Side Lunges
Work The Thighs, Hips, And Glutes While Putting More Stress On The Inner Thigh
The side lunge feels a little strange. It's kind of like a lunge and kind of like a squat.
It's a great exercise though because you can work the muscles slightly differently than normal squats and lunges but still hit the major lower body muscles.
They primarily work the quads, but you will also feel them in the hips and inner thighs.
Technique
- Start by standing with your feet
out wide and your toes pointed slightly outward at a comfortable angle.
- Keep your head and chest up. Keep your back straight and contract your abs.
- Lunge to the right while keeping
the left leg straight.
- Keep your weight on the heel of
your lunging leg – not your toes. Don’t
lean forward.
- Lower until your right thigh is
parallel with the ground. Do not let
your knee extend beyond your toes and do not allow your knee to collapse
inward. Keep the knee aligned with the
direction the toes are pointing.
- Press back up to the starting
position squeezing the thighs and glutes.
- Repeat with the left side.
Keep In Mind...
- Start off slowly with these! Maybe it’s just me, but when I first tried
side lunges, I felt the inner thigh of my straight leg feeling like it was
being pulled like a guitar string.
- Don’t
over extend and pull a groin muscle!
- As always with squats and lunges,
keep the knee behind the toes to avoid putting a lot of stress on the knee. The idea is to work the muscles, not see how
much punishment your knees can take.
- Keep your knee aligned with the
direction your toe is pointing.
- Do not lean forward. Keep your head and chest up, and sit back
with your weight on the heel of your lunging leg and not the toes.
Modifiers
- Add a weight. For more resistance, hold a dumbbell, kettle
bell, medicine ball, plate, or anything else you have handy in front of you.
- Toe tap with the extended
leg. This is tougher than you think. Tap the toe of your straight leg while you
are at the bottom of the lunge.
- From the squat position, instead
of returning to the starting position, shift to the other side. Squat down with the right leg, from the
bottom position, shift over to the left leg, then press up. Next start with the left side, shift over to
the right, and then press up.
- Do a plyometric version where you
explode up to where you are standing tall and then immediately drop down on the
other side. Keep that up for 5
minutes. Your legs will be screaming and
you’ll get a great cardio workout at the same time.
-
Sliding side lunge: This is a nice variation
that will put some stress on your inner thighs.
Start in a standing position with the feet about shoulder width apart
and the left foot on a paper plate or gliding disk. Squat down on the right leg while sliding the
left leg out to the side. Follow all of
the technique tips above. On the way up,
press the left foot into the plate and squeeze the thigh to bring the left foot
back to its original position.
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