What's going on nation? I'm Scott from Muscularstrength.com
and today we're bringing back the dumbest mistake series
and today we're gonna talk about
lunges
second to maybe only squats
Lunges are an amazing lower body exercise to help build muscle in your legs
And the added benefit here is that they're going to be a lot easier on your hips and knees as well now listen carefully
guys
Falling victim to any of the following mistakes results in two things
Number one less overall muscle gain because you don't understand how to maximize the exercise and number two
More chance of injury because your form is garbage
But before we get started
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And you know what one quick thing. I'm sure you guys have noticed over the past few months
that my body's been slowly
Transforming back to a Super Saiyan state much leaner much bigger, and I'm feeling a lot better
There's no secret
I've just been training with my full body evolution program and I cleaned up my eating since moving into my new house in Florida
And if you guys want to take advantage of the same program and eating methods, all you do is download my app
it's super easy and I'll be there to help you every step of the way and what I mean by that is I'm very
Interactive on my app if you have questions, I answer them. Alright, so make sure you check it out link below. Alright
Let's get started
mistake number one
Failing to align your ankles with your hips and knees, guys
This is the mistake that will get you injured maybe not today
Maybe not tomorrow
But one day you will hear something pop or click in your knee and it won't be good unlike the squat
lunging properly requires
Left-to-right balance and stability and if you don't own that stability
Chances are your knee is going to travel in the wrong direction
You want your knee to keep tracking over your ankle and you want your hips to be square, especially as you descend
But what happens to most people is that one the hips stays a little higher than the other side which creates a left-to-right
Pelvic tilt which can lead to an injury or imbalance over time. So how do you fix it?
Well, that's easy guys ditch the dumbbells and just use body weight
Then I want you to also ditch the conventional forward lunge and perform the reverse lunge instead
You'll have much more control over the reverse lunge and there is far less force and impact on your knee as you step back
Proper form is very simple here
just take a small step back and descend straight down while keeping your chest up and
maintaining a 90 degree angle with both legs
Go as low as you can before your knee touches the floor and if by a mirror check to ensure your front knee is above
Your ankle and your back knee is in line with your hip then return to the starting position and repeat mistake
Number two is letting your spine collapse
Failing to keep your core tight is bad guys on any exercise
I don't see this as much with body weight
But as soon as most people grab a pair of dumbbells
It's like the extra weight causes more forward momentum and you start to see a lot of rounded backs and knees blowing past toes
Now some people might say they're leaning forward to engage more glutes and less quads
But even so you should still be able to remain in an upright position
With zero spinal flexion core activation is key guys
So take in a breath just like you would when you squat or deadlift before each rep mistake number three
Taking too long of a step forward guys
Maximize the effectiveness of a lunge is all about leverage and range of motion the wider your stance
The less your back knee has to travel to reach the floor which drastically reduces the range of motion of the exercise
Plus since your front knee will be so much further out in front of your hips
You won't have the necessary leverage to push and return back to the starting position with the heavy load
So the ideal step is the one that allows you to form 90-degree angles with both of your knees
But let me take it one step further the next time you lunge
I want you to almost feel like you're leaning backwards as you step forward
This will keep you from going into spinal flexion and also from taking too large of a step forward
But the opposite is also true - don't take too shallow of a step either. This doesn't happen often
But if you feel like you're balancing on your toes the entire time
You need to step forward a bit more now before we get to the final mistake if you guys enjoy my content and trust me
As your online coach then why not take the next step and download my app Muscular Strength?
Once you do you'll have access to my custom meal planner exercise and routine database and all my muscle building and fat loss
Program. What's the alternative?
Scrolling through Instagram and finding trash like this from a dude only cares about his likes and views and not your safety and gains
Come on fam, you're smarter than that and here we are at the final mistake. Not mixing it up
Any exercise can be boring over time, Right? Well, maybe not the benchpress, but that's because we all love chest day
All right, let's just put that out there
But when it comes to legs like many of you I need to switch it up to keep things interesting
So if forward lunges have been a stable exercise and you're trading for quite some time now here are a few variations
You can try to change things up and possibly spark some new leg growth
First up is the reverse lunge which we mentioned earlier in the video
Next we have the three-dimensional lunge where you're stepping forward in side to side
We also have the walking lunge which can be done with bodyweight dumbbells or a barbell. There's also a lunge and twist
Where you rotate your torso at the bottom position of each repetition
there's the overhead lunge which is when you lunge while holding dumbbells or a barbell overhead the entire set and
Lastly we have the alternating jumping lunge, which can be done with weight. But is more of a speed movement
So if you use added weight just be very careful
All these variations will keep your body functional healthy and injury free
Plus, they're all great exercises for building up your glutes and hamstrings as well as your core
Be sure to tap that like button if you enjoyed the video and as always more good stuff coming soon
You want more of my dumbest mistakes series? Then check out this video playlist over here as I have many more where that came from
And if your interest was piqued when I mentioned my app muscular strength, click the link below to download it now. I'll see you there