Intermediate

Lateral Lunge

The lateral lunge trains strength in the frontal plane, a direction most lifting ignores. Stepping wide loads the working leg's glute and quad while stretching and strengthening the trailing leg's adductors. It builds the lateral power and groin durability that cutting and skating sports demand, and it teaches control through a range many people are weak in.

Body part
Glutes, Thighs
Type
Balance, Strength
Browse by movement
Lunge
Muscles worked
Target
Gluteus Maximus, Adductor Magnus, Vastus Lateralis
Secondary
Adductor Longus, Rectus Femoris, Gluteus Medius
Tertiary
Biceps Femoris, Erector Spinae

How to do it

  1. 1

    Stand tall with your feet together, holding dumbbells at your sides if loading.

  2. 2

    Take a wide step out to one side, keeping both toes pointing forward.

  3. 3

    Sit back and bend the stepping leg while the trailing leg stays straight.

  4. 4

    Lower until the working thigh is near parallel, keeping your chest up.

  5. 5

    Feel the stretch in the straight leg's inner thigh at the bottom.

  6. 6

    Push off the working leg to return to standing, then repeat or alternate.

Tips

  • Sit your hips back as you descend rather than letting the knee drift far past the toes.
  • Keep the trailing leg straight with its foot flat to load the adductors.
  • Push the ground away hard through the working heel to return.

Variations

Common mistakes

  • The toes of the stepping foot turn out on landing, which quietly converts this back into a forward lunge and lets the inner thigh off entirely.
  • The first session's step is as wide as the one in the video, and the groin says so the next morning; start with a step you can control and widen it over a few weeks.
  • Dumbbells held at the sides clip the working thigh at the bottom and shove you upright; hold a single weight at the chest once the step gets deep.
  • Weight ends up split evenly between the feet at the bottom, which makes it a wide squat instead of a lunge; most of your load belongs over the stepping leg.
  • Speed builds as the reps go on because the step feels bouncy, and the adductor is being lengthened under load, which is a good reason to move through it slowly.

Frequently asked

How many sets and reps of the lateral lunge should you do when you are new to the exercise?
Two or three sets of eight per side, with no weight for the first few sessions. This is a direction most people never load, so the inner thigh of the trailing leg gets sore quickly. Once the step feels stable and the trailing leg stays straight, hold a single dumbbell at the chest and build back up. Twice a week fits well as a second or third leg exercise rather than a first one.
How do I make the lateral lunge easier or harder?
To make it easier, shorten the step, hold a rack or door frame with one hand, or keep the hands on the hips and go only as deep as the inner thigh allows. To make it harder, hold a dumbbell at the chest, slow the descent to three seconds, or slide the stepping leg out on a towel so the return becomes a pull as well as a push. A Cossack squat is the next step up in range.
What is the lateral lunge good for?
It trains strength and control sideways, which almost nothing else in a normal program does, and it loads the adductors at length; that combination is why skating, tennis and field sports use it. It is also a useful way to find out how well you tolerate a wide position. It is a poor choice while a groin strain is still painful, and it is not a heavy strength builder, because the limit is usually the stretch rather than the muscle.

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