Best Body Weight Leg Exercise: The Lunge
No gym? No problem! There’s plenty of ways to get in exercise without having to drive to a club or pay a monthly fee. The leg lunge is a great body weight leg exercise that will have you walking all wobbly by the time you’re done with it.
As a little side note, for those of you who are exercising in a gym, don’t you hate it when you’ve done a really intense leg workout, and you’re walking across the gym when your exhausted thigh muscles suddenly give out and one leg involuntarily bends due to fatigue, and it makes you look like you just did a really lame dance to the (always terrible) music playing over the gym speaker system?
Not that anything like that has ever happened to me, because it hasn’t, ever, ever.
Where was I? Oh, yes, the leg lunge. This exercise is great for a couple of different reasons.
A BODY WEIGHT LEG EXERCISE: NO EQUIPMENT NECESSARY
The obvious first advantage about the leg lunge is that you can do it anywhere, anytime. And just because there’s no weights or equipment involved, don’t think for a second that means the lunge isn’t intense: is it ever!
I personally like to use it as a finishing move but it easily can stand alone, especially for a beginner. Since you can do this exercise using only the resistance of your body weight, even those who aren’t terribly fit can use it right off the bat to get started on a fitness program.
For those who are severely underdeveloped or have problems with their knees, the lunge can be easily modified simply by not bending the knee as far on each repetition.
In addition, since the leg lunge is done free-standing (not done locked into the plane of travel of an exercise machine), it’s highly functional. What I mean by that is, it’s a natural movement that your body undertakes, so it’s ideal for athletes. This sort of natural movement engages much more than just the target muscles (in this case, the upper leg muscles); it also requires the stabilizing influence of the abdominal or “core” muscles to maintain balance and posture.
There’s another great benefit to leg lunges: multi-joint leg exercises really seem to ramp up the body’s production of growth hormone, especially when those exercises are intense. Growth hormone is the body’s way of keeping you young and functional and healthy in general.
HOW IT’S DONE
The technique is really pretty simple. Start in a standing position, and step forward with one leg. Bend that knee until it is at a 90 degree or right angle. Your trailing leg will also have to bend at the knee; when I do it, the back knee typically touches the floor. Then straighten back up. It should feel natural, like a deep step, which is all it is.
Now step forward with the other leg and do the same thing. That’s really all there is to it. You can stand in place and alternate sides, or lunge-walk in a straight line. I like the lunge walk better because I think it has a more natural feel to it. The way I use it is, I’ll do a series of squats and then finish off my thigh muscles by lunge-walking up and down a long hallway at the gym. By the time I’m done, I can barely stand up.
Again, you don’t have to take it to that level if you’re not ready for all that. In fact, as I mentioned before, if you’re just starting out you may need to only lower yourself partway down; say, two-thirds of the way down to the forward leg being bent at 90 degrees. Then, you can progress from there as you see fit.
How many should you do? That’s up to you as well. As I said, one of the great things about this exercise is that it’s appropriate for beginners to advanced athletes. Do as many as you can until failure for the most rapid results, or if you just don’t feel ready for all that, hold back a bit. If you do take this exercise to failure (unable to perform any more repetitions), be ready to be SORE the next day!
If you start to feel like just body weight leg lunges are too easy, you can hold a pair of dumbells (start light) in your hands as you lunge along… or if you don’t have dumbells at home, use a pair of one gallon water jugs. A gallon of water weighs eight pounds, so with a pair of empty water jugs, you basically have a set of dumbells of varying weights (however much you fill them). Be sure to fill them up to identical amounts, of course… no need to go imbalancing yourself.
How often? That also depends. I usually do them once a week, but those athletes who need explosive power as well as endurance may want to do lunges twice a week… more than that is probably too much if you’re also running, biking, or doing other training with your legs. Spread those resistance training days out during the week so you don’t over-train.
Most importantly, don’t neglect this body weight leg exercise that will surprise you with how well you’ll respond to it. Natural surges in growth hormone levels (such as those encouraged by leg lunges) really propel your fitness level foward more quickly in all areas; decreased body fat, and increased strength and endurance, even in areas other than your legs.
Work some leg lunges in to your life and stay healthy!