My client, Marion, is demonstrating the reverse lunge, done with a relatively new training device called the Valslide. I added dumbbells to increase the intensity but this exercise can also be done with just your body weight.
The Valslide can be purchased at Perform Better (follow the link on left side of my blog). A word of caution — the Valslide requires carpet, no hardwood or tile floors.
Muscles involved: Gluteus Maximus (buttocks), Quadriceps (thigh), Adductors (inner thigh), and the Erector Spinae (low back) and Gluteus Medius (hip) as stabilizers.
Action: Stand with feet together. Place the ball of your right foot on the Valslide. Slide your right foot back and lower your body onto your left leg by flexing the knee and hip of your left leg until the knee of your back leg is almost in contact with the floor. Your left knee should bend to about 90 degrees.
Return to the start position by sliding your right leg forward and pulling yourself up with the glute (buttock) of your left leg. Continue for the desired number of repetitions and then repeat on the other side.
Comments: Be sure to keep your torso upright and check to see that your forward knee points in the same direction as your foot. A longer lunge emphasizes the Gluteus Maximus; a shorter lunge emphasizes the Quadriceps