All you need to know about lunges

Written by ladies personal trainer Justina Triasovaite.

A lunge is a form of exercise in which one leg is positioned forward with knee bent and foot flat while the other one is positioned behind. It is used by several people with several purposes. Yogis use it for asana regimen, weight trainers use it for fitness and athletes use it for cross training in sports.

How-to perform 

Just like other exercises, lunges also have several variations but a basic form of lunge is:

  • where you keep your upper body in a straight position
  • shoulders relaxed at the back and chin up.
  • put your one foot in front lowering your hip until both of your knees are bent at about 90 degrees.

Please check out the video below where famele personal trainer Justina is demonstarting different varieteis of lunges:

Benefits

There is a numerious great benefits you will get after performing this great exercise on weekly basis:

  •  Improves hip flexibility
  • Greater core strength
  • Strengthens gluteal muscles
  • Gives a firm rounded shape to your hips
  • Improves balance and coordination
  • Targets most of your lower body muscles

Common mistakes

Lunges can be quite complicated exercise for a begginer, make sure you follow the rules...

· Biggest mistake while performing a lunge is that you think you are dropping your knees too much but you are not. The correct form is to get your back knee almost touch the floor.

· Many people fall down with their upper body because they do not keep their core strength engaged.

· People think justbending down one knee is the form of a lung, whereas, the correct form is to bend enough where your knee is aligned with you ankle.

· Sometimes the lunge is too long or too short.

· Because your body is not at a balance and your back is not straight, your front knee gets shaky and eventually leads to a fall.

· Body weight is not distributed accurately.

    Variations/progressions

    ​

    · Walking lunge (my favourite) : do a basic lunge as mentioned above and then start walking before your bent leg makes contact with the floor.

    · Reverse Lunge: it is similar to walking lunge just that you have to step backward at exactly the same width as you take in moving forward.

    · Rear elevated foot lunge: put your one foot at a bench or a step keeping your toes pointed, foot flexed pressuring the ball of your other foot. Bend down on your foot that is not on the bench or step until it almost touches the floor and then drive back up through the other leg to the starting position.

    · Slider lunge: stand with your feet hip width apart. Place the slider under your foot and push it back until hip is completely stretched and knee almost touching the floor. Apply the pressure on the slide and bring your leg back to the original position.

    Who should do this exercise

      Lunges are the best exercises for your butt and legs. It can be done by anyone whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced. For beginners it is suggested to do basic planks, for intermediates walk or reverse lunges and for advanced level professionals it is suggested that they use weights or dumbbells to make it more energetic.

      If you enjoyed this article click here for related article  written by female personal trainer Justina

      Need more info? 

      Email: [email protected]
      Mobile (text or call): 07944 916 9906
      Say hello on Facebook!: facebook.com/justinatraining
      Contact Justina: justinatraining.com/contact

      Advanced TRX exercises for arms: Curl and extend your body weight

      Written by female personal trainer Justina Triasovaite.

      Learn how to use TRX suspensions to train your arms.  

      For these arms  exercises you need to have TRX suspensions. Also remember to warm up before training.

      What is TRX?

      TRX is all in one full body training system created by american marines. Suspension Fitness is an approach to fitness training that uses a system of ropes and pulleys to manipulate client’s bodyweight to produce an all body workout. On the TRX Suspension Trainer, you're in control. Use your bodyweight and gravity to perform hundreds exercises that you can make easier or harder. The straps allow you to increase or decrease the exercise difficulty based on your body's position.

      Remember to:

      Always check all straps before start training.

      Rules to follow

      Here are the rules you need to follow:

      FIRST RULE - Get your self familiar with straps, safety comes first.
      SECOND RULE - Find right resistant by locating best leaning angle 
      THIRD RULE - Keep your elbows controlled   
      FOURTH RULE - Have your gluteus and core tight and engaged

      Places where you can do it

      EVERYWHERE: gym, park, at home, anywhere you like as long as you have suspensions system with you and possibility to strap it. 

      Benefits of this workout

      •  Visible arms appearance change  
      • Increased arms strength 
      • Increased arms stability and mobility

      Common mistakes

      This is advanced exercises, so its easy to make a mistakes if you never done this before. Its important to pay attention to your hips and make sure you are not doing this exercises with help of the hips. Forget about lower body here only bicep and triceps working. It can be very hard to isolate muscle from the rest of the body so keeping elbows still is very important.

      General nutrition

      For all nutrition inquiries please contact me directly or visit my facebook profile for meals ideas facebook.com/justinatraining don't forget to pres LIKE 🙂 

      Ready to give it a go?

      You need to perform this exercise at least twice a week in order to SEE RESULTS in around 6 weeks.

      SEE RESULTS

      Please leave me your comments below. What did you think of the exercise? What is easy enough for you? Is there anything else you would have wanted me to cover? What other exercises would you like me to teach you? I'm all ears! 🙂

      Make sure to check out my advanced TRX exercises workout plan.

      Advanced Legs exercises: 3 variations of lunges

      Written by female personal trainer Justina Triasovaite.

      If you already mastered simple lunges this video is for you! Learn three different ways to perform one of the most beneficial lower body exercise!

      Always remember to warm up before training.

      About this lower body exercises

      I'm delighted to present you three different variations of lunges. Split lunges using step can be very challenging as it requires very good balance, scatter lunges can be tricky with barbell on your back, please make sure you practice exercise without bar, before heading to heavy weights.  Lunges on the spot with kick back - double trouble for gluteus!

      Remember to:

      You can always contact me for more information about exercising.

      Rules to follow

      Here are the rules you need to follow:

      FIRST RULE - Choose appropriate/challenging weight
      SECOND RULE - Keep your core engaged 
      THIRD RULE - Make sure you have perfect technique before using any weights
      FOURTH RULE - Whiles lunging bend your knees 90 degrees instead of stretching leg out

      Places where you can do it

      EVERYWHERE: gym, park, at home, anywhere you like as long as you have equipment's.

      Benefits of this workout

      Common mistakes

      I would highly recommend to perform all these three variations of lunges in front of the mirror for the first few times. Very important to get right starting position.

      General nutrition

      For all nutrition equerries please contact me directly via contact form or visit my facebook profile www.facebook.com/justinatraining for healthy foods ideas and much more. 

      Ready to give it a go?

      You need to perform this exercise at least twice a week in order to SEE RESULTS in around 6 weeks

      SEE RESULTS

      Please leave me your comments below. What did you think of the exercise? What is easy enough for you? Is there anything else you would have wanted me to cover? What other exercises would you like me to teach you? I'm all ears! 🙂