Deadlifts, squats and lunges are very beneficial exercises, but they all have one major weakness.
These exercises train your muscles in one plane – the sagittal plane – the plane in which you walk and run. However, your body is capable of so much more. It’s meant to twist and move laterally – but you need to train to do that. (Source: Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., Fitness Director of Men’s Health, Certified Personal Trainer)
Lateral lunges are a great exercise to add into your strength training regimen. They force you to work in the frontal plane, improving your all-around fitness, coordination, and balance. In addition, adding lateral exercises is critical to maintaining overall strength and flexibility.
In just one simple movement, lateral lunges work nearly all the muscles of the lower body and core. This exercise is also easy to modify if you want to get even more out of the exercise.
How To Do a Lateral Lunge with Proper Form
- Start standing with your feet together.
- Take a large step out to the side of your body while maintaining a lifted chest, neutral spine, and engaged core. As you do so, you are shifting your bodyweight onto the side that you are stepping out towards. Be sure to keep the inside leg (trailing leg) straight and the foot flat on the floor so as to work on ankle mobility at the same as building strength.
- Keep the knee of the step out leg over your big toe with your toes pointing forward. Be sure to push the hips back as you lunge to the side so that the knee also stays behind the toes.
- Push off the same leg that stepped out, return to your starting position and switch sides. For an added challenge you can also work one side at a time and return to a balanced position without letting the foot that was stepping out touch the floor as you return to the start position.
Note that the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) highly recommends consulting a certified Personal Trainer to help you assess your current level of fitness and movement capabilities.
If you are interested in diversifying your workout routine and/or want to have one of our trainers evaluate your form, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are happy to help!