3 Minutes on Power Balance with the Lunge

3 Minutes on Power Balance with the Lunge

October 19, 2015

BFS Championship Camps promote strength, agility and speed which add up to "power balance". Power balance is important in all sports, for boys and girls. Football, basketball, volleyball, baseball, soccer, wrestling and in track: hurdles, high jump, long jump, pole vault, discus, shot put, javelin and more. Whenever an athlete needs to change direction explosively and transfer quickly from one leg to the other, power balance is required. Lunges are fantastic for that purpose.

Lunges are a highly regarded BFS Auxiliary exercise. Lunges develop power balance. Each leg is forced to work independently from each other. Also, there is no stress on the lower back especially when dumbbells are used. Lunges are wonderful for the hamstrings, quadriceps and glutes.

We begin junior high and high school athletes on lunges without any weight. We want to get the correct movement down. As in all lifts, technique is vitally important with lunges. Start with a narrow stance and step out. The challenge is to see if the athlete can come back to the starting position smoothly.

Once an athlete masters the lunge movement with a long stride , then dumbbells can be used. Most of the time this can be the same day. Beginners should use dumbbells and not a barbell. There are some dangers when using a barbell. If you get in trouble balance-wise, all you do is let go of the dumbbells. The advantage of using a barbell is the athlete may gain a little in balance and development. Therefore, after an athlete has thoroughly mastered the lunge technique with perfect balance, he may wish to switch from dumbbells to the barbell.

Often, because of lack of stations and barbells , using dumbbells is the best, safest, way to utilize space and equipment.

Sets and Rep

Do two sets of ten reps for the basic off-season workout. Normally, we only do these on Wednesdays but doing them twice per week is OK. Also, if you wanted to do a third set of ten, you could, but no more. We normally do not record how much we do on our record card, partially because we don’t max out on this lift. Just put on enough to get a great workout with perfect technique technique.

The Six Absolutes

Those who have had BFS Clinics marvel at the similarity of our coaching guidelines on all phases of our program. It doesn’t matter if we are jumping, sprinting, stretching or squatting, we say eyes straight ahead, sit tall , spread the chest and lock-in the lower back. It is no different with lunges. Learn more about the “Six Absolutes” here.

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