The offset dumbbell lunge is a great exercise to train your lower body muscles, your balance and your coordination. It can help to increase muscle strength, size and endurance; burn fat; and reduce your risk of lower body injuries. You also can do it with minimal equipment, as you only need one dumbbell and a small amount of space.
How to Perform Offset Dumbbell Lunges
Stand with your feet together and a dumbbell in your right hand, held at shoulder height and resting against your body. Step your right leg forward and place it firmly on the floor around two feet in front of you. Gradually descend until both your knees are at a 90-degree angle and your back knee is around an inch from the floor, then forcefully push up and back to your starting position. Repeat this for eight repetitions, then do the same on the left side. Once you can do five sets of eight on each side, increase the weight of the dumbbell.
Quadriceps
The quadriceps group is composed of four muscles on the front of your leg at the top. Their main role is to extend the knee joint, which happens as you push back up during an offset lunge. If you have any strength imbalances between your quadriceps, you might be more susceptible to knee injuries, and these lunges will help to highlight those, as you perform them one leg at a time. Single leg exercises like lunges are great at developing stability in the knees, which can help prevent AC ligament injuries, especially common among female athletes.
Hamstrings
The hamstrings are antagonistic to the quadriceps, meaning that they perform the opposite movements, so are responsible for flexing the knee and extending the hip. During the descent of offset dumbbell lunges, your hamstrings work hard to control your lower body. According to strength coach Eric Cressey, weak hamstrings often are linked with an increased likelihood of developing ankle, knee and hip injuries, so it's important to keep them strong and mobile.
Core Muscles
Holding a dumbbell on just one side causes an increased activation of your core muscles. Because of this extra weight, your body is inclined to lean toward the weighted side, which would make you extremely unstable. To counter this, your whole midsection, including your abdominals, obliques and lower back muscles, have to kick in to help you balance and keep your torso upright.
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