What you’re targeting:
- Quadriceps strength
- Knee extensor mechanism resilience (patellofemoral joint, patellar tendon/ligament, and quadriceps retinaculum)
- Level of demand (scale of 1-5): 4
- Knee extensor mechanism resilience (patellofemoral joint, patellar tendon/ligament, and quadriceps retinaculum)
- Gluteal strength
- Rectus femoris (long quadriceps muscle) mobility
- Hamstrings
- Lumbopelvic core musculature
What you need:
- A chair or a suspension trainer like a TRX
How to perform:
- Position:
- Standing in front of a chair, lift one foot up and back and rest the top of this foot on the seat of a chair
- Your foot should rest comfortably on top of the chair, your knee should be underneath your pelvis, and your shin should be parallel to the floor
- Your standing foot should be positioned slightly in front of your pelvis and your torso should be upright
- Standing in front of a chair, lift one foot up and back and rest the top of this foot on the seat of a chair
- Movement:
- Lower yourself into a lunge while maintaining an upright posture
- Return to starting position
- Even though your back leg is elevated, you can use both of your legs to push yourself up to standing as long as your torso remains upright. This will increase your back leg’s quadriceps mobility by improving your control of hip extension during a period of increased knee flexion demand.
- Tips:
- You can place a dowel or ski pole across your shoulders while performing this exercise to help you maintain upright posture
- Try to keep your pelvis under your torso throughout the lunging movement
What you should feel:
- Muscle work throughout your quadriceps, buttocks and posterior thigh. Pulling in your back-leg’s quadriceps
How many repetitions and how much weight?
- Athletes should perform 2-5 sets of 20-30 repetitions of this exercise (on both sides)
- Athletes can add weights to both hands after they master the movement pattern. Weight can begin with something as practical as two one-gallon water jugs and be progressed further with weights (or other easily accessible objects like cinder blocks)
- *Be sure that form and posture are not compromised in order to lift more weight with lunges. This is an exercise where compensations are common especially with the addition of weight.
- Common compensations include the lead knee falling inward, the torso shifting side to side, and the pelvis shifting out to the side.
- *Be sure that form and posture are not compromised in order to lift more weight with lunges. This is an exercise where compensations are common especially with the addition of weight.
- See the general guidelines for how many repetitions and how much weight for further modifications