What is supposed to be going on with this exercise, exactly? It's kind of tough, besides regular lunge-tough, I'm not sure how flexible I'm supposed to be at the bottom of the lunge, where I rotate to one side, because I don't seem to be able to rotate much. Internet videos seem to show these a few different ways.
Do I rotate towards my front leg, or opposite direction?
Do I start to rotate before I get to the bottom, or wait until I reach the bottom of the lunge?
Which part(s) of my body should I rotate, hips, lumbar, thorax?
When do I begin to straighten?
Should I be doing anything with my arms?
Are the dumbbells supposed to get in the way?
What's the point? What am I supposed to "feel" to know that this is doing what it's doing?
OK Rhino, I will do my best here although I hope someone w/ more expertise will chime in and help you where I fail.
1. You rotate your torso to the side of the leg you lunged forward with. Step w/ left, rotate left. Come back to starting position very briefly. Step w/ right rotate right.
2. and 4. I start my rotation as I go down and almost touch my back knee to the ground, and then return to face forward as I come back up. I'm sure that waiting until you get to the bottom to rotate and return to face forward is OK too and maybe even better.
3. You won't be able to rotate at the hips and walk a strait line, so just think about turning at the waist so your shoulders make a 90 degree angle w/ your hips. You probably won't be able to turn that far, but that thought should get you where you need to be.
5. You should be holding the weight w/ your arms at chest level.
6. No, the dumbell(s) should not get in the way. Begin w/ using a medicine ball if you have one and hold it at chest level as if you were going to pass it to someone like a basketball chest pass. Once you need something heavier than the heaviest medicine ball, use one dumbbell and hold it the same way.
7. As far as telling you where you should feel it. It is a knee dominant exercise so you should feel it in your quad (front of leg), hamstrings (back of leg), and gluteals (butt). This exercise should also get your heart rate up quite quickly b/c they are pretty tough due to having to slow the weight down on the descent and as well move the weight to the side and back, and generate the force needed to return to the starting position.
5. You should be holding the weight w/ your arms at chest level.
Hope this helps
When I do them I hold the dumbbells waist high -- sort of resting my fists on my hips -- and it seemed to help with my balance. Not sure if it's correct or not.
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Karen -- Not going in circles anymore!
Yeah I thought the arm advice is interesting. I could you could hold at waist, hold close at chest, or hold extended from chest. Aside for extended holds probably being super hard, I wouldn't know what the pros or cons are.
My strength coach always had me do rotational lunges during warmup......she had me hold the DB straight out in front of me, lunge down and THEN rotate, then back to front and then on to the next lunge (walking): down, rotate, back to center, on to next lunge, etc.
I did them successfully for the first time today. I tried holding dumbbells at my side-big fail. I tried holding a 25 lb. plate to my chest and that worked well.
My biggest problem with the dumbbells was that I had trouble balancing, not just while rotating but while doing the dynamic lunge itself. I also kept knocking myself with the dumbbells. I had no balance issues whatsoever while holding a plate.
I don't get the point of rotating though. What is that supposed to work? I don't feel any added "stress" from turning to the side and back. Is it supposed to help increase balance? I wish the book would have gone in to more detail about this exercise.
For me it seems to be more of a flexibility/mobility drill (which I guess I could stand). That and I tend to hold the lunge longer in the bottom position, while rotating.
I swear some girl at the gym thought I was trying to check her out because I would lunge and then turn and look at her, then turn and look the other way, and she started to give me dirty looks, like "just do your lunges, stop pausing in the middle of them to turn and check me out..."
On the rotational lunges it seems like they could be done two ways. One, rotating the weight by rotating the torso, the other rotating the weight with the arms and resisting rotation with the torso. Which one is the one prescribed for this exercise?
I swear some girl at the gym thought I was trying to check her out because I would lunge and then turn and look at her, then turn and look the other way, and she started to give me dirty looks, like "just do your lunges, stop pausing in the middle of them to turn and check me out..."
Haha that sounds like a girl who has a little too much confidence...
Anyway, I think the point of the rotation is probably to work the core. I can't really see any other reason for it other than that. I'm starting FL I in 2 weeks, so I'll see how it goes and if I find a better way that suggested thus far. Holding a plate at the chest sounds like the best way to go though.
I just finished FL 1 (yay), and i was getting a little bit better at the lunges, getting a little bit deeper, holding it in the bottom, and rotating a bit more.
I stuck with holding the weight chest high. Down at sides was just a disaster. I only used a medicine ball though. Wasn't enthusiastic about heavy weights.
I'm just finishing FL1 myself (congrats EasyRhino), and my balance has been getting better on the Rotational Lunge too. Although, the last time I did it, I was way wobbly for some reason. Just a lack of consistent focus I think. I've found that holding a weight plate to my chest works best for me, though my forearms do get a little worn by the end of it.
Rotational Lunge, I don't get it.
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