{"id":16059,"date":"2013-11-27T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-27T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/\/\/uncategorized\/lunges-are-for-sissies-or-are-they"},"modified":"2022-10-25T17:15:41","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T22:15:41","slug":"lunges-are-for-sissies-or-are-they","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/lunges-are-for-sissies-or-are-they\/","title":{"rendered":"Lunges Are for Sissies – Or Are They?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lunges have long been maligned as being an exercise for sissies. I\u2019m not sure why or how this gym myth has been kept up for so long, but it\u2019s time to stop it.<\/strong> In terms of functional patterns for the legs there are only three: feet together, standing on one foot, split stance such as in the lunge.<\/p>\n

Dont Sell Yourself Short<\/h2>\n

If you remove lunges from your program, then you\u2019re effectively cutting out a third of the available leg patterns from your options. <\/strong>In addition, the lunge closely resembles gait as it trains the legs in both flexion and extension at the same time.<\/p>\n

But there may be a better reason to train the lunge than even that. If you look at human movement<\/a> and developmental patterns<\/a> there are four easily-identified positions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Lying<\/li>\n
  2. Quadruped<\/li>\n
  3. Kneeling<\/li>\n
  4. Standing<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The smart way to train people is to figure out in which position they struggle for stability, and regress one position from there so that they are working in a pattern where they have greater control. With the lunge being halfway between kneeling and standing, it can be a powerful tool for quickly building performance and function.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Stop Using Tiny weights<\/h2>\n

    One of the reasons I feel the lunge has been unfairly maligned is because of the loads people typically use for it. While it\u2019s true that the weight you use for lunges will never match what you can back squat<\/a>, there is still the possibility of working up to some very real poundages. World track cycling champion Anna Meares<\/a> is said to perform Bulgarian squats, a form of lunge with the rear foot elevated, with 165kg for sets of three.<\/strong> That\u2019s a far cry from the Barbie weights usually associated with the lunge, but goes to show the potential for strength in this movement.<\/p>\n

    A 2009 study<\/a> used lunges as the subject and broke participants into three groups \u2013 one doing walking lunges, another jumping lunges, and then a control group. The study showed that the walking lunge group improved hamstring strength by 35% after six weeks.<\/strong> While this study was conducted on a young group, which is perhaps why the increase was so large, other studies have found that the average increase is still 11% in older athletes.<\/p>\n

    Force Production Is Where It’s At<\/h2>\n

    Returning briefly to the argument about the lunge not being able to be loaded as much as the squat leads me to ask a question. Does the muscle recognize load or just tension? Because if tension is force production<\/a>, then there is more than one way to produce force in a muscle. You can choose to lift a heavy weight, or, as many forget, you can choose to move something lighter much faster and rely on speed to achieve force development. A great way to do this is to use jumping lunges. The study referenced above showed that jumping lunges show the same increases in strength but added significantly to speed over thirty meters. <\/strong>Just be warned that if you haven\u2019t done these before you are going to experience considerable muscle soreness in the days afterwards.<\/p>\n

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    Legs Static Lunge to Jump<\/div><\/div>
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