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The lunge is a great movement for developing the thighs and strengthening the hips.
Stationary Lunge
The downward phase of the stationary lunge involves strong eccentric contraction of the glutes, hams and quads as your body is slowly lowered, its weight almost entirely supported by the forward leg. The trailing leg isn’t significantly involved, except for support and balance. On the way up, the glutes, hams and quads of your forward leg contract concentrically, straightening your leg and returning you to the upright position. At the same time, the glutes, hams and quads of the trailing leg contract to pull your body up.
Walking Lunge
The walking lunge mirrors its stationary counterpart during the downward phase, both in execution and muscle involvement. Yet the upward phase is markedly different, particularly with respect to muscle recruitment. All emphasis shifts to the forward leg, with the glutes, hams and quads of the front leg contracting maximally.
Performing the walking lunge requires that you stand straight up, so you’re essentially doing a one-legged squat. The trailing leg is minimally involved, serving only to support and stabilize your body. The walking lunge hits all the muscles of the forward leg harder than the stationary lunge, but doesn’t involve the rear leg muscles much at all.
Each leg is alternately used as you literally walk the floor, making the walking lunge the apparent lunge of choice for maximal thigh and hip development. Even so, the significantly different muscle recruitment of the stationary lunge is enough to warrant including it regularly in your leg program.
8 Variations of the Pushup
Try these tough alternatives to the traditional pushup
The pushup is probably the first muscle-building exercise most guys ever master, and also the first one they abandon. At some point they discover the bench press, come up off the floor, and never look back. But if you want a truly athletic physique, that’s a big mistake.
How do I know? I set out to discover the training secrets of the world’s best fighters for my book Ultimate Warrior Workouts. I traveled from sun-scorched beaches in Brazil to blood-and-sweat-soaked rings in Thailand. No matter where I looked, I found the planet’s toughest men training with pushups. And many were doing variations of the exercise I’d never seen before.
I’ve included eight of those variations here. Think you’re tough? Try to complete 10 reps of each—80 pushups total—in 5 minutes or less. It’s a body-weight challenge that’s sure to make you a believer in the power of the pushup.
Standard Pushup
The benefit: The standard pushup works your chest, shoulders, triceps, and core.
How to do it: Kneel down on all fours and place your hands slightly beyond shoulder-width apart. Set your feet together and straighten your arms and legs. Your body should form a straight line from ankles to head. Keeping your elbows pulled in toward your sides, lower your chest to an inch above the floor, and press back up. That’s 1 rep.
Leg-Kick Pushup
Origin: The Netherlands
The benefit: By forcing you to hold a position, it activates more muscle in your chest and shoulders than a standard pushup does. It also helps develop strength and flexibility in your hip flexors, glutes, and hamstrings.
How to do it: Assume a pushup position, and then lower your body until your chest nearly touches the floor. Kick your right leg out to the side as close to a 90-degree angle as possible without bending your knee. Pause, and move your leg back to the starting position. Push your body back up, and repeat with your left leg.
Knee-to-Opposite-Elbow Pushup
Origin: Thailand
The benefit: It uses rotation to work your abdominal muscles, hip flexors, and back in addition to targeting your chest and triceps.
How to do it: Assume a pushup position, but form fists with your hands so your knuckles are flat against the floor. Bring your right knee to your left elbow, and pause before returning your leg to the starting position. Now lower your body as you would for a standard pushup. Push back to the starting position and repeat, this time bringing your left knee to your right elbow.
Corkscrew Pushup
Origin: USA
The benefit: It works your quads, calves, and core in addition to all the upper-body muscles activated when you do a standard pushup.
How to do it: Assume a pushup position, but walk your feet toward your hands until your knees are bent at a 90-degree angle, with your hips slightly higher than your head. Lower your left side close to the floor by rotating your body and bending your elbows. Pause, and then rise slightly and rotate your right side to the floor. Pause again, and push back up to the starting position. That’s 1 rep.
Triangle Pushup
Origin: Brazil
The benefit: It forces one arm to work harder to handle a heavier load, and changes the angle of movement to stimulate more muscle.
How to do it: Assume a pushup position, but form fists with your hands so your knuckles are flat against the floor. Lower your chest to your left hand, pause, and push back up. Repeat, this time lowering your chest to your right hand. Alternate sides each rep.
Twisting Pushup
Origin: Brazil
The benefit: It works the rotational muscles in your core, and improves flexibility in your hip and groin muscles.
How to do it: Assume a pushup position, but form fists with your hands so your knuckles are flat against the floor. Rotate your hips to the right and cross your right leg in front of your left. Then lower your chest toward the floor as you would for a standard pushup, being careful not to let your hips touch the floor. Push back up and return to the starting position. Repeat with your left leg.
Uchi Mata Pushup
Origin: Japan
The benefit: It increases activation of your core, lower back, and hamstrings while also boosting demand on the muscles in your shoulders.
How to do it: From a pushup position, lift your right foot so your leg is parallel to the floor. Lower your body until your chest nearly touches the floor. Now raise your lifted leg higher into the air. Push back to the starting position. Do half your reps, switch legs, and finish your set.
Alternating Grip Single-Leg Pushup
Origin: England
The benefit: It works your lower-abdominal muscles and places more demand on your chest and serratus anterior, an important posture muscle that runs from your chest and along your rib cage to your shoulder blade.
How to do it: Place your right hand in a standard pushup position, but move your left hand a few inches forward. Raise your right leg and then lower your body until your chest nearly touches the floor. Push back to the starting position. Do half your reps, then switch arms and legs and finish your set.
Kettlebell Pushup
Origin: Russia
The benefit: It challenges your forearms, rotator cuffs, and core muscles as a result of the instability of the exercise.
How to do it: Assume a pushup position, but place each hand on a kettlebell with your palms facing each other. Lower your body until your chest nearly touches the kettlebells, pause, and then push back to the starting position.
Master the Pullup
Use this personalized plan to conquer a classic
February 15, 2006
Workout by Mike Mejia, M.S., C.S.C.S, Photograph by Piotr Sikora
Guys avoid pullups for mostly one reason: They’re hard. And if you can’t do even one, it’s embarrassing to just hang there. Memories of seventh-grade gym class, matchstick arms, and laughing classmates aren’t easily forgotten.
But if you can’t complete at least 10 in a row with perfect form, or haven’t boosted your total by three or four in the past year, you’re missing out. The pullup is the best way to work the biggest muscle group in your upper body: your latissimus dorsi. If you’re not improving, they’re not growing.
The solution? Use our custom guide to crossing the bar. Because the pullup is a body-weight exercise, it requires a different approach than the bench press and arm curl.
Instead of adjusting the amount of weight you lift to match your workout—as you would with free-weight or machine exercises—you’ll adjust your workout based on your ability. So the number of pullups you can do will dictate the routine you follow. This ensures that you’re always using the right pullup plan for you—whether you can already pump out double-digits or can’t yet manage a single one.
The result: You’ll have a better body—and the ghosts of junior high will finally be laid to rest.
Test Your Limit
Before you get started, determine how many pullups you can do.
Here’s the drill: Hang from a pullup bar using an overhand grip that’s just beyond shoulder-width apart, your arms completely straight. Cross your feet behind you. Without moving your lower body, pull yourself as high as you can; your chin should rise above the bar. Pause momentarily, then lower your body until your arms are straight, and repeat.
Record your total, then find the pullup routine below that corresponds to your best effort. Do that workout twice a week, resting at least 2 days between sessions.
After 4 weeks, retest yourself. Depending on your score, either advance to the next workout or repeat the same routine for another 4 weeks.
Your Best Effort: 0 to 1
The problem: You’re not strong enough to lift your body weight.
The fix: Turn your weakness into an advantage with heavy “negatives.” Doing only the lowering portion of an exercise with a heavier weight than you can lift is a fast way to build strength.
How to do it: First, a couple of definitions.
– Chinup: This is the same movement as a pullup, but you’ll use a shoulder-width, underhand grip. Because your biceps are more involved, it’s a little easier than the pullup.
– Neutral-grip pullup: Again, it’s the same basic movement, but you’ll grip the parallel bars of the pullup station so your palms are facing each other. This is harder than a chinup, but not as hard as a pullup.
Now follow the workout schedule below, using this method of performing negatives: Place a bench under a pullup bar and use it to boost your body so your chin is above the bar. Then take the prescribed amount of time — either 5 to 6 seconds or 8 to 10 seconds — to lower your body. Once your arms are straight, jump back up to the top position and repeat. Rest for 60 seconds after each set.
Week 1: Chinup : 3 sets : 5–6 reps : 5–6 seconds
Week 2: Neutral- grip pullup : 3 sets : 5–6 reps : 5–6 seconds
Week 3: Neutral- grip pullup : 2 sets : 5–6 reps : 8–10 seconds
Week 4: Pullup : 2 sets : 5–6 reps : 8–10 seconds
Your Best Effort: 2 to 4
The problem: You can’t do enough repetitions to fully develop your mind-muscle connection, limiting your ability to become stronger.
The fix: Do more sets of fewer repetitions. The reason: The first one or two repetitions in a set are the “highest quality” ones, meaning that’s when the most muscle fibers fire. By doing several sets of one or two repetitions, you’ll activate more total fibers and better develop the communication pathways between your brain and muscle—increasing strength quickly.
How to do it: Take the number of pullups you can complete and divide it by two. That’s how many repetitions you’ll do each set. (If your best effort is three, round down to one.) Follow the workout routine below, doing the number of sets indicated and resting for the prescribed amount of time after each. Note that after 2 weeks, you’ll increase the repetitions you do in each set.
Week 1: 8 sets : 50% of best effort : 90 seconds rest
Week 2: 8 sets : 50% of best effort : 60 seconds rest
Week 3: 8 sets : Best effort : 90 seconds rest
Week 4: 8 sets : Best effort : 60 seconds rest
Your Best Effort: 5 TO 7
The problem: You have strength but lack muscular endurance.
The fix: Focus on doing more total repetitions than normal—regardless of the number of sets it takes. For instance, instead of doing three sets of six, for a total of 18 repetitions, you’ll shoot for 30 repetitions—even if that means you have to drop down to sets of three, two, or one. This will rapidly improve your muscular endurance.
How to do it: Perform as many pullups as you can, then rest for 60 seconds. Repeat as many times as needed to do 30 repetitions. Each workout, try to reach your goal in fewer sets.
Your Best Effort: 8 TO 12
The problem: You’re too strong for your body weight.
The fix: Make yourself heavier by doing pull-ups with added weight. You’ll boost your absolute strength, which increases the number you can do with just your body weight.
How to do it: Attach a weight plate to a dipping belt and strap it around your waist. (If your gym doesn’t have one, you can hold a dumbbell between your ankles.) Use a weight that’s about 5 percent to 10 percent of your body weight, just enough so you’ll be doing only two or three fewer repetitions than your best effort. Do four or five sets, resting 60 seconds after each.