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R.I.P. Rotational Lunge

Ten years old, it is amazing that I already have to say good bye the Rotational Lunge!

Born on a nice spring day in Phoenix, a day where Jessica would hear me utter the words she dreads hearing from me the most, “hey, try this!”

rotational lunge

Pretty bold move on my part considering we were still just dating. Heck, Jessica probably bought way more into DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training than myself at this point!

With great hesitation (because she knows every time I say, “try this”, it usually isn’t fun) she was willing to try. I was trying to think about how to take advantage of the fact that the Ultimate Sandbag could move in different ways than we ever thought before. I wanted to maximize that!

sandbag fitness

Amazing how such a small idea became so big!

The lunge seemed to provide such a great platform to try so many things because it was both athletic and unstable enough to see the impact the Ultimate Sandbag would have on movement.

I was looking at the important tie in of the hip and the trunk. Why? All the current research on the body is showing us a very elaborate tie in of the hip and the trunk working together. This is important as we use to think of everything in individual parts. Kinda like a bad Frankenstein move, we assumed building parts would build a whole. That isn’t how it works though.

sandbag exercises

Makes a lot of sense when you think about how the body is laid out. Our trunk sits right on top of our hips, it isn’t a big leap to think that they SHOULD and DO work together. So, what is more important than getting a muscle strong is getting the chain stronger and to fire right!

My first intention with the Ultimate Sandbag Rotational Lunge was to try to create this tie in and I called it the “Oblique Lunge”. Hmmm, that was okay, but as we played with it more, I saw this incredible and very unique aspect that the Ultimate Sandbag brought to the movement. When you moved faster, the Ultimate Sandbag would create a swinging motion. More force you created the higher the Ultimate Sandbag moved.

We have worked with the U.S. Marines quite a bit because they need reactive strength that builds real world fitness. 

Hmmmm, this was no longer JUST about the tie in of the hip and trunk, but this powerful drill that contained great levels of acceleration and deceleration. I wanted to bring recognition to the unique movement of the Ultimate Sandbag so the name “Rotational Lunge” was born.

In retrospect, not the greatest name. People started thinking the namesake was about the way the body moved. Which is odd, because Front Squats, Close Grip Bench Press, Underhand Rows and many other common gym exercises actually refer to what happens to the implement. Either way, people thought the Rotational Lunge was a rotational drill, when in fact, it is an anti-rotational drill. This makes a HUGE difference.

We can build any DVRT movement from a strong foundation. Learning the skills of any more advanced DVRT exercise at more foundational levels ensures long-term success! 

I began to see all types of variance of the name that made it worse, such as “lunge with rotation”. That isn’t at all what is happening during the exercise! We are lunging and RESISTING rotation. This changes our intent and performance of the drill immensely.

 DVRT Master, Ara Keshishian shows that the MAX Lunge is built on a foundation of resisting motion from side to side

Being a pretty literal person in the way I name things, I put our DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training instructors to the task. “Come up with a better name that describes this drill”, was my challenge. After some back and forth, DVRT Master, Josh Raphael said, “why don’t we call it the MAX Lunge?” Hmm, the what?! He went on to explain that “MAX” would actually be short for multiple axis (because the movement covers different axis of motion) and well, because it is kinda the top lunge you can do.

MAX refers to any similar movement of the Ultimate Sandbag that can be done in many different ways. DVRT Master, Sean Lettero shows a really powerful way with the kettlebell helping create tension while the Ultimate Sandbag challenges his balance, stability, and strength! 

BRILLIANT! While Jessica had a harder time putting the name “Rotational Lunge” to bed, I am excited to welcome a new era of functional training where we keep trying to refine our different way of thinking and training. So, now the MAX Lunge is born, but don’t think you have seen it all yet! Check out why the MAX Lunge is so awesome in today’s training video with some great coaching by Douglas Sheppard of J and D Fitness!

Find out more how we build success of functional training with our upcoming DVRT programs in Boston, Seattle, and New York HERE