Lunges and lunges, oh my! We start off the first week of our program learning reverse lunges. Not because you move backwards, but because it’s the easiest place to start. Lunges are a big lower body movement. Primarily they work your quads and glutes, but when done properly they also engage your entire core (which you know is more than just your abs), hamstrings, and calves. A lunge is considered more of a single leg movement because you are balancing on one leg as you step into the lunge. This means you are working a lot of your stabilizer muscles too. Essentially – lunges a rockstar movement!
A lunge basically requires you to step, bend both knees, maintain a straight upper body and be able to stand back up again without falling over or losing your balance. That’s a lot to do in one movement. It sure is! You know what, walking requires a lot to do at the same time also. A lunge is quite functional because it uses the body as a group of muscles to create a movement pattern we do in daily life. For example, a forward lunge is an exaggerated walking pattern. Can you see the similarity? A lunge movement is also necessary for changing direction in sports (i.e. side lunges train you for returning a ball in tennis).
The direction of your lunge matters. You can move in one of the three planes of motion, but you can also simultaneously resist motion in another plane of motion. We start with the reverse lunge because it’s the easiest to control your body weight. You’re moving in the sagittal plane, which we are most comfortable with while you are resisting rotation of your upper body (transverse plane). Most of your weight stays on the front leg while you are stepping backwards so there’s not movement of your body initially. After reverse, we move to lateral lunges (side lunges). Stepping to the side is moving in the frontal plane (sideways), while resisting rotation in the transverse plane. More transfer of body weight occurs in this direction and the hip stabilizers aren’t typically as strong as our big quads. Then we go forward.
You would think that we’d do this one first since it’s an exaggerated form of walking, but it’s the most difficult. With a forward lunge you are moving in the same plane as reverse, but you are transferring all of your body weight to that front foot. Your core is required to decelerate your body and prevent your upper body from falling forward. If you learn forward in your forward lunge, it’s your core that is weak – not your legs. You can see that a lunge, regardless of direction, isn’t just a lower body movement.
Incorporating lunges into your workouts can have many benefits:
- Joint mobility and strength: With a lunge movement, you get “triple extension” of your hip, knee, and ankle. Basically, all three major lower body joints must flex and extend to properly perform the lunge.
- Lower body functional strength patterning: You are requiring your major lower body muscles to engage and your stabilizers to fire while moving your body. We do this every day.
- Hip flexor stretch: The lunge position in itself is stretching the hip flexor of the rear leg. Check out the picture above. The rear leg is extended behind the hip joint.
- Improved balance: Strength gained in a lunge movement trains your body to respond to positional changes, thus improving your balance.
- Keeps your back safely strong: Unlike a back squat which loads & compresses the spine, a lunge increases your lower body strength without compressing your spine. Research has shown more muscle activationfrom body weight lunges than with a weighted back squat.
- Improved coordination: Because you use several muscles at once during this movement, your movement must be coordinated. Your nervous system and muscular system have to work together to make the movement happen. Repeatedly training your neuro-muscular system improves that motor pattern and coordination improves.
The intent of the lunge is to train your muscles in a coordinated pattern to create a strong, stable movement. It’s not just to build your quads and glutes. Your core and hips must work in order to effectively perform a lunge and not fall over. This is one of my most favorite exercises to do! Next time you do them, concentrate on your feet pushing into the floor, the direction of your movement & which movement you’re resisting, and focus on maintaining an upright torso. If you do all that at the same time, I promise your lunge will improve!