Starting Position of Reverse Lunge

• Place a barbell across the back of your shoulders or hold a pair of dumbbells at the sides of your body with arms fully extended (palms facing your body).
• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing forwards. Lift your chest up and look straight ahead.

The Movements of Reverse Lunge

• Drop your right leg behind your body, bending your left leg, lowering your hips and keeping your trunk upright.
• Lower yourself into a one-legged squat position on your left leg until your left thigh is parallel to the floor. Your left knee should be at an angle of 90°. Hold for a count of one.
• Push hard through your left leg, strongly contracting the glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings to return your right leg into position. Don’t push through your right (back) leg.
• Complete the desired number of repetitions; then repeat with the left leg leading.

Reverse Lunge Exercise Technique and Tips

• Keep your front knee positioned directly over your ankle - do not allow it to extend further forwards.
• Keep your body erect throughout the movement - do not lean forwards.

Variations of Reverse Lunge

Smith machine reverse lunge
Stand directly under the bar of the Smith machine so that it rests fairly low across your upper back while still allowing you to maintain an upright posture. Hold the bar and lift it from the rack, unlocking the safety catches. Perform the movement as above

Starting position

• Place a bar across the back of your shoulders or hold a pair of dumbbells at the sides of your body with arms fully extended (palms facing your body).
• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing forwards. Lift your chest up and look straight ahead.

The Movement

• Take an exaggerated step forwards with your right leg, bending the knee and lowering your hips.
• Lower yourself until your right thigh is parallel to the floor and your knee is at an angle of 90°. Your left leg should be about 10-15 cm above the floor. Hold for a count of one.
• Push hard with your right leg to return to the starting position.
• Complete the desired number of repetitions; then repeat with the left leg leading.

Tips

• Keep your front knee positioned directly over your ankle - do not allow it to extend further forwards as this can cause strain to the knee.
• Keep your body erect throughout the movement - do not lean forwards.

Variations

Step length
A shorter step forwards places more emphasis on the quadriceps and a larger step forward places more emphasis on the gluteal and hamstring muscles.

Also a good strength and mass builder for the lower body, the leg press exercise is often preferred by those with weak lower-back muscles. There is little involvement of the stabiliser muscles and, paradoxically, may lead to urther weakening or imbalance of the deep muscles close to the spine and pelvis To reduce injury risk, keep your lower back flat on the support.

Starting Position of Leg Press

• Sit into the base of the leg press machine (seated, lying or incline) with your back firmly against the padding.
• Position your feet parallel and hip-width apart on the platform.
• Release the safety bars and extend your legs.

The Movements of Leg Press Exercise

• Slowly bend your legs and lower the platform in a controlled fashion until your knees almost touch your chest. Hold for a count of one.
• Return the platform to the starting position, pushing hard through your heels.

Training Tips for performing Leg Press

• Keep your back in full contact with the base; do not allow your lower spine to curl’ up as you lower the platform.
• Keep your knees in line with your toes. . Do not ’snap out’ or lock your knees as you straighten your legs back to the starting position.
• Make sure you do not bounce your knees off your chest.

Variations in Leg Press

Wide foot spacing.
Placing your feet shoulder-width apart with your toes angled outwards puts more empha­sis on the inner thigh muscles and will there­fore help to develop this part of the thigh.

Feet higher on platform.
Placing your feet higher on the platform SOt that your toes are almost off the edge puts more emphasis on the hamstrings and! glutes and will therefore help develop these! muscles.

Romanian Deadlift is a fundamental exercise for treasing overall mass, strength and power in both the the lower and upper body. Like squats, it a maximum stimulation movement.

Starting Position for performing Deadlift

• Stand in front of the barbell with your feet parallel and shoulder-width apart.
• Bend your legs until your hips and knees ” are at the same level, keeping your rib cage up and your head level. Your back should be straight, at a 45° angle to the floor.
• Grasp the bar, with your hands just over shoulder-width apart, one overhand, the other under. This will facilitate better balance and keep the barbell in the same plane.

The Movement during Romanian Deadlift - The Deadlift technique

• Using the power of your legs and hips, and keeping your arms straight, lift the bar from the floor until your legs are straight. The bar should be against the upper part of your thighs. Hold for a count of one.
• Slowly return the bar to the floor, keeping your torso erect, arms straight and head up, eyes looking forwards. Your chest should be slightly forwards and over the bar.

Deadlift Training Tips

• Keep your back straight - i.e. in its normal position - throughout the movement. Do not lean forwards.
• Keep the bar as close as possible to your legs throughout the movement.
• Make sure your knees travel in line with your toes - do not allow them to travel inwards.

Variations of Deadlift

On a Block
Stand on a low, sturdy block or platform so that the bar is at the same level as your feet. This increases the range of motion and therefore it benefits your body more.

Romanian Deadlift

Setup for Romanian Deadlift:Stand and hold a barbell with a shoulder-with overhand grip. YOur feet should be hip-with apart toes pointed ahead, legs straight. Dont lock your knees.

Movement during Romanian Deadlit: Slide the bar down the front of your thighs by pressing your glutes back and hinging forward at the hips. Keep your spine in a neutral position until the bar is a few inches below your kneecaps (or whatever’s comfortable). If you begin to round your back, you’ve gone too low.
Return to the start position by pressing your hips forward and squeezing your glutes.