut out 10 reps. After 5 sets of full squats and 3 sets of lunges, other leg exercises will not be needed - actually, you will be lucky if you can stand.
by: Jack Kim
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