Stepping Lunges (barbell)
The Stepping Lunge is one of the most classic bodyweight based strength exercises in fitness, it is highly functional for real life, and it provides excellent well rounded leg development. One of the greatest things about Stepping Lunges is that it works the glutes, hamstrings, calves, and the quads. Many people who only do Squats will end up with muscular imbalances due to insufficient glute and hamstring work.
The Lunge is one of the most important exercises to master for real life. Whenever you up off of the ground, you will nearly always do so by performing a lunge.
At first, Stepping Lunges will be performed simply with your bodyweight until you master the exercise. Then you can begin to hold a broomstick across you shoulders to get used to the feeling of having a bar up there. Once you're comfortable with that, you are ready to move up to a light barbell. If you stick with it, eventually you will be using a full sized barbell loaded up with a significant amount of weight. The Stepping Lunge has the potential to be a very strong exercise, yet most people do not utilize it to its full potential and often simply treat it as only a bodyweight exercise.
To perform the Stepping Lunge with a barbell you will simply load a barbell to the weight you have chosen on a squat rack at about shoulder height. You will step up to the bar, place your hands evenly on the bar, dip under it, make sure you are centered, and then stand up with the bar resting on the back of your shoulders as though you are about to perform Back Squats with it.
After you have the bar across the back of your shoulders, step back away from the squat rack to give yourself plenty of room to perform your lunges. When you are ready, step out 2-3 feet towards the front with one of your legs and let your back knee lightly touch the ground. Do not slam your knee into the ground and do not set your bodyweight down on the ground. Merely allow your back knee to very lightly touch the ground so that you know that you went all the way down through the full available range of motion. Doing this will ensure that you utilize all of the potential flexible range of motion that this exercise provides. Many people do not go all the way down on this exercise and this limits the value of the lunge by limiting the range of motion and thus limiting the variety of muscles worked as well as the flexible strength developed in them.
When you are in the down position, your knees should both be at approximately a right angle. If one (or both) of them is significantly off in its angle it will change the recruitment of muscles from the target muscles we are attempting to work by performing the lunge. If your front knee is excessively bent, it can cause tremendous stress to be placed on the knee joint and can cause injury.
After touching the back knee to the ground, push through your front foot (push it into the floor firmly) to push your body up and back in to the starting position. When doing this, focus your mind on your glute and hamstring muscles as much as possible to ensure that they are contracting effectively and generating the bulk of the pushing strength.
After you have reached the starting position again, step out to the front with the other leg and repeat the process alternating from one leg to the next until you have completed the planned number of reps.
Disclaimer - We do not recommend performing any exercise without the supervision of a highly qualified bodyweight strength professional present with you. This detailed exercise description is for informational purposes only. Consult your physician before attempting any strength training program or attempting this exercise or any of the other exercises on www.bodyweight-strength.com
The Lunge is one of the most important exercises to master for real life. Whenever you up off of the ground, you will nearly always do so by performing a lunge.
At first, Stepping Lunges will be performed simply with your bodyweight until you master the exercise. Then you can begin to hold a broomstick across you shoulders to get used to the feeling of having a bar up there. Once you're comfortable with that, you are ready to move up to a light barbell. If you stick with it, eventually you will be using a full sized barbell loaded up with a significant amount of weight. The Stepping Lunge has the potential to be a very strong exercise, yet most people do not utilize it to its full potential and often simply treat it as only a bodyweight exercise.
To perform the Stepping Lunge with a barbell you will simply load a barbell to the weight you have chosen on a squat rack at about shoulder height. You will step up to the bar, place your hands evenly on the bar, dip under it, make sure you are centered, and then stand up with the bar resting on the back of your shoulders as though you are about to perform Back Squats with it.
After you have the bar across the back of your shoulders, step back away from the squat rack to give yourself plenty of room to perform your lunges. When you are ready, step out 2-3 feet towards the front with one of your legs and let your back knee lightly touch the ground. Do not slam your knee into the ground and do not set your bodyweight down on the ground. Merely allow your back knee to very lightly touch the ground so that you know that you went all the way down through the full available range of motion. Doing this will ensure that you utilize all of the potential flexible range of motion that this exercise provides. Many people do not go all the way down on this exercise and this limits the value of the lunge by limiting the range of motion and thus limiting the variety of muscles worked as well as the flexible strength developed in them.
When you are in the down position, your knees should both be at approximately a right angle. If one (or both) of them is significantly off in its angle it will change the recruitment of muscles from the target muscles we are attempting to work by performing the lunge. If your front knee is excessively bent, it can cause tremendous stress to be placed on the knee joint and can cause injury.
After touching the back knee to the ground, push through your front foot (push it into the floor firmly) to push your body up and back in to the starting position. When doing this, focus your mind on your glute and hamstring muscles as much as possible to ensure that they are contracting effectively and generating the bulk of the pushing strength.
After you have reached the starting position again, step out to the front with the other leg and repeat the process alternating from one leg to the next until you have completed the planned number of reps.
Disclaimer - We do not recommend performing any exercise without the supervision of a highly qualified bodyweight strength professional present with you. This detailed exercise description is for informational purposes only. Consult your physician before attempting any strength training program or attempting this exercise or any of the other exercises on www.bodyweight-strength.com