Exercise Spotlight: Reverse Lunge

If you were stranded on a desert island without exercise equipment, this would be one of your exercise must-do's. It probably explains how Ginger kept everything perky for the Professor and Skipper.

The How-To: From a fully upright position with the feet together, take a long step backwards with one foot. Once you've landed on the ball of that back foot, bend the front leg to drop the hips down. The knee of the back leg should barely touch the ground, but do not rest your weight on it.

Keep your shoulders back and your torso upright, not overly-leaning forwards to counterbalance. Focus on moving your body up and down, instead of back and forth.

Use the front foot to give 95% of the oomph to return back to standing position. Do all reps with one leg before switching sides.

Main Muscles Involved: Everything below the waist (glutes, hamstrings, quads, some calves.) The smaller stabilizing muscles in the ankles are also brought into play, to keep you from flopping around like an extra in The Legend of Drunken Master.

Common Variations: While the reverse lunge is technically a variation of the stationary lunge (sometimes called a split squat), you can vary the reverse lunge even further by holding a weight overhead, holding a bar in the rack position (at the collarbones), or by elevating the front foot.

Taking a shorter step backwards will engage the quads more. Taking a huge step back will activate more of the glutes and hamstrings. You could also alternate feet with each rep (one left, one right, one left, etc.) to let each leg get a mini-rest between reps. This is more appropriate for higher-rep sets.

Best Suited For: Moderate reps (5-10) for hypertrophy. Higher reps (12+) for conditioning/cardio. Going too heavy with super-low reps can overload the smaller muscles of the ankles before anything else gets a solid workout.

Contraindications/Who Should NOT Perform This Exercise: People with coordination or balance issues, and people who've suffered ankle or knee injuries, shouldn't do reverse lunges without a stable support to hold on to.

Fun Fact: The reverse lunge with twist is a ridiculously effective, full-body warm-up and stretch. 5-8 reps per side, after your general warm-up and before the start of your workout, will prepare the hips, legs, back, shoulders, and abs for whatever have planned.



Instead of reaching up and back, keep your arms straight in front of you, Charlie's Angel-style, and rotate to the side of the front leg (in this picture, he'd rotate to the left).

New Year's Resolutions Solved

According to USA.gov, the top six resolutions that people have made for the coming year are to lose weight, manage debt, save money, get a better job, get fit, and eat right.

Since most resolutions fizzle and disappear before the first of February, here are some of the best ways to actually get these things done.

- Lose weight: Saying you want to "lose weight" is vague, like saying "I wanna workout". Way to be specific there, chief. I'm going to interpret "lose weight" to really mean "look leaner and more defined."

For guys trying to get this look, Nate Green's new book, Built for Show, is one of the best plans out there. For gals, the 20 for 12 program is a great place to start, and the entire FigureAthlete.com site is a phenomenal resource and motivator.


- Manage debt: The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey is one of the most effective debt-reduction/lifestyle readjustment programs I've seen around. It's a relatively-simple step-by-step guide to eliminating debt and building long-term wealth (okay, that sounds a bit infomercial-ish, but seriously, this is good stuff).


- Save money: GetRichSlowly.org is one of the few non-fitness-related blogs I follow regularly. They have tons of info on money-saving tips; everything from how to choose a savings account for the best return to a reminder of the benefits of cooking at home. Lots of good info, and usually updated a few times a day, so there's always something new to read.


- Get a better job: Dude, sorry, but I don't have any advice on this one. The best I can come up with is a spot-on Mark Twain quote. "What work I have done, I have done because it has been play. If it had been work, I shouldn't have done it."

I'm incredibly, incredibly lucky to be in the position I'm in right now, working full-time for an amazing company at the top of its field. I can only hope you all find yourselves in a similar place.


- Get fit: Again with the vague resolutions. "Getting fit" can mean a hundred different things. If you're not going to narrow it down to something like, "I'm going to improve my pitching speed for the summer softball season", then I'll figure you mean to improve the general quality of life and just feel good all around.

Foam rolling is one of the simplest, least time-involved ways to decrease soreness, improve range of motion, and just feel better from ankles to shoulders.


- Eat right: One more time... you're being vague, and that sucks. Are you eating because you want to build muscle? Lose fat? Reproduce each meal you saw on the first season of Iron Chef America? If we're speaking generally, and not addressing any of those particular nutrition requirements, one of the best things you can do for your health is to eat more high-quality vegetables than you are right now.

You think you already eat a lot? I bet you could squeeze some more in during the day if you gave it half a second's thought. If your daily source of veggies is the lettuce and tomato on your whopper jr., then yeah, work on that, dopey. Even adding a fistful of random veggies to two meals a day is a solid start.


So, whether you have a laundry list of resolutions, or you don't believe in them (because you "don't need them"), here's hoping '09 has us seeing results in the mirror, in the gym, and on the field.