To Lunge or Not To Lunge
Source: https://en.ac-illust.com/clip-art/24941031/woman-doing-lunge-training
“If you don’t make time for exercise, you’ll probably have to make time for illness” —Robin Sharma
Continuing our series of functional fitness movements for an aging population – we have lunges this month.
What is the Purpose of a Lunge?
Lunging for balance is an awesome way to improve strength, balance, core stability, and control over the body. Research confirms that lunges are beneficial for muscle stability, and static and dynamic balance as they require balancing on one leg at a time, and help you to develop hip, knee, ankle, and foot mobility and stability.
If you’re thinking that the muscle groups for lunges are similar to squats that we covered last month, you are correct! In fact, there are 2 muscle groups that may get worked even more than with squats, and those are:
- Hip adductors – inner thigh muscles to stabilize the legs and maintain proper form
- Hip abductors – outer thigh muscles for hip stability and abduction, crucial for balance and preventing pelvic dropping during single-leg support. Also, there’s a lot of power for straightening the leg and stabilizing the kneecap.
What Benefits do we get from Lunges?
- Good balance (Lunge is a unilateral exercise requiring more balance work.)
- Stability (Lunge is a hip and pelvic stability challenge.)
- Coordination (Lunge is a dynamic movement pattern because you’re either moving forward, backward, or sideways.)
- Healthy joints
- Lower body strength
- Opening through the front of the hips to counteract all the sitting we do
What are Lunges?
There are many versions, such as forward lunges, walking lunges, reverse lunges, and lateral lunges. These exercises can be done with your bodyweight, or additional weight in both hands, or you can use unilateral weight (holding the weight on one side) to challenge your core muscles.
What’s the Proper Form for a Lunge?
Here are the steps for an alternating bodyweight forward lunge.
- Stand upright with your feet shoulder-width apart and your hands on your hips.
- Take a giant step forward with your right foot and drop down into a lunge, bending each knee 90°. Your front thigh should be parallel to the floor.
- Press through your front foot to stand back into an upright position and then switch legs.
- Continue alternating legs, making sure to bend each knee to 90°.
What are we looking for?
The attention is focused on knee alignment, posture, and balance.
Don’t let your front knee go past your toes. No strain in the knee joint.
No inward/outward rotation of the knee, particularly the back leg. Keep your knee aligned with your hip and ankle.
Too short of a stance. Step forward or backward far enough to allow for a 90 degree angle in both knees at the bottom of your lunge.
Avoid hunching over, leaning forward, leaning backward. Keep the torso upright.
No need to be on a “balance beam” or a “tightrope” where you step directly behind your front foot in a reverse lunge, or step directly in front of your front foot in a forward lunge. Step wide enough to help with balance.
Symmetry. Keep the weight balanced between both feet, with a majority of the weight in the front heel.
Can’t do a lunge YET?
Let’s go through progressions so you can assess where you’re at today, and work up to it. I’ve even listed some challenging options if you’re feeling pretty awesome!
- Most Accessible: Bodyweight reverse lunges. This can be less demanding on your knees. Reverse lunges often place less stress on the knee joint and can feel more controlled, making them a gentler option. Lateral lunges. High lunges/runner’s lunges.
- Everyday Variations: Bodyweight lunges (forward) – stationary, twist lunges, curtsy lunge variations, walking lunges – dynamic
- Challenge: Weighted lunges (forward, reverse, lateral), overhead lunges, plyometric lunges, jumping lunges
What if the “most accessible” progressions is not where I’m at today?
Have no fear; it’s never too late to start!
- If you struggle with balance or knee pain, try a reverse lunge with a chair or stand next to a wall for support.
- Another option for “bad knees” is to reduce how low your knee goes to the ground, or take a smaller step. Note: All the same muscle groups are being worked, but with the limited range of motion, you won’t be building as much strength. However, the exercise itself can help with natural changes like reduced muscle mass, flexibility, and balance, as we get older.
What are the lunge guidelines by age group?
- 20s: 40 total (20 on each side)
- 30s: 30 total (15 on each side)
- 40s: 20 total (10 on each side)
- 50s: 10 total (5 each side)
- 60s: 8 total (4 on each side)
If you noticed you fell short of these guidelines, it may signal you’re losing muscle mass and bone density. Strength training can help rebuild both. On the other side of this, your progress can plateau with your body weight. Now, your body requires new stimuli to continue building your muscles and bones. New stimuli can be doing more difficult variations, additional reps, or adding weights to increase strength and endurance.
Is there a “Pilates Lunge”?
Nothing official but there are many lunge exercises, including variations, available on all the Pilates apparatuses. Many of these exercises build up your lunges from where you are today depending on your body’s need to strengthen, stretch, stabilize, and mobilize. There are also lunge exercises to challenge your body because there’s always another level if your body hits a plateau.
However, if you’re at home practicing the classical mat order, it begins with a squat down (ideally without the use of your arms for assistance), and 33 exercises later, from laying on your back, you roll up to standing (which is a squat to standing tall, again without the use of your arms) to practice the 34th and last exercise, known as the Pilates Push-Ups. The squat down to the mat to begin your mat practice can be a challenge, so know that a reverse lunge is always an option for you. Also, at the end of your mat practice, the squat to stand can also be a challenge, so there’s always the forward lunge as an option.
Final Word!
If you want to improve your walk, run, kneel (to grab things on a low shelf), climbing up or down stairs, balance, have more efficiency in your everyday activities, or even improve athletic performance, lunges will help all aspects of your life. Most of us, most of the time, in our everyday life, move from our joints. The more muscles we have allows us to support our joints, by taking most of the load off our joints. Remember that these lower group muscles are vital for efficient and stable lower body movement in a wide range of activities, including walking and running. These are all important for functional longevity, especially as we live longer as a population. It’s about living longer in a way that allows us to stay active, engaged, and healthy for a longer period. Our independence and ability to have a good time is essential to living well.