Open Exercise

Development draft, v0. Formats and IDs may change.

Catalogue

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

  1. Stand tall with feet hip-width apart and your hands resting on your hips or held together at your chest.
  2. Engage your core and keep your chest upright with your gaze directed straight ahead.

Movement

  1. Take a controlled step backward with one foot onto the ball of that foot, maintaining hip-width distance between your feet.
  2. 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.
  3. Drive through the midfoot and heel of your front foot to push yourself back up to the starting position.
  4. 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

  • Gluteus maximus prime mover
  • Vastus lateralis prime mover
  • Vastus medialis prime mover
  • Vastus intermedius prime mover
  • Adductor magnus synergist
  • Soleus synergist
  • Gluteus medius stabilizer

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

Sources

This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.

Data

reverse-lunge.json