# Lateral Lunge: how to do it

- Main muscles: quads, glutes, adductors
- Also works: hamstrings
- Equipment: bodyweight
- Level: beginner
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/lateral_lunge/283491d932/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Stand tall with your feet together and hands at your chest.
2. Take a big step out to the side, toes pointing forward.
3. Push your hips back and bend the stepping knee; keep the other leg straight.
4. Lower until your thigh is near parallel, heels down.
5. Push through the bent leg to step back, then switch sides.

## Cues

- Sit back, as if onto a low chair to the side.
- Knee follows your second toe.
- Chest up, back flat.

## Common mistakes

- Stepping so wide the knee drifts past the foot.
- Letting the heel of the bent leg lift.
- Rounding your back to get lower.

## Starting position

Stand tall with the feet together, toes pointing straight ahead, weight over the mid-foot. Hands clasped loosely in front of the chest, elbows down. Shoulders down and back, trunk braced, gaze ahead.

## The movement

Step the right foot straight out to the side and plant the whole foot, toes still pointing forward. As the foot lands, push the hips back and shift the body weight over the right foot, bending the right hip and knee. The right knee tracks over the second toe and the right shin stays close to vertical. The left leg straightens as the hips move away from it; its foot stays flat on the floor and pointing forward. The trunk tips forward from the hips with a flat back, and the chest stays up. To return, push the right foot firmly into the floor, straighten the right hip and knee and bring the right foot back beside the left. Both heels stay down for the whole rep.

## End position

With the right shin 10° forward and the knee at 90°, the right hip joint sits about 0.52 m high. The straight left leg then reaches about 0.66 m sideways from the left hip joint, and adding the hip width and the inward offset of the right hip puts the feet about 0.9–0.95 m apart. The preferred step in [2] was 98–99 cm (toe to heel) and the standard step in [3] was 60% of height (1.05 m here); 0.90 m keeps the right knee over the foot, which [4] warns a too-wide step breaks.

## Tempo

0.6 s step out, 1.4 s sink (about 45° per second at the knee, as in [2]), 0.3 s pause at the bottom, 1.2 s push back, 0.5 s stand.

## Form in numbers

| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Start stance, heel to heel | 0 cm (feet together) | 0–10 cm | [1] [2] |
| Toe direction, both feet | 0° (straight ahead) | 0–15° out | [1] |
| Right (bent) knee flexion at the bottom | 90° | 80–105° | [2] [4] |
| Right shin lean from vertical, side view | 10° forward | 0–20° | [1] [2] |
| Right knee over the foot, front view | over the 2nd toe | within 3 cm | [1] [4] |
| Left (straight) knee flexion at the bottom | 0° | 0–10° | [1] |
| Trunk lean from vertical at the bottom | 25° | 10–40° | [1] [2] |
| Heels | both flat throughout | no lift | [1] |

## Sources

1. [ACE, Lateral Lunge](https://www.acefitness.org/resources/everyone/exercise-library/96/lateral-lunge/)
2. [Escamilla et al. 2022, Int J Sports Phys Ther, "Patellofemoral joint loading during the performance of the forward and side lunge with step height variations"](https://ijspt.scholasticahq.com/article/31876)
3. [Riemann et al. 2013, J Sports Med Phys Fitness, "Biomechanical comparison of forward and lateral lunges at varying step lengths"](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23584319/)
4. [ACE press room, "How to do a lateral lunge" (Livestrong article citing ACE)](https://www.acefitness.org/about-ace/press-room/in-the-news/8340/how-to-do-a-lateral-lunge-to-work-your-inner-thighs-and-glutes-livestrong/)

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/lateral-lunge