The lateral lunge with anterior reach has been an exercise slightly different from the regular lateral lunge which allows great success in execution. I am a fan of lateral lunges but often have problems with older personal training clients either not being able to shift their weight onto the heel, or leaning forward excessively. Instead of fighting these things I realized that if they maintained good posture while leaning the trunk forward they would in turn be able to push back on their heels even easier. By reaching anteriorly with the arms, it allows you to use them as a counterbalance and better push the butt back. A light weight can also be used to aid in this exercise but shoulder fatigue usually sets in after a few sets once weight increases. This exercise challenges the quadricep, gluts, hamstring, and adductors, while stressing maintenance of a stable core and steady balance.
To perform the lateral lunge with anterior reach take a big step laterally to widen your stance. Make sure as you step, the feet are staying close to parallel and the foot you step with doesn’t rotate outward. Once you step and come in contact with the ground, stretch both arms out in front of the body while leaning the trunk forward. Make sure you do NOT round over at the spine. Keep the shoulder blades pulled back and the back straight. At this point, shift the weight of your body onto the heel of your shoe you stepped with. Straighten out the knee on the stationary leg and push the butt back to lower the hips down. Lower down to a comfortable/challenging depth and then stand up tall followed by stepping the feet back together. Just like with all other squatting exercises, we want to make the knee never comes over the toe and proper upper body posture is maintained throughout.
Tagged: exercise, exercise of the week, frontal plane, lateral lunge, lateral lunge with anterior reach, posture
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