Lunges build leg muscle to give the body a lift
Southern Mail senior reporter ROSHAN ABRAHAMS, who is also a qualified personal trainer, has launched a fitness and health column, Fit Foundations, to help you kickstart your fitness journey. In part four this week, she focuses on lunges.
What is a lunge? Sounds a lot like lunch, doesn’t it? Well, of course it has no relation other than that a good protein and carbs lunch can benefit the body after doing a few lunge exercises.
A lunge is one of the strengthening exercises that has multiple benefits for building our muscles including quadriceps (or thighs), the gluteus maximus (or buttocks) as well as the hamstrings (at the back of the thigh).
Lunges are beneficial for leg toning exercises for seniors and the elderly. In fact, the lunge is important in preserving quad strength in older adults.
This exercise is used for standing and balancing activities to maintain your strength and functional mobility for daily activities, such as walking and running and ascending or descending stairs. They’re a functional exercise that work multiple muscles across the hips, knees, and ankle joints at the same time.
Last week we covered the squat and the variations of it. The benefits for both squats and lunges are huge, but so is the potential for injury. If you suffer from tight hips, both exercises can exacerbate the problem, so warm up properly first. Performed incorrectly, lunges can have a massive impact on your lower back, too. Leaning forward during the lunge can prevent you from getting the fullest benefit of the exercise and may cause added back pain in the lumbar region. Ask a personal trainer to talk you through the movements, beginning with bodyweight variations.
According to the Marathon Handbook, the primary lunges versus squats is that a squat is a bilateral exercise because both of your legs are performing the exact same movement pattern in tandem side-by-side.
On the other hand, a lunge is a unilateral exercise. Your feet assume a staggered stance, such that one leg is in front of the other. This positioning distributes the workload differently between your two legs.
How do lunges affect the knees? Well, if you want to avoid pressure on the knees, the reverse lunge (back lunge) can be an effective way to reduce pain and strengthen the muscles around your knees.
Lunges are a key exercise for runners because one leg is dominant and so replicates the running movement.
As a 57-year-old runner, I include lunges in my workout and I use variations such as walking lunges with kettlebells to improve overall stability.
It is also important to start every exercise with a two to five minute warm-up including a quick walk or jog, forward leg swing, lateral leg swing and light squats.
If you are afraid of losing your balance you can hold on with one hand to a table or at the back of a chair before you do the lunge.
The front lunge
Stand up straight before you push one leg forward, with the knee aligned with the ankle.
Bend the knees and lower your body until the back knee is a few centimetres from the floor.
At the bottom of the movement, the front thigh is parallel to the ground, the back knee points toward the floor and your weight is evenly distributed between both legs.
You may put both hands on your hips or lift one arm up on the same side of the leg with your dropped knee
Push back up to the starting position, keeping your weight on the heel of the front foot.
The back lunge (reverse lunge)
Stand up straight and instead of positioning your one leg to the front, push it back and lower that back leg and bend your knee almost to the ground.
The jump lunge (advanced)
Stand in the stationary lunge position.
Hold your arms in a ready position with the elbows bent at 90 degrees, one arm in front of your body and the other arm back, using alternating arms to legs. For example, if your left leg is leading, put your right in front.
Prepare to jump by bending your knees and sinking down into a deep lunge.
Lean slightly forward and contract your core muscles.
As you jump into the air, bring your feet quickly together and switch positions as you begin to land. You should also switch arms as you do this.
To check out the step-by-step video on how to do a squat, visit https://www.southernmail.co.za
• If you have questions or suggestions, email roshan.abrahams@acm.co.za
Previous columns: