Fitness Video World

One of my favorite leg exercises is the lunge. As a martial artist, it’s a great exercise to help develop the leg strength for those really deep stances that look great in kata performance. Any athlete can benefit from the quadricep, and glute workout that this exercise provides.

Unfortunately, it’s really easy to do this exercise incorrectly. Poor body alignment while doing the lunge can lead to serious knee injury. Proper technique minimizes the risk, and I was happy to open the morning paper and find a good article on doing the lunge exercise properly. Here are some key points.

First of all, it is important to keep your torso aligned properly. Your hips, shoulders, and back knee should be in line. Also the front knee should not bend beyond 90 degrees. I’ve read about the importance of that last part there in multiple publications, so take heed. If you can’t see the tip of your sneaker toes beyond your knee, you may have gone too far. Practice in front of a mirror is my advice.

The newspaper article can be found at Arizona Daily Star. Check it out for the rest of the great tips for doing a perfect lunge. The image above of the correct body alignment came from that article, and is property of Arizona Daily Star as well.