Exercise of The Week: Lunges

photo: fithealthymoms

You can do lunges anytime, anywhere—just make sure you’re doing them right!

Lunges are an ideal exercise; they can be done anywhere and the effects can be seen in no time. Lunges are great moves for strengthening, sculpting and building several muscles/muscle groups, including the quadriceps (or thighs), the glutes (butt) as well as the hamstrings.

Incorporate lunges into your routine to achieve shapely, toned legs and backside, however make sure you're not doing more harm than good. Find out how to do lunges correctly below.


How To:
It's important to do lunges properly so you don't put unnecessary strain on your joints. Here is how to perfect your form:

• Position and keep your upper body straight, with your shoulders back and relaxed and chin up (pick a point to stare at in front of you so you don't keep looking down). keep your core tight and making you breathe.
• Step forward with one leg, lowering your hips until both knees are bent at about a 90-degree angle. Make sure your front knee is directly above your ankle, not pushed out too far, and make sure your other knee doesn't touch the floor. Keep the weight in your heels as you push back up to the starting position. That is one repetition.
• Repeat 10-15 times per leg.

The Challenge: Now that you know the basics, you can change your lunge workouts in many different ways in order to work different muscles. For instance, reverse lunges (stepping back instead of forward) is a good way to complement the forward movements in your daily life. We always move forward and moving in a reverse direction requires more skill and helps regain some balance and athleticism. Here are more recommended lunge variations to try:

• Do a bicep curl with dumbbells while you lunge to work your upper body same time strengthen your legs.
• Perform walking lunges
• Curtsy squat lunges
• Change it up to side lunges
• static lunges
• carrying weight(on your shoulder) like barbell while performing static or normal lunges.

 Watch video demonstration here