There are exercises that are worth doing for both men and women. Performing such exercises in different ways, you can pump up the muscles and give them a better shape, relief.
Today we will analyze a great exercise for training legs - lunges back with dumbbells. Thanks to him, you can give your legs a better shape and hone the relief.
What muscle groups are involved?
Of course, in terms of the number of muscles involved in the exercise, it is difficult to compare with other techniques with squats, and this is probably only deadlift.
But, strangely enough, the exercise "lunge back with dumbbells" includes a large number of both the main muscles and the stabilization ones. First of all, quadriceps work. Yes, if you want to have embossed legs in front, then without lunges it will be hard for you to do this.
In addition to the quadriceps, the gluteal muscles work perfectly . This happens when you get out of the squat. Thanks to the aiming load that falls on this part of the body, lunge back is one of the most favorite exercises among women, because you can pretty quickly put your buttocks in order.
The lateral thigh muscles, as well as the calf muscles, are slightly less loaded. Indirectly involved in the work of the press, back, stabilizers and others.
As you can see, the lunge back involves almost all the main muscles of the legs, and also includes the abdominal region and other muscles responsible for creating a strong muscle frame. All this makes the exercise effective for working out the legs.
Getting started right
The answer to the question of how to correctly lunge back is discussed in the following paragraphs:
- selection of a suitable load;
- correct movements.
So, with regard to the appropriate load, it is necessary to understand that a person cannot be compared with an ant in strength. This means that a weight that exceeds your own is not suitable for lunges. For reference: even the most avid bodybuilders, performing this exercise, do not use weight more than 40-50 kg.
Lunges - an additional exercise
Lunges do not belong to the main exercises, but are equated to additional ones.
The main task is not to sit on one leg with maximum weight, but to work out and use absolutely all the muscle fibers on the legs that were not fully developed after the first exercises.
Quite a difficult exercise are lunges back. The photos in the article confirm this. If the weight is large, then you will not be able to confidently stand on your feet, and this can lead to flexion of the back or unnecessary movements in the knees.
How to do the exercise?
Take the barbell or dumbbells from the uprights, laying them on the trapezius muscles so that the projectile does not cause discomfort to you during the lunges. Although some complicate the task for themselves, raising their hands with weights up.
Stand comfortably, feet apart shoulder width apart. Now take a step back with your left foot, while not transferring the entire body weight to your hind leg - you should leave it on your front foot, doing lunges back. The photos you see clearly show that at the peak lower point of the amplitude, it is not necessary to completely descend to the floor.
If you lower the knee of the hind leg to the floor, you can injure the knee joint. Do not slightly bring the knee to the floor, about 5-10 centimeters. In this case, you will reduce the risk of injury, and the muscles will be constantly in tension.
After sitting down, transfer the weight to the front leg as much as possible (you will feel strong quadriceps tension) and begin to get up, returning to the standing position.
Ideal for lunging backwards
An ideal execution can be called one in which the position of the legs at the lower point is as follows: the hind leg is bent at an angle of 90 degrees, the lower leg is close to parallel to the floor; the front leg is also bent at the knee joint by 90 degrees, but the lower part of the leg (from the knee to the mortar) should be perpendicular to the surface on which it stands.
Performing the exercise in this way, you will see that the knee of the leg located behind, when you crouched, will be behind the heel of the front leg at a short distance. It is believed that only in this case, the attack is performed correctly, and the load falls on the necessary muscles, without creating excessive pressure on the joints.
If you feel some discomfort in the knees, then use knee pads, which can be bought at a sports store or in a regular pharmacy. Of course, specialized equipment for athletes is better, because it is designed for such loads. But if there is no financial opportunity, then get at least a pharmacy option.
How many sets and reps do you need to do?
It all depends on what score exercise this is, what the training is aimed at and what goals you are trying to achieve.
If you haven’t set yourself the task of training the terrain, then do 3-4 sets of 10-12 times for each leg.
For drying and working on the relief, it is worth approaching the exercise in a slightly different way. Try to do 4-5 sets of 15-20 times on each side.
In this case, you can do the following: take the working weight with which you can lunge 15 times. Do about 12 times, then reduce weight by 20 percent and do another 5 reps. Then remove the pancakes another 20% and sit down 5 more times.
Thus, you can increase the flow of blood to the muscles of the legs: it will take away all the harmful ones and leave a lot of nutrients that the cells need to recover and develop.
When is it better to lunge back?
This exercise is best done after heavy squats or bench presses, when the legs are already shaking slightly. This will turn off all unnecessary and use only the necessary muscle groups. Some athletes prefer to lunges back and forth at the very end of a workout.
This is also correct, because in this way, using a small weight, you can properly fix the result and fully pump the leg muscles in order, literally, to "crawl out of the gym." Believe me, the next morning you won’t be able to walk normally, since such an implementation allows you to turn on all the muscle fibers on the legs that simply slept in previous exercises.
After reading our article on how to lunges back, you can now safely go to the gym and, under the supervision of a coach, try to complete this exercise. Do not forget: there is no need to rush to lunges with a barbell or dumbbells weighing 50 kg. Always increase the load gradually.