Dumbbell Stationary Lunge
Let’s start with the basic stationary lunge. If you are a beginner I recommend doing this with your own body weight to start with. If you have been doing lunges within your training for a while, you may want to add some dumbbells at your sides. However, most people load their front leg too much in a stationary lunge (ideally a lunge should train both legs) so to get the hang of good form you may want to start with no body weight.
- Stand with your feet hip width apart
- Take a long step back with your right leg
- Ensure that in this position your feet are still hip width apart
- On the front foot raise the toe nails so you can feel the top of the shoe, this helps to load the heel more so you get more glute activation and stability
- Keep shoulders back and chest up
- Slowly lower the back knee towards the floor so you have approximately a right angle at each knee. Keep the toe nails up on the front foot and do not allow your chest to drop forward. Pause for 2 seconds.
- Drive your front heel into the floor and push yourself back up to the start position, keep the toenails up!
- Repeat on the same side for required reps, then swap legs.
Once you can do 10 to 12 reps on both legs maintaining this good form (you know you are doing it right when your back thigh is burning and feeling fatigue and your glutes on your front leg are also) then you can either add dumbbells, increase the weight of your dumbbells or progress by performing the stationary lunges with a barbell on your traps, however this version requires more stability and also some flexibility through your chest and shoulders in order to stabilize the barbell and maintain good upright posture throughout the range of motion. (See my section on Lunge specific stretches
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