M
mrhtbd
Guest
Been doing lunges for 2 months and am getting close to my personal best with them since 1994.
Problem is, I see my lower strength getting better, but this is creating a lack of over-all upper body power in the quick style.
As many of you know, the "quick lifts," i.e., explosive, full-body movements like the deadlift, squat, bench, power clean, snatch, etc., are the ones which not only help facilitate white, fast-twitch muscular fibers (which add mass), but they also allow the body to work as a unit with each rep, and this is better for safety and injury prevention than doing isolation movements alone.
Whew, so, that said, I thought, "Great, my lunges are really getting stronger, but what about my upper body?"
By not working that in tandum, I am setting up an imbalance which just might leave open for an injury.
BUT, before I go into a panic about what was not done, and/or needs to be done, for me to become the perfect man I'll never be anyway, I want to write concerning lunges about what WAS done, and WHY it was done, including some of WHAT I know about it, and hopefully add info [which can help you make an informed decision] as to whether this exercise fits your training desires, and/or style.
You know, the Lunge, traditionally, is where one takes a long step forward, bends the forward leg until the knee lines up with/but doesn't pass the toes, then explosively kicks off the front foot to get the body back, upright, and in the standing position. One key safety point (concerning the patella) is to not let your knee go beyond your toes. Another style tip, is to lean slightly back when initiating the explosive kick-off press to get back into the upright position. Most people, somewhat because of the forward motion of the upper body exasperated by having a weight across their shoulders, (or in their hands) tend to lean forward at the lower part of the forward stride. You have to fix this by leaning the shoulders slightly back in direct line, from the position of the front foot, to the ultimately extended, upright press position, before kicking-off from the low point. Otherwise your low back will be bent, and your lumbar will take the brunt of the kick-off. Instead of facilitating the extention, your back becomes the potentiate for injury. What's the point in that? And that is why some people have shunned off lunges, they did it wrong and it hurt their back. Powerlifting is Style.
The essence of the lunge lies in the explosive force evinced by the press-off. You go down, maintaining your balance, get your full stretch, then press back your shoulders and BLAST off the floor. Your lower quads will sear with laughter!
And you will laugh, and cry, and laugh and cry again, but your searing quads will once again reign supreme!
Traditionally, weightlifters of yore did lunges to help with the "split" portion of the clean and press and/or the snatch, whereby a lifter cleans the weight to his/her shoulder, in the clean and press, (and overhead with the snatch), while simulteneously going into a split, (with 1 leg far forward of the other). Then the lifter explosively pushes out of the lunge, or split position, back to the upright position, while in the clean and press he/she presses the weight overhead while doing this, so that ultimately the body rests in the upright and locked position. With the snatch, of course, the lifter would have had the weight overhead as he/she went into the split position. Three seconds locked and you score with a legal lift (all other things considered and rules applied that is).
This is how lunges were done. They were done this way because in the old days many lifters used powerlifts (deadlifts, squat, and clean and press), as their mainstay training regimen. Before upright benches, it wasn't, "How much can you bench?" It was "How much can you press?" (and of course, you had to clean it first!) That was the true manly lift of the day, the clean and press, as overhead lifting has always held fascination and equal staging with strength. Unfortunately, it also leads to many injuries, especially whenever "Style" gets outstaged by "Ego!" Caveat, there's nothing like a little brute force to leven the pressure on ye day!
Now-a-days the isolation machines (originally designed for physical therapy and body builders looking for an edge) have taken full-body movements out of the picture for most, and, unfortunately, the benefits they provide as well. Somewhere along the line, the lunge morphed into something it was never designed to be. New forms may be benefitiol, but I do not see them as superior in any way, shape, or form, to the traditional lunge.
MY TAKE ON THE MODERN STATE OF THE LUNGE.
From what I've witnessed in the gyms over the past 20 years, there are two modern renditions of the lunge:
1) stepping forward once in a set, and doing one-legged presses off a front strided foot for said reps, then standing back up. Basically, with this style, a person only does one real lunge/split per set, regardless of the number of reps. Done this way, it's more of an upper quad exercise, as there is no explosion which is needed to engage the big lower thigh potentiate. Looking at this style, it's easy to see that it has different parentage than that done to facilitate a quick lift.
PROBLEM with this style? Let's start by asking, where is the explosive charge? When do the white muscle fibers come to play here?
How does the exercise facilitate the knee; both in flexibiulity and/or strengthening the muscles surrounding the joint throughout the full range of motion?
Squats are great, but they do not facilitate walking, per se, as the knee is generally in a static (one place) position, in relation to the hip.
Basically, problems with this style include: a lot of stress on the patella and knee cap, (because of the held forward motion of the body which tends to cause one to lean forward throughout the rep range), also, because of this bending-forward tendancy, it sets the participant up for a lumbar strain and/or injury-causing stress to the lumbar region. Ideally, this is a low-thigh exercise first!!!
The back should facilitate the overall movement through a supporting role; that is, in helping maintain the imaginary line from the front foot to the ultimate extention in the upright position, your shoulders. Bending forward puts the lumbar into a leading role, in that the stress of the kick-off is absorbed when it hits the first bend in the line, which would be your lumbar, facilitating a potential injury. So, don't waste your time. It's messing with disaster. Injury+timeoff to recoup=loss of progress.
2) The second style I have often seen is where one either has a barbell across their shoulders and/or a dumbell in each hand, and takes stride after stride to walk across a room. This has more benefits than #1, as you can increase flexibility, range of motion, balance, etc, but it won't effectively engage fast twitch muscles of the lower thighs.
This movement is fluid, not explosive, and it is sustainable, meaning each rep emphasizes movement to the degree whereby one cannot effectively utilize enough poundage to facilitate mass and total support of the knee. Besides, I see people do this all the time, and since they are constantly moving forward, I notice them holding a forward leaning position thoughout, putting direct stress on the lumbar and not the lower thighs, which is where it should be. Epic fail!
Even an old lady, with weight chosen appropriately, can make gains to strengthen the supporting muscles around the knee by doing lunges "the old way!"
They are great for adding shapely mass to the thigh, lend to a nice separation and thickness to the lower thigh, bring out the definition in the front of the thighs, help strengthen the muscles supporting the knee by utilizing multiple-joint exersice strategy, help greatly with fluid balance, and strengthen the back, shoulders, arms, calves, and core muscles, in sync, as well.
Besides, I love the looks I get from people. "WTF is that old man doing?" "Doesn't he know he's overtraining?"
"I'm just going to watch him so when he crashes into a heap on the floor I can laugh!"
"He's really sweating, I wonder if he's going to have a heart-attack?"
"Oh my, did he just do 8x16 lunges with a 175 barbell across his shoulders?"
"Well as soon as I finish this dumbbell concentration curl with my 10 lb d-bell, I'm going to need some more vitamin-water."
After a lunge set, don't bother me in the gym with any questions, as by then I'd be finishing up the straight leg deadlifts I do between lunge sets.
Oh, did I mention the importance of balance between quads and hamstrings?
Another day perhaps...
Lunge on, oh young-guns, lunge on!
Problem is, I see my lower strength getting better, but this is creating a lack of over-all upper body power in the quick style.
As many of you know, the "quick lifts," i.e., explosive, full-body movements like the deadlift, squat, bench, power clean, snatch, etc., are the ones which not only help facilitate white, fast-twitch muscular fibers (which add mass), but they also allow the body to work as a unit with each rep, and this is better for safety and injury prevention than doing isolation movements alone.
Whew, so, that said, I thought, "Great, my lunges are really getting stronger, but what about my upper body?"
By not working that in tandum, I am setting up an imbalance which just might leave open for an injury.
BUT, before I go into a panic about what was not done, and/or needs to be done, for me to become the perfect man I'll never be anyway, I want to write concerning lunges about what WAS done, and WHY it was done, including some of WHAT I know about it, and hopefully add info [which can help you make an informed decision] as to whether this exercise fits your training desires, and/or style.
You know, the Lunge, traditionally, is where one takes a long step forward, bends the forward leg until the knee lines up with/but doesn't pass the toes, then explosively kicks off the front foot to get the body back, upright, and in the standing position. One key safety point (concerning the patella) is to not let your knee go beyond your toes. Another style tip, is to lean slightly back when initiating the explosive kick-off press to get back into the upright position. Most people, somewhat because of the forward motion of the upper body exasperated by having a weight across their shoulders, (or in their hands) tend to lean forward at the lower part of the forward stride. You have to fix this by leaning the shoulders slightly back in direct line, from the position of the front foot, to the ultimately extended, upright press position, before kicking-off from the low point. Otherwise your low back will be bent, and your lumbar will take the brunt of the kick-off. Instead of facilitating the extention, your back becomes the potentiate for injury. What's the point in that? And that is why some people have shunned off lunges, they did it wrong and it hurt their back. Powerlifting is Style.
The essence of the lunge lies in the explosive force evinced by the press-off. You go down, maintaining your balance, get your full stretch, then press back your shoulders and BLAST off the floor. Your lower quads will sear with laughter!
And you will laugh, and cry, and laugh and cry again, but your searing quads will once again reign supreme!
Traditionally, weightlifters of yore did lunges to help with the "split" portion of the clean and press and/or the snatch, whereby a lifter cleans the weight to his/her shoulder, in the clean and press, (and overhead with the snatch), while simulteneously going into a split, (with 1 leg far forward of the other). Then the lifter explosively pushes out of the lunge, or split position, back to the upright position, while in the clean and press he/she presses the weight overhead while doing this, so that ultimately the body rests in the upright and locked position. With the snatch, of course, the lifter would have had the weight overhead as he/she went into the split position. Three seconds locked and you score with a legal lift (all other things considered and rules applied that is).
This is how lunges were done. They were done this way because in the old days many lifters used powerlifts (deadlifts, squat, and clean and press), as their mainstay training regimen. Before upright benches, it wasn't, "How much can you bench?" It was "How much can you press?" (and of course, you had to clean it first!) That was the true manly lift of the day, the clean and press, as overhead lifting has always held fascination and equal staging with strength. Unfortunately, it also leads to many injuries, especially whenever "Style" gets outstaged by "Ego!" Caveat, there's nothing like a little brute force to leven the pressure on ye day!
Now-a-days the isolation machines (originally designed for physical therapy and body builders looking for an edge) have taken full-body movements out of the picture for most, and, unfortunately, the benefits they provide as well. Somewhere along the line, the lunge morphed into something it was never designed to be. New forms may be benefitiol, but I do not see them as superior in any way, shape, or form, to the traditional lunge.
MY TAKE ON THE MODERN STATE OF THE LUNGE.
From what I've witnessed in the gyms over the past 20 years, there are two modern renditions of the lunge:
1) stepping forward once in a set, and doing one-legged presses off a front strided foot for said reps, then standing back up. Basically, with this style, a person only does one real lunge/split per set, regardless of the number of reps. Done this way, it's more of an upper quad exercise, as there is no explosion which is needed to engage the big lower thigh potentiate. Looking at this style, it's easy to see that it has different parentage than that done to facilitate a quick lift.
PROBLEM with this style? Let's start by asking, where is the explosive charge? When do the white muscle fibers come to play here?
How does the exercise facilitate the knee; both in flexibiulity and/or strengthening the muscles surrounding the joint throughout the full range of motion?
Squats are great, but they do not facilitate walking, per se, as the knee is generally in a static (one place) position, in relation to the hip.
Basically, problems with this style include: a lot of stress on the patella and knee cap, (because of the held forward motion of the body which tends to cause one to lean forward throughout the rep range), also, because of this bending-forward tendancy, it sets the participant up for a lumbar strain and/or injury-causing stress to the lumbar region. Ideally, this is a low-thigh exercise first!!!
The back should facilitate the overall movement through a supporting role; that is, in helping maintain the imaginary line from the front foot to the ultimate extention in the upright position, your shoulders. Bending forward puts the lumbar into a leading role, in that the stress of the kick-off is absorbed when it hits the first bend in the line, which would be your lumbar, facilitating a potential injury. So, don't waste your time. It's messing with disaster. Injury+timeoff to recoup=loss of progress.
2) The second style I have often seen is where one either has a barbell across their shoulders and/or a dumbell in each hand, and takes stride after stride to walk across a room. This has more benefits than #1, as you can increase flexibility, range of motion, balance, etc, but it won't effectively engage fast twitch muscles of the lower thighs.
This movement is fluid, not explosive, and it is sustainable, meaning each rep emphasizes movement to the degree whereby one cannot effectively utilize enough poundage to facilitate mass and total support of the knee. Besides, I see people do this all the time, and since they are constantly moving forward, I notice them holding a forward leaning position thoughout, putting direct stress on the lumbar and not the lower thighs, which is where it should be. Epic fail!
Even an old lady, with weight chosen appropriately, can make gains to strengthen the supporting muscles around the knee by doing lunges "the old way!"
They are great for adding shapely mass to the thigh, lend to a nice separation and thickness to the lower thigh, bring out the definition in the front of the thighs, help strengthen the muscles supporting the knee by utilizing multiple-joint exersice strategy, help greatly with fluid balance, and strengthen the back, shoulders, arms, calves, and core muscles, in sync, as well.
Besides, I love the looks I get from people. "WTF is that old man doing?" "Doesn't he know he's overtraining?"
"I'm just going to watch him so when he crashes into a heap on the floor I can laugh!"
"He's really sweating, I wonder if he's going to have a heart-attack?"
"Oh my, did he just do 8x16 lunges with a 175 barbell across his shoulders?"
"Well as soon as I finish this dumbbell concentration curl with my 10 lb d-bell, I'm going to need some more vitamin-water."
After a lunge set, don't bother me in the gym with any questions, as by then I'd be finishing up the straight leg deadlifts I do between lunge sets.
Oh, did I mention the importance of balance between quads and hamstrings?
Another day perhaps...
Lunge on, oh young-guns, lunge on!
