Human Movement Pattern: Lunge
(Part II) Bring on the technical things
Now, let's take the time to break down the lunge even further. We previously talked about how we have developed an improper lunge through everyday movement. So, let's take a step deep into the musculature.
Similar to the squat, the predominate muscles that are used is the lower half of the body:
Quadriceps
Hamstrings
Glutes
Calves
Tensor Fascia Latae (TFL)
The time has come to break the muscles down further into the big, hard to pronounce words.. You ready? Here we go: (notice, this will be very similar to the squat post)
Quadriceps: The quadricep is composed of four parts: Rectus Femoris, Vastus Lateralis, Vastus Intermedius and Vastus Medialis. These four heads originate at the anterior iliac spine just superior to the acetabulum, the lateral lip of the femur or the medial lip of the femur. They insert on the patella tendon (your knee cap) and the tibial tuberosity (via patella ligament).
Hamstrings: The hamstrings are composed of three muscles: biceps femoris, semitendinosus, semimembranosus. This muscle group originate at the ischial tuberosity of the pelvis and insert at the tibia and fibula.
Glutes: This muscle group is broken into two major parts, Gluteus Maximus and Gluteus Minimus.
Gluteus Maximus: the gluteus maximus originate on the outer ilium, posterior side of your sacrum. Now, your sacrum at located at the bottom of your spine. The insertion of the Gluteus Maximus is the gluteal tuberosity of the femur
Gluteus Minimus: We have not talked much about this smaller peach, but it is just as important.The Gluteus Minimus originates between the anterior ilium and inferior gluteal line. They insert at the greater trochanter of the femur. In better terms, they are deep beneath the gluteus maximus.
Calves: In the first post, we broke this down to the Soleus and Gastrocnemius. Which runs along the back side of your leg. The Soleus runs the entire length originating from just below the knee on the tibia and inserts on the achilles tendon. For the Gastrocnemius, it originates at the lateral and medial femoral condyles while inserting at the Achilles tendon.
Tensor Fascia Latae: We did not get the chance to break this muscle group down last time. But we did mention it. This is a very important muscle that, I feel like, goes unnoticed a lot of the time. This lil' buddy originates on the outer surface of the iliac crest and inserts at the proximal one-third of the iliotibial band.
Alright, alright, alright, alright (in my best Matthew McConaughey voice) now that we have gotten through that we need to break down what is happening in our popular dysfunction photos. Let me remind you of my impeccable, beautiful pictures.
Photo numero uno: from a quick glance you may not notice anything wrong with this picture. Trust me, I had to take a second look to make sure I added the correct photo. However, if you look closer, you will see the front heel lifted, forcing the knee to over extend past the toes. *Talk about huge possibility of knee pain* With this movement, there could be a couple of quick fixes that could adjust the lunge.
The calves are huge players in this movement. The function of the calf muscles in an integrated function is to decelerate (slow down) ankle dorsifelxion. While also accelerating (speed up) plantar flexion in an isolated function. In the big picture this means that it helps to stabilize the foot and ankle complex.
Since we now know the function of the calf muscles, a simple fix of shifting the weight more towards the toes in the back foot will allow the front foot to firmly plant on the ground as a unit.
With the second photo, Woof, that knee cave (knee valgus, professional term).
Overworking muscles: TFL, Gastrocnemius, vastus lateralis
Weakened Muscles: Hamstring and Gluteus Maximus and medius
With this dysfunction, there can be little in depth techniques that can work to correct these issues. Lets bust out the good ol’ foam roller for this issue. Foam roll the TFL, calf muscle group and gluteus muscle group prior to going into your lunge exercise. See if that adjusts your pattern during the routine.
Finally, photo number 3: similar to our squat pattern, there is an excessive forward lean. Now, I have seen a ton of trainers lose focus on this when a client either has this movement pattern or starts to develop it because the trainer thinks that with a lunge the focus needs to be on just the legs. FALSE! One piece of advice if you learn nothing else from any of these posts LOOK AT THE BODY AS A WHOLE! I made sure to bold and italicize those words since nothing can be more true. Yes, lunges have a predominant focus on the legs, but if your client does not maintain proper posture in any movement stop and fix that problem. Sorry for the rant, let’s get back to the photo of the excessive forward lean. We learned last week that we have weak gluteus muscles and core stabilizers. This is the same here.
Have your client over exaggerate a glute squeeze during this movement pattern. With that focus, it should allow the client to raise the shoulders and activate the core/ hip flexors.
Another option is to initiate core activation from the beginning. Start with your go to core activation movements before even getting into the lunge. See if that changes their lunge movement.
Hopefully, with these couple of corrections your lunge patterns can look like this:
*Remember, I am not perfect*
Overall, look at the muscles that seem to be the biggest players in the lunge movement and let's take a minute to foam roll each of them for a few seconds prior to exercise.
In the next few weeks, we will start to look at movement beyond foam rolling to help strengthen these muscles.
Want more personalized information? Get the muscle imbalance guide here
