Lateral Lunge

Lateral Lunge

3-POINT SET-UP:

1. Place both feet on front platform facing either side (frontal plane)

2. Stagger secondary leg behind primary lunging leg

3. Place ball of foot of secondary leg on carriage

Body Part • Direction • Action Verb:

• Keeping your weight stacked over the front platform, add a slight HINGE of your hips, and then begin to PUSH the carriage away from the platform by lowering your hips/BENDING at the knee of the primary lunging leg.

Range of Motion:

• Lower down into your lunge, stopping right before knee aligns with hip at bottom (90 degree angle). Stop before the knee of the lunging leg fully locks out.

 Kinetic Checkpoints:

HEAD:

SAME AS PLANK

HIPS:

❌ Tipping pelvis too far forward (Anterior pelvic tilt). Visual clues: Arch in lower back. Potential thoracic (mid back) extension as well as cervical (hyperextending neck)

❌ Tucking hips under (over posterior pelvic tilt). Visual clues: Flat back (losing natural curvature of neutral spine). Spinal flexion when lowering down.

✅ Maintain a neutral pelvis/spine throughout range of motion.

KNEES:

❌ Knee driving forward past toes at bottom. Other visual cues: torso might be too upright.

❌ Knee locking out at top

✅ Aim to keep the knee slightly behind your toes, tracking over mid foot as you lower down

✅ Avoid locking out knee at top, keeping a micro bend, slightly in front of ankle

FEET:

✅ Keep weight in all three points of contact (tripod) of the foot of the lunging leg

✅ Stay on the ball of the foot of the secondary leg with minimal weight. Ensure that secondary leg is behind your primary lunging leg to avoid a hip hike.

Talking Points:

• This exercise can also be referred to as a single leg squat as the stacking is quite similar. Ensure that clients do not shift their weight as they push the carriage away, but rather the primary lunging leg shoulder, hip and knee all stayed stacked on top of the platform, keeping the majority of the weight over the platform throughout the range of motion.

• Give clients the visualization that someone has a hand on the outer portion of their lunging knee. Focus on driving the knee into the hand throughout the range of motion, while maintaining weight in all three points of contact of their lunging foot.