Reverse Lunge
oec:reverse-lunge
A lower-body unilateral exercise where one leg steps backward and lowers into a lunge, developing knee and hip extensor strength and balance.
Generated by gemini-3.8-flash from the sources below. No person has checked this record. Don't rely on it for safety.
Also called: Backward Lunge, Step-Back Lunge, Bodyweight Reverse Lunge, Reverse lunges
How to do it
Setup
- Stand tall with feet hip-width apart and your hands resting on your hips or held together at your chest.
- Engage your core and keep your chest upright with your gaze directed straight ahead.
Movement
- Take a controlled step backward with one foot onto the ball of that foot, maintaining hip-width distance between your feet.
- Lower your body smoothly by bending both knees until your back knee hovers just above the floor and your front thigh is roughly parallel to the ground.
- Drive through the midfoot and heel of your front foot to push yourself back up to the starting position.
- Complete the desired repetitions on one side or alternate legs each rep.
Breathing
Inhale as you step back and lower into the lunge; exhale as you press through the front foot to return to standing.
Cues
- Railroad tracks, not a tightrope
- Weight heavy in the front heel
- Tall torso throughout
Common faults
- Stepping directly behind the front foot, causing loss of balance.
- Step backward along the same hip-width track you started on.
- Letting the front heel lift off the ground as you descend.
- Take a slightly longer stride back and keep your front foot firmly grounded through the heel and midfoot.
- Allowing the front knee to collapse inward (valgus collapse).
- Actively track your front knee directly over your second toe.
Safety
- Avoid violently banging the back knee into the floor on the descent.
Muscles
Joints
- Hip: Flexion, Extension
- Knee: Flexion, Extension
- Ankle: Dorsiflexion, Plantarflexion
Details
- Movement
- Lunge
- Modality
- Calisthenics, Strength
- Mechanics
- compound
- Force
- push
- Laterality
- unilateral
- Kinetic chain
- closed
- Level
- beginner
- Equipment
- None
- Record
- Repetitions
- Load
- bodyweight, not applicable
Related
- progression of Bodyweight Split Squat
- regression of Barbell Reverse Lunge
- regression of Dumbbell Reverse Lunge
- substitute for Bodyweight Forward Lunge
- substitute for Forward Lunge
Sources
- wger: Reverse lunges (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.