Tip Start Leg Day With This Movement Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Training Tip Start Leg Day With This Movement This warm-up drill will make your hips and joints feel awesome and it' ll prepare your muscles for the big lifts to come by Tom Morrison March 11, 2017March 30, 2022 Tags Tips, Training Lunges are one of the best lower body exercises out there. There are so many different variations that you'll never get bored, and the carryover to strength, balance, coordination, and flexibility is important. I'd prescribe lunges to anyone: an elderly person, an athlete rehabilitating from a knee surgery, or a field athlete looking to improve performance. Lunges are king. Generally, most people will just do forward and backward lunges, and not really put any thought into how this exercise can be developed. Two key variables that people often miss are: Amount of hip flexion: Obviously, on the floor you can only go so far down before your knee makes contact with the ground. You have to stop basically at parallel. Lunge angle: If you're strength training for sprinting and fast changes in direction, you're not really ever going to stop in a perfect square-on position with your knee tracking your toe, are you? Fair play if you can, but I've never seen it. This movement fixes both drawbacks. Multi-Directional Plate Lunges Elevating the front leg is the perfect way to create that extra flexion at the hip and make it more relatable to deep squatting. Adding the directional changes with the back leg starts to work angles of your glutes, quads, and hamstrings that you never knew existed. The best way to keep your lower back, knees, and overall performance happy is to have strong hips. When you think about how mobile your hips actually are (or should be) there's always room for improvement. Even without the plate elevation, throwing in the variety of angles to your warm-ups could mean the difference between you completing a 5/3/1 program or having to back off because your knees are barking. I want people to be able to squat and deadlift their faces off every day, and it's the little exercises that keep the joints happy to allow you to do so! Because of the nature of the exercise and the full range of motion, I'd also be inclined to use this exercise over certain dynamic or static stretches for cooldowns, depending on the athlete. If you feel like stretching isn't working for you and you're still constantly stiff and tight the day after your workouts, then this is definitely something to try implementing into your training. The first time you try these for a full-on session you will honestly not know what to do with your legs. You will be sore. Good thing is, it doesn't take long to get used to them and you'll soon be wondering what you ever did for warm-ups without them! Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Training Tip The 6-Way Delt Raise Finish off your next shoulder workout with this exercise to really cap those delts. Exercise Coaching, Tips Mark Dugdale February 18 Training Goblet Squat 101 "The goblet squat is the single best lifting movement of all time," claims coach Dan. Here's how to perform this powerful exercise. Kettlebell Training, Legs, Squat, Training Dan John March 3 Training Tip 3 Exercises for Strong Healthy Shoulders Do these moves to prevent future shoulder problems, or use them to rehab a current problem. Just do them, okay? Tips, Training Eric Cressey October 8 Training The One-Day Arm Cure This all-day arm workout is completely nuts… but it works. Check it out. Arms, Bodybuilding, Training Charles Poliquin December 11