The purpose of a lunge is to create a one legged squat. Doing this makes the classic exercise unilateral which engages more core and posture muscles, as well as the stabilizers we use for the balance of a single pattern of gait. A lunge can easily be seen as one of the most functional exercises you can perform because of its ability to transfer so well into everyday life. So why is this widely known and fundamental exercise performed so incorrectly? Well it all comes back to mechanics. There was a time that fitness professionals thought that ballistic stretching was a good idea, until they realized the consequence in frequent pain and back blow-outs from it. When it comes to a lunge, people are already feeling the consequences but turn blame elsewhere. So let’s start with the basic structure of what people traditionally call a lunge…
“Back up straight” – The problem here is range of motion(ROM) of the hip. A traditional lunge is requires more extension of the hip than most people have to give. When the hip hits its full ROM abilities in extension it turns to the lower back for extension. We haven’t even started the exercise yet and already we are beginning in a compromised hyper-extension of the lower back.
“Don’t let your knee pass your toes” – This is considered pretty common knowledge and with good reason. The knee passing the toes creates a forward shearing force on the knee. Weight is distributed forward while the lower portion of the knee is stationary. So is this wrong? Absolutely not! The problem is we have put all our attention to whats going on with the front knee that we have completely forgotten about the positioning of our back leg. Take a look at the picture provided – front knee looks good not passing the toes. The back knee however is COMPLETELY past the toes. That beautifully acquired 90 degree angle in the back knee being dropped is the problem. Gravity goes down, our body weight – down, perhaps add some dumbbells to create a challenge – also down… Lower leg however is perpendicular to the effects of gravity creating the very same shearing force we worked so hard avoid.

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How does your trainer perform the lunge? Are you part of the 98%?

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