Side Lunges & Multidirectional Lunges

Side Lunges with no weight:

• Start exercise with feet together and arms by your sides.
• Take a large step to one side, keeping the inside leg straight, come down into a squat over the outside leg. Keep both feet flat and pointed straight ahead. As  you come down into the side lunge bring your arms up to shoulder level for a little bit of counter balance.
• Push off of your outside leg and propel yourself back up into a standing position. If you want to fatigue 1 leg faster you can stay on the same leg and continue to do all your reps on that leg first and then move on to the other leg, but most people go from one side to the other side, giving the muscles of one side a little time to recover before the next rep so that you can get more reps into one set.

 

Side Lunges with 1 weight, reaching across body with one weight:

• Start this exercise with one weight in one hand.
• Take a large step to the opposite side of the weighted hand, keeping your inside leg straight and squatting down over the outside leg.
• At the same time as you are coming down into the lunge, reach across your body with the weight, reaching to the front of the opposite foot.
• Propel yourself back up into the starting position with the outside leg and then switch hands and lunge to the opposite side.
• Keep alternating sides until you are either fatigued or have reached the proper number of reps that you have set for yourself.

 

Side Lunges with 2 weights, reach across the body to either side of the knee.

• Start this exercise in a standing position with weight into both hands.
• Lunge to the side, keeping your inside leg straight and coming down into a squat over your outside leg.
• As you come down into the side lunge reach across your body with body weights, aiming for putting a weight on either side of your outside knee.
• Push yourself back up into the starting position with the outside leg and repeat the movement to the opposite side.
• Keep alternating between sides until you are either fatigued or have finished all your reps.

 

Multidirectional Lunges ( 3 – Way Lunge):

With the multidirectional lunge your goal is to get as many angles of movement into the lunge as possible, I’ve demonstrated 3 distinct angles of motion, but they don’t always have to be the same angles each time, the goal is not for repetitiveness  but to get as many directions of movement into the hip as possible. 

• Start all movement to one side, lunge forward, side , and back 45 degree angle all on the same side first and then switch to the other side.
• Lunge forward, take one large step forward, dropping the back knee to 90 degrees and then step back into the starting position.
• Side Lunge, take one large step to the side with the same leg that you stepped forward with for the forward lunge, then step back into the starting position.
• Backwards 45 degree angle lunge, keeping your front foot planted and stepping back with the same leg as the 2 previous movements, step to the side and back so that your front foot is still planted in the same position but your stepping leg has now gone back to the 4 or 5 o’clock position. Think like a jet fighter jock, straight ahead is the 12 o’clock position ( the forward lunge), to the side is the 3 o’clock position ( the side lunge) and between the 4 and 5 o’clock position is the 3rd lunge.
• After you have completed all three movements switch to the other side and repeat, all 3 movements on both sides is one rep, try for 5 reps.

2nd Part of Multi-Directional Lunge: Side Lunge

3rd Part of Multidirectional Lunge: Backwards 45 degree ( hip opener) Lunge: