By: Anthony Campo
So what do you do if you cannot perform a full lunge yet? Similar to other exercises there is a series of progressions you can use to build the strength necessary to be able to eventually do a lunge. The idea is to always remember the key points discussed in part I of this article, and maintain that form through the modifications. If the form breaks down doing just one rep at a given level, you should train at the level right before that one until you are able to move on to the next level.
Progression – As you perform the lunge, only bring your knee down to a level where you can maintain form. Depending on where that is, this can be anything from only dropping down an inch, to going all the way to the floor. Again, you should start at one level before form breaks down. So for example, if you can successfully bring your knee down fifty percent to the floor and maintain proper form for three solid reps on each side this would be a good level to start. Eventually as you continuously train the movement, you may be able to drop the knee sixty percent of the way down to the floor and perform the same amount of quality reps. Progression is the key to making strength gains, and this is a simple way to judge strength progression of lunges. If you have access to a variety of different box of step heights, you can use those for reps as well. Step with one foot on either side of the box with both feet pointing forward, and drop the knee so that it touches the box or step. As you get stronger you can use a lower step or box. This can be a great way to train and progress lunges because it gives you a consistent level to go to each time.