Stationary Lunge with Bar, a Personal Trainers' Favorite Exercise
By Ralph Klisiewicz, certified Chicago personal trainer
Personal trainers often attempt to train balance and stability with their clients. A stationary lunge with bar is an excellent exercise that a personal trainer can use for this purpose.
A good balance and stability exercise will emphasize a slow movement through one body part while emphasize maintaining lack of movement through another body part. In stationary lunge with the bar, the legs are obviously moving and therefore are challenged by the slow descend of the hips to the ground. However, the greatest challenge of this exercise is in keeping the torso in an upright position. Any movement at the hips will translate forces to the torso. The torso needs to mediate these forces in order to be stable and upright. In addition, when a personal trainer adds the bar to the exercise, the torso and arms create a long lever with its center of gravity near the top. This means that any unstable movement at the hips will be multiplied many times over at the position of the bar. Hence the midsection needs to work that much harder.
Note that a good personal trainer would properly progress his/her client to this exercise. Although the exercise looks rather easy, it is a very challenging stability and balance exercise. A personal trainer would monitor a client, making sure that the exercise is performed with control. If not, the exercise can be regressed by bringing the bar at chest level. On the other hand, if a client performs well, a personal trainer may choose to add weight to the bar and by doing so increase the difficulty level.
Lunge with Bar : Step 1
- Stand with one foot in front and one in the rear
- Hold the bar above your head keeping your arms straight
- Assume upright (neutral spine position) position at the torso
Lunge with Bar : Step 2
- Slowly descend your body to the ground
- Keep feet still
- Keep torso and arms straight