Side Lunge

Description

How to Do Side Lunge

1. 1
   Setup

   Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart, toes pointing forward. Engage your core and keep your chest lifted.

2. 2
   Setup

   Take a wide step directly to one side, keeping your other leg completely straight and its foot flat on the floor, pointing forward.

3. 3

   As you step, hinge at your hips and bend the knee of the stepping leg, lowering your hips towards the ground as if sitting back.

4. 4

   Keep your torso upright and your chest proud, ensuring the bent knee tracks in line with your toes and does not collapse inward.

5. 5

   Drive powerfully through the heel of your bent leg to push yourself back to the starting upright position.

6. 6

   Alternate sides with each repetition, or complete all repetitions on one side before switching to the other.

Tips

• Maintain a slight forward lean from your hips, not your back, to better engage the glutes and protect your spine throughout the movement.
• Focus on driving through the heel of your lunging foot to return to the start, ensuring optimal glute and quad activation.
• Control the movement both on the way down and up; avoid simply dropping into the lunge or bouncing out of it.
• Keep your non-lunging leg completely straight with the foot flat on the floor to maximize the stretch in the inner thigh of that leg.

Common Mistakes

• ×Knee collapsing inward: Avoid letting your bent knee collapse inward; actively push your knee out so it tracks directly over your toes.
• ×Rounding the back: Do not round your back during the lunge; maintain a tall chest and a neutral spine by engaging your core.
• ×Not stepping wide enough: Ensure you take a sufficiently wide step to the side to properly engage the inner thigh and glutes, rather than just performing a partial squat.