Lunges

We recently did a poll on Instagram about Lunges – do we love them or loathe them? And I was happy to learn that the majority voted LOVE! A few messaged to say they both love and loathe lunges, and I totally understand that feeling!

Lunges in some form or another feature in many of our Pilates classes at Glow. Lunges can be challenging, but they’re so very good for so many reasons, which is why we do them pretty much on the daily.

Lunges are a fantastic exercise for functional movement and strength around the hip, knee, ankle and foot. They’re good for improving our balance, and they can be lovely for a good ol stretch too (the Reformer provides extra nice stretchiness).

All of these reasons above feed into the main reason that we love lunges, and that is because they help us get better at being (primarily) on one leg. Being able to be on one leg is something that many of us probably take for granted. But it’s something that happens when you’re walking each time you step from one leg to the next. (Go ahead, stand up and take a few steps. You’ll see what I mean). There’s a moment when, between each step, indeed, you’re only on one leg. And most of us walk all the time as we carry ourselves around our daily lives. So, it just makes good sense to be really good at being on one leg, doesn’t it?

The stronger, more supple and better balanced we are on one leg, the more efficient our movement becomes.
Lunges (more so than our daily walking around on its own) can challenge our level of strength to eventually make us stronger. They can challenge our sense of balance to eventually make us more stable. They can challenge our range of movement to eventually make us more mobile.

So, bring on the lunges.