Reverse lunges are one of the best lower body exercises you can do.
Performing this exercise will build your lower body muscles, and will also improve your strength and coordination.
The reverse lunges develop strength in muscles such as the hamstrings and calves. In terms of movement, a reverse lunge mobilizes the joints and improves balance.
As the name suggests, reverse lunges are performed by stepping backwards instead of forwards. This is a great variation for beginners because the reverse motion is a little easier to control. It allows more hip flexion to be performed, making it a good choice for those looking to train glutes and hamstrings
The reverse lunge is an exercise mainly aimed to work the lower body, especially legs and glutes.
Is an exercise that offers a variety of benefits for all levels of athletes.
It is important to remember that the benefits will vary from person to person depending on their intention and the variation they are performing. Here are some of the main benefits of reverse lunges.
Better Glutes with the Reverse Lunge: Improved balance and coordination
Lunges require from the athlete to rely primarily on one leg (the other leg may or may not be used as an aid). The need for stability and joint control (at the ankle, knee and hip) increases the difficulty of this movement, increasing the neurological and muscular demands.
Seeing that many human movement patterns and fixed positions (such as the squat) rely heavily on both, increasing balance and coordination can lead to greater unilateral performance.
Increased gluteal activation
Reverse lunges target weaknesses in balance and coordination, as well as require the development of inactive muscle groups. Glutes are a powerful muscle group that can be targeted, and lead to improvements in power output, decreased lower back pain, improved running technique, and speed.
When doing reverse lunges you can specifically target the glutes to increase muscle activation and hypertrophy.
Improved muscle symmetry
Correcting muscle imbalances is important to minimize injury in athletes and fitness enthusiasts . Many of us most likely have muscle movements and asymmetries that go unnoticed or untreated due to the large amount of bilateral (two limbs at a time) movements we do in our training.
Although bilateral movements are very beneficial, employing reverse lunges and other unilateral exercises can increase muscle hypertrophy and strength in a weaker leg, decreasing movement and developmental asymmetries and compensation patterns.
Improved muscle growth
Unilateral training has been shown to increase muscle activation, which can lead to stronger muscle contractions. One leg supports more body weight performing reverse lunges than during for example a bilateral squat. This is beneficial when it comes to focusing on developing specific muscle groups.
The ability to make the mind to muscle connection through unilateral training is very beneficial for adding quality lean mass and solid movement mechanics, which can affect in a positive way your athletic performance and overall leg and glutes development.
Minimizes the risk of injury
To be clear, lunges do not prevent injury. However, they do strengthen muscles, both large and small, which improves your ability to stabilize under a heavy loads.
Here you have some types of reverse lunges that focus on the development of killer glutes and legs, so you can add them to your leg day workout routine.
Classic reverse lunges
The reverse lunge is one of the most commonly used exercises for training the lower body.
The reverse lunge is a great exercise, but as long as you maintain proper technique, if you practice it backwards, you will achieve a cleaner execution technique.
As you move backwards, your knees and hips will perform a safer 90° bend. This way, the body stays upright and the gluteus maximus is activated when the knee is lowered.
It is one of the best exercises if you want to strengthen quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes effectively. It is a very complete exercise for your lower body.
To execute it correctly, you must be careful with your posture and body position in order to maintain proper balance.
Jumping reverse lunges
Jumping lunges are the most classic lunge option and probably the most commonly used. It requires the right combination of leg and gluteal work to perform properly.
It also requires some strength, so it should not be considered as if it were something simple. To do the exercise we will have to alternate each stride, always moving back a different leg that will be changed with each jump.
It is important that we keep our core active all the time, as it is essential , since it helps us to keep our back upright.
Weighted reverse lunges
This is one of the best reverse lunges variations out there. To perform it, all you need is a kettlebell or a dumbbell or a barbell if you are an experienced athlete. The weighted reverse lunge has the advantage over other types of lunges as it requires extra effort for the muscles of legs and core.
It is worth mentioning that, despite the fact that it is a more challenging exercise, it is not complicated to perform. As with the other lunge variations, you should avoid arching your back and alternate legs.
Elastic band reverse lunges
Due to the popularity of elastic bands, there are also many athletes who use them in their workout with lunges. In fact, this particular one is a highly recommended exercise for strengthening the glutes, as will intensify the results.
The workout is simple. You will need to pass one end of the band under the leg you have in front of you and the other over your shoulders. Starting with your leg bent, you should strive to raise your body little by little, while you feel the band resisting force. Extend your knee so that your position is upright and then bend again to repeat the process.
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Image Sources
- standing figure four glute stretch: Mathilde Langevin on Unsplash
- josh-bridges-lunge: Rehband
