lunge exercises

[TPT]

the lunge and variations of the exercise are popular in most gyms. i even see men doing them. bodybuilders swear they are great ever since ronnie coleman popularized a variation.

so lets take a look at some studies and find further applications to performance and bodybuilding.

the following was just published. the experimenters studied two variations of lunges: walking and jumping. pictures of the lunges are in the link for full text.

differences between the two lunges were found. rectus femoris, lateral hams, and lateral gastroc were active during during all phases of both exercises. the jumping lunges showed greater activation

during all phases of both lunges. likely because of the greater range of motion required. concurrently, muscle length differences of the hams and rectus were found between lunges. makes sense, right? greater range and greater activation.

rectus fem (ie., quads): high emg activity during the beginning of the both lunges and as the foot hits the floor. emg activity peaks as the knee and hip flex with an excentric contraction.

lateral hams: two peaks in activation were as the foot hits the floor and before push off. the first peak was just an isotmetric contraction just to "brace" the extremity. the second peak is at push off where the hip extends. a brief peak was found at the beginning of stance during the walking lunge. now check this out- the hams only contracted eccentrically 18-19 percent of the lunge cycle. that bit of info is for those who swear lunges are for hams( and glutes). sorry, this evidence says no for hams. anyone want to take at a stab on why? back to hams (and glutes) later.

lateral gastrocs: friggin 61 and 63 percent of the cycle were eccentric contraction, respectively. maybe we need to consider forward lunges as calf exercises.

ill be back for questions and review other lunge studies.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/c...63882/PDFSTART
1: Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2009 Aug;19(4):561-8. Links

Muscle activation and length changes during two lunge exercises: implications for rehabilitation.

Jönhagen S, Halvorsen K, Benoit DL.
Department of Orthopaedics, Stockholm Söder Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. [email protected]
Eccentric exercises are commonly used as a treatment for various muscle and tendon injuries. During complex motions such as the forward lunge, however, it is not always clear which muscles may be contracting eccentrically and at what time. Because this exercise is used during rehabilitation, the purpose of this investigation was to determine what type of contractions take place during two different types of forward lunge and assess the implications for rehabilitation. Five experienced athletes performed five cycles for each of the walking and jumping forward lunges. Motion analysis was used to calculate the shortening or elongation of each muscle based on the change of position of their origin and insertion points during the lunge. Electromyography of the lateral hamstrings, rectus femoris and lateral gastrocnemius was combined with the muscle length change data to determine when isometric, concentric and eccentric activations occur during the lunge. Eccentric contractions in both the quadriceps and gastrocnemius were observed during the lunge. No hamstring eccentric contractions were found; however, the hamstrings showed isometric contractions during the first part of the stance phase.
PMID: 19708966 [PubMed - in process]

[~gymdiva~]

yeah I never understood why people would recommend lunges for the hammies...


I do seem to notice more glute involvement when doing walking lunges though...were these jumping lunges just straight up and down or switching legs while in mid-air? I'm guessing the first?

[thachozenonebx]

OK TPT you have to lay it to me in laymans terms.

I am a big proponent of walking lunges with a barbell over my shoulders ala Ronnie
I never thought of this exercise as a ham movement but more of a quad and glutes movement..which of the two muscle groups are more activated in walking lunges?

[TPT]

yeah I never understood why people would recommend lunges for the hammies...


I do seem to notice more glute involvement when doing walking lunges though...were these jumping lunges just straight up and down or switching legs while in mid-air? I'm guessing the first?

we do use our hams though still have to appreciate the other muscles including the quads and gastroc. quads "anticipates" striking the ground by prefiring. once stance occurs and the knee starts to flex with an eccentric contraction. with such a narrow base of support and a dynamic center of mass, quads really have to be stressed. we are moving and briefly on one leg.

i know the women reading this care about stressing hams and glutes so i will speak to this a bit. ; )

since hamstrings cross the hip and knee we must consider concurrent motions at both joints. the angle of the hip has more influence than the knee, thus full range of motion of hip flexion/extension is necessary. but, with knee flexion/extension. if yourre not flexing the hip past 90 degrees during the lunge, youre not effectively stressing the hams (and glutes). so why do i emphasize eccentric contractions? because eccentric contractions are greatly neccesary for muscle hypertrophy.

more on glutes. glute max is a hip extensor so again- you need to lengthen it by flexing the hip more than 90 degrees as well. eccentric contractions occur as you step forward while flexing the hip and knee during stance.

interesting stuff, right? ; )

ok, to another paper.

[TPT]

OK TPT you have to lay it to me in laymans terms.

I am a big proponent of walking lunges with a barbell over my shoulders ala Ronnie
I never thought of this exercise as a ham movement but more of a quad and glutes movement..which of the two muscle groups are more activated in walking lunges?

if you take large steps with the extended leg close to the ground, you will greatly stress glutes. quads are still active. however, i hardly ever see guys do this because of the large load, increased total range of motion of both legs, and its friggin harder to balance yourself.

if you take smaller steps, you will reduce stress of the glutes and hams. thus, its more quads.

[thachozenonebx]

if you take large steps with the extended leg close to the ground, you will greatly stress glutes. quads are still active. however, i hardly ever see guys do this because of the large load, increased total range of motion of both legs, and its friggin harder to balance yourself.

if you take smaller steps, you will reduce stress of the glutes and hams. thus, its more quads.

good stuff, the first time i did them i used a 85 lbs ( on a barbell) and man...my quads were hurting but my buns were hurting more...so i figured i must be doing something wrong and now thinking back..my steps are long....

thanks for the science side TPT

[TPT]

good stuff, the first time i did them i used a 85 lbs ( on a barbell) and man...my quads were hurting but my buns were hurting more...so i figured i must be doing something wrong and now thinking back..my steps are long....

thanks for the science side TPT

85 lbs barbell?! good stuff.

and thanks for stopping by.

[TPT]

here was another paper that was recently published. it speaks more to the implications of greater hip flexion during lunges and greater muscle glute and ham activation.

farorrokhi et al. (2008) looked the muscle activation of three different lunge exercises: standard forward lunge, lunge with the trunk flexed, and lunge with the trunk extended. check the following link for pics of the exercises.

http://pt2.usc.edu/labs/mbrl/pdfs/Fa...xercise%20.pdf

well, as said in the prior post hip range of motion would be key to muscle activation of the glutes and hams. this study showed significantly greater emg activation of the glutes and hams for the lunge with trunk flexion. the concurrent motion of trunk flexion is hip flexion. so the range of motion is increased with increasd emg joint impulse of hip extension.

would anyone perform these lunges with trunk flexion?

how could we modify this exercise?
Trunk position influences the kinematics, kinetics, and muscle activity of the lead lower extremity during the forward lunge exercise.

Farrokhi S, Pollard CD, Souza RB, Chen YJ, Reischl S, Powers CM.
Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-9006, USA.
STUDY DESIGN: Experimental laboratory study. OBJECTIVES: To examine how a change in trunk position influences the kinematics, kinetics, and muscle activity of the lead lower extremity during the forward lunge exercise. BACKGROUND: Altering the position of the trunk during the forward lunge exercise is thought to affect the muscular actions of the lead lower extremity. However, no studies have compared the biomechanical differences between the traditional forward lunge and its variations. METHODS AND MEASURES: Ten healthy adults (5 males, 5 females; mean age +/- SD, 26.7 +/- 3.2 years) participated. Lower extremity kinematics, kinetics, and surface electromyographic (EMG) data were obtained while subjects performed 3 lunge exercises: normal lunge with the trunk erect (NL), lunge with the trunk forward (LTF), and lunge with trunk extension (LTE). A 1-way analysis of variance with repeated measures was used to compare lower extremity kinematics, joint impulse (area under the moment-time curve), and normalized EMG (highest 1-second window of activity for selected lower extremity muscles) among the 3 lunge conditions. RESULTS: During the LTF condition, significant increases were noted in peak hip flexion angle, hip extensor and ankle plantar flexor impulse, as well as gluteus maximus and biceps femoris EMG (P<.015) when compared to the NL condition. During the LTE condition, a significant increase was noted in peak ankle dorsiflexion and a significant decrease was noted in peak hip flexion angle (P<.015) compared to the NL condition. CONCLUSIONS: Performing a lunge with the trunk forward increased the hip extensor impulse and the recruitment of the hip extensors. In contrast, performing a forward lunge with the trunk extended did not alter joint impulse or activation of the lower extremity musculature. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapy, level 5.

[Ninja Loco]

Always good stuff, TPT!!

[TPT]

Always good stuff, TPT!!

thanks, ninja.

i know you got "clients" who love lunges.

[tight booty]

I love walking lunges, definitley a staple in my leg training!

[Sledge]

Good post. I do walking lunges, long low strides. The Glute DOMS is a bitch though.

[TPT]

Good post. I do walking lunges, long low strides. The Glute DOMS is a bitch though.

I love walking lunges, definitley a staple in my leg training!

would you two recommend any other variations of the lunge?

[tight booty]

would you two recommend any other variations of the lunge?

I've done the stationary lunges but prefer the walking ones due to the fact that it raises the heartbeat and tends to be cardio at the same time....so you are burning fat while you target the quads, glutes and hams. I do think lunges work the hamstrings but not as much as the quads and glutes.
I have a saying...."lunge till the cows come home".....of course they never do so I believe in lunging until failure.