Side Lunge

Directions:

Preperation/body position

1. If using a rack, place barbell on squat rack pins, which are set at a suitable height for you to dismount and re-rack safely.
2. Load bar with correct weight. Put on safety collars.
3. Position barbell on back of shoulders, taking a wide grasp on the bar.
4. Dismount barbell carefully, taking a few steps backwards.
5. If not using a rack, clean bar off floor and set in position on shoulders.

Excution/Movement

1. Lunge first foot 45° forward (see comments), keeping back straight and torso erect throughout execution.
2. Land on heel first then let rest of foot make contact with floor, in a slow controlled action.
3. Keeping back straight, lunge down by flexing the knee and hip until front thigh is close to parallel to the floor and the knee of the following leg is close to the floor.
4. Return to standing position by forcefully extending the knee and hip of the front leg, keeping good body posture throughout.
5. Repeat in same manner for the other leg.
6. Repeat for repetitions.

Comments

If you are a man and reading this, well done. Its easy to dismiss exercises like this because they appear silly, too feminine, or unworthy. If you are serious about full development however, no exercise should be dismissed, and no muscle however small it is, should not be neglected from a routine. The side lunge will recruit many of the muscles that the forward lunge recruits, but also will stimulate the hip adductor muscles, which are important if you wish to reduce your injury risk, and fully develop your legs.

Remember that you will not likely be able to handle as much weight as you would with the normal front barbell lunge. Use a lighter weight, the hip adductors do not require excessively heavy loads to stimulate, nor is it necessarily wise with the knee position during the exercise.

For people who are new to this exercise it is probably a wise choice not to start with a wide lunge to begin with. Start with an angle of 20-30°, and build up over the sessions until you feel comfortable at increasing the angle.

For hypertrophy 6-12 reps will likely yield the best results, providing optimal time under tension. This will provide adequate stimulation for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, and acute response to anabolic hormone concentrations, compared to that of lower rep ranges.