Lunges to tone your legs (Day 16)

It’s time to work those legs again, and I want you to head back to the park to do it. If you don’t have easy access to a park, then I’m sure you can find things around the home to make this work.



Run yourself through the Bench Step Ups and Slide Lunges:



Park bench step ups

Take a look at the picture in the above link. You’re going to start with two feet on the ground, then at the midpoint both feet will be on the bench, then you’ll finish with two feet on the ground. The National Strength and Conditioning Association is pretty uptight about the order in which this movement works.



Behold:

1. Leading leg places entire foot on the bench.

2. Shift body weight to lead leg and then bring trailing leg onto the bench.

3. Step off bench with SAME trailing leg.

4. Step off bench with leading leg.

5. After six to 12 reps, switch leading leg.



Slide Lunges

The trick with a good lunge is keeping your balance, your core muscles tight and activated and going up and down in a smooth motion. Focus most of your weight on the heel of your front foot. Also, while you want to avoid excessive forward movement of the knee, it is a myth that you should never allow your knee to go beyond your toes while lunging or squatting. The image shown is what you're after, except your back leg will be on the slide instead of a bench.



Don’t forget to switch forward legs to do both sides.



I want you also to do a walk just like you did on Day 14: one with sporadic bursts into jogging. Again, if you’re unfamiliar with jogging then it may be a little uncomfortable at first but it only gets easier going forward. I don’t know too many people who liked running for the first few months. However, I do know a lot of runners who learned to love it. It’s all about going through just a little bit of pain and suffering, and taking note of how you’re getting a little better each time. Before you know it, you’re a runner, so don’t stop.