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).
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).
posted by Chris Colucci at 9:40 AM
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