Have you included lunges(any form) in your program? Is it worth it? Which vesion? What are the main benefits of this excercise?
I perform dumbell lunges one leg at a time without going at the starting position after finishing each rep. I use dumbells instead of a barbell because it’s easier to dump them if u wanna go to failure, which i do sometimes.
Anyhow, here’s a vid of me performing the lunges,
Any comments on my form etc appreciated. Any advice is welcome.
There was an article on lunges a few weeks ago.
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1450802
How could you have missed it?
IMO, and for what it’s worth, I don’t think your form is very good.
Your upper body should be more upright.
Also, your stride is to long. You put your leg to far back. The knee in your back leg should be closer to 90?, about the same as the angle in your front leg.
I recommend to reduce the weight and concentrate on form.
But hey, I’m no lunging expert.
[quote]guaglione wrote:
Have you included lunges(any form) in your program? Is it worth it? Which vesion? What are the main benefits of this excercise?
I perform dumbell lunges one leg at a time without going at the starting position after finishing each rep. I use dumbells instead of a barbell because it’s easier to dump them if u wanna go to failure, which i do sometimes.
Anyhow, here’s a vid of me performing the lunges,- YouTube. Any comments on my form etc appreciated. Any advice is welcome.[/quote]
Lunges are definitely worth including in your program, I feel that it has helped my Squats and Deadlifts. I use a barbell and I’m up to about 230lbs, I only found that the exercise started to do anything for me once I went heavy.
You don’t seem to have a full ROM looking at your video (because you don’t stand up), if you choose to stick with the dumbells I would probably check out Bulgarian Split Squats as you don’t have to step into these as you should with Lunges. As far as Lunges are concerned the starting position should be standing up straight and you should return to this position before each rep.
Vid critique:
What you did in the video is a static lunge. It seemed like your stance was too wide and you should bring it in a little bit. Try to keep your torso upright as well. The article mentioned above will tell you kind of where to “push” with your lead leg to stimulate different areas. Typically though I recommend pushing through the heel for most lunge variations.
Are lunges worth it?
Yes, there are TONS of lunge variations from what you were doing, to the dynamic version, reverse lunges, walking lunges, to bulgarian split squats, step ups…etc
I think incorporating at least 1 lunge type exercise is a must for any phase/program you may be doing.
[quote]guaglione wrote:
Have you included lunges(any form) in your program? Is it worth it? Which vesion? What are the main benefits of this excercise?
I perform dumbell lunges one leg at a time without going at the starting position after finishing each rep. I use dumbells instead of a barbell because it’s easier to dump them if u wanna go to failure, which i do sometimes.
Anyhow, here’s a vid of me performing the lunges,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feXcsvIAcFg. Any comments on my form etc appreciated. Any advice is welcome.[/quote]
lunges can be a core excersice for low back problem people.
Lunges rock my socks 
Seriously, lunges are awesome. So many variations, you can target so many muscles!
In your video, you’re not coming all the way up, which tends to be the hardest part.
I think its fine to have your feet spread that far apart, it’ll just make it harder when you do the full lunge (i.e. stand up).
[quote]Wreckless wrote:
There was an article on lunges a few weeks ago.
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1450802
How could you have missed it?
IMO, and for what it’s worth, I don’t think your form is very good.
Your upper body should be more upright.
Also, your stride is to long. You put your leg to far back. The knee in your back leg should be closer to 90?, about the same as the angle in your front leg.
I recommend to reduce the weight and concentrate on form.
But hey, I’m no lunging expert.
[/quote]
I agree with everything in this post. I’d like to add I think your back foot was turning out (kind of hard to tell from the angle the video was at).
First off thanks to everyone who replied.
Replying to the comment about my back leg turning out, no, i just moved it a little forward after the 2nd rep, because it felt far away, so no i don’t think that was a problem.
I checked the Bulgarian splits squats and they’re very similar to the “static lunges”, so whatever i choose to do between the two there’s not much of a difference i suppose.
I’m not going up because it seems like the final movement takes tension off of the legs, so insinctively to me feels more efficient doing it static style, since there’s constant tension on the muscles.
I’m thinking of sticking with this version or the bulgarian splits, where the only difference is the unused leg is supportd by a bench instead of the floor.
So my question is:
Am i losing a lot by not going all the way uP, OR better, are the traditional lunge versions more beneficial to hypertrophy and strength than static lunges or bulgarian splits?
P.S.
Thanks for the link. I didn’t look around whether any lunges topic existed because my main thing was posting my vid link instead of describing how i do the lunges.
[quote]PHGN wrote:
Check this out
http://www.bsu.edu/webapps2/strengthlab/home.htm
[/quote]
Good link, as far as the Barbell Lunges and Bulgarian Split Squats that’s how I perform them.
To the OP - I’ve never done Static Lunges so I won’t comment on whether they are any good or not but notice that on the pictures for the Bulgarian Split Squats his leg is practically straight (upright) at the beginning with a good 90 degrees of movement during the execution, this is what I consider full ROM.
[quote]PHGN wrote:
Check this out
http://www.bsu.edu/webapps2/strengthlab/home.htm [/quote]
LOL. The only thing I was checking out was your avatar.
Check out the Rockscar 2007 thread and look at his legs. He said he built them only doing lunges as due to back problems he was limited in his lifts and moves. He’s got some good wheels with just lunges.
Lunges will let you know just how strong your legs are. They’ll make your hams scream, your glutes ache, and your quads burn. They are most certainly “worth it”.
I recommend you go through the articles… there is one on proper lunge form. Maybe 2-3 pages back in the article listing.
Your form is bad though, I suggest lowering your weight. Your body needs to be upright instead of bent forward. Your switching the weight over toward your lower back some with what you are doing. Probably need to go lighter in the weight til you perfect proper lunging.
any excercise is worth it provided you do it properly to answer your question.
[quote]kinein wrote:
any excercise is worth it provided you do it properly to answer your question. [/quote]
I dont know about this, I have seen some excercises so bad that the person who did them should have thier hands cut off so they cant show any one else how to do them.
hahaha, true ~
[quote]guaglione wrote:
…
I checked the Bulgarian splits squats and they’re very similar to the “static lunges”, so whatever i choose to do between the two there’s not much of a difference i suppose.
…
[/quote]
It’s a world of a difference. Try it to believe.
Barbell version is easier to keep an upright torso although I read on defranco’s site than you must lean forward on reverse lunges, not sure with the normal lunges.
[quote]guaglione wrote:
Anyhow, here’s a vid of me performing the lunges,
Any comments on my form etc appreciated. Any advice is welcome.[/quote]
I think you’re doing split-squats right there. Your split-squats look fine. You might get more benefit from propping one foot on a bench and doing single-legged squats.
But yeah, lunges, they’re good. I think they’re good at building stability.