Death of Walking Lunges with Ultimate Sandbag training

It seems to happen within a few minutes of being in almost any gym. Try it, give a few minutes after warming up and see if you can’t find someone performing walking lunges around the gym. Usually you can spot them when there is any type of open room, whether it be on a straight away or my favorite, the circle around a machine circuit. The walking lunge often seems to be the exercise of choice even for many trainers. Of all the variations of lunges possible it is odd to see the walking lunge get so much of the attention. We are about to change that with some of our DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training ideas!

Understanding  the concept of training movement patterns opens up the playbook in what we can accomplish in our training. People are often surprised to see that lunges actually should get the same respect as squats and hip hinges. There is a reason for that, lunges have a ton of value to our training and even relate back to our concept of training gait.

The truth is that the lunge has so many benefits and in our DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training system so many levels of progression. We see the lunge differently in DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training because we see all the ways that we can build better functional strength through using lunges.

The lunge really focuses on a few key points in our DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training system. The first principle from the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training system is body position. The lunge instantly creates an unstable base that makes it very difficult not just to move up and down in the exercise, but also resist forces from side to side. This is what we refer to in DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training as “multi-planar” exercise. Why should you care? You will see with the help of heart rate monitors that the intensity of the lunge is quite great even at lighter weights. That is due to the fact the body is trying to maintain balance while performing the lift. Basically the body is trying to do two things at once which causes it to work harder and get more out of the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training progressions.

The second principle that we can see really makes the lunge an integral part of the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training system is load placement. Being in the split position, we have more options than the squat to hold the USB in different ways to stress the body. This means we can introduce all sorts of progressions that aren’t simply limited to the amount of weight or number of repetitions we are performing.

Jessica shows how we can challenge the lunge with using our Arc Press to challenge side to side strength, the lift/chop to connect core strength to our movement, and the press out to help build confidence in the different directions that we can achieve with lunges to build better mobility and strength. 

There are more subtle benefits of lunges that make it an integral part of the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training system. One of my favorite simple things is the fact that lunge requires a more upright torso. For many people this means less loading on their low back and much more on their lower body. This means we actually get to train the muscles we are aiming to improve, rather than compensating through the low back.

People are often SHOCKED to see research demonstrate how much muscle activity lunges get especially compared with the squat!

DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training also speaks a great deal about the direction in which we step. Each is unique and creates not just the horizontal forces we see in standard lifting, but horizontal as well. In other words, in DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training we talk about the ability to accelerate, but deceleration is more important. The fact we can create small progression of Ultimate Sandbag Training means we can introduce anyone into these concepts. Which is very important as the walking lunge is really too difficult for most people beginning a fitness program.

The last is one of the most important reasons we favor lunges in the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training system. That is the fact that lunge progressions can build flexibility in your hips. If for no other reason, the way lunges improve your hip flexibility should justify their use prior to squatting or many other lower body movements.

When we are talking about walking lunges specifically, we forget that the lunge is not the only way we can build towards the concepts of stability, acceleration/deceleration, gait, and strength! DVRT Master, Greg Perlaki, shows that we can take the movement pattern of the hip hinge and work through many of the same levels.

Once you understand the concepts of DVRT you find a much bigger world of fitness opening up. Not just more exercises to do, not just create challenges, but opportunities to make ourselves so much better!