Rear lunges target large muscles of the thigh and butt to develop overall toned and functional musculature. Learn how to do rear lunge exercises in this strength training video.
Great for toning muscles in lower body
Easy on the knees
Too much weight strains back
Don't hunch forward
Amy McCauley has been a certified personal fitness trainer since 1995. She specializes in pilates, combat cardio, core conditioning and overall strength training. She works with clients ranging in age from 16 - 69. She has worked at Gold's Gym in Wilmington, NC since 2006. She loves her job because it gives her the opportunity to change peoples' lives in a positive way.
AMY MCCAULEY: Hi. I'm going to show you how to do a rear lunge. First, I want to talk to you about the weight selection. If you are beginner, no weight all. If you've been doing weights or working out with weights for a while, ladies you're going to select between an 8- and 10-pound free weight, gentlemen select between a 15- and 25-pound free weight. You don't want to go too heavy because you don't want to put strain in your back. Setup: You're going to take one leg back, 90-degree angles again. Hips rotate under. You want that knee to go straight down towards to floor, staying on the ball of the foot with the back leg, the heel with the front leg. You're going to step up and then drop back. This is really good for those of you who have issues with your knees because every time you do a rear lunge, it takes a pressure out of the knee and puts the accent into the quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes. This is a great overall muscle toning for the lower body. Key points to remember. Drop down into a 90-degree angle, keep the hip srotated under, push up and drive the weight into your front heel. Chest needs to stay up, shoulders needs to stay down. Keep the shoulders down away from your ears. You're exhaling as you contract up, inhale as you drop back. We're going to try to do about 8 to 12 repetitions on each leg and then switch. So things to remember: 90-degree angle, we want the knee in line with the toe, make sure that it's on the second and third toe, straight line down, we've got 90-degree angle from your ankle to your knee to your hip, you want a full range of motion, and you push straight up. It's almost like a dynamic movement where you're lifting up and engaging. We want to engage the hamstring and glute all the way up and drop back. Make sure you're not hunching forward and putting pressure on your back. Another thing that I've seen people do is push the knee way past the toes which put a lot of pressure in the knee. We want to keep the pressure out of the joint, so just take that line straight down and pull up. That's how you do your rear lunges.
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