How To Burn More Fat With The Lunge Jump Plyometric Exercise
Fire up your metabolism with alternating lunge jumps.
Plyometric exercises are a good way to boost your heart rate and add intensity to any fat burning workout. But you have to be careful with them. Because plyometric exercises are so intense, you need to make sure they are done correctly and, in moderation.
How To Do Alternating Lunge Jumps
Once you get the hang of them they aren’t all that difficult to do, but there are a few things you need to keep in mind.
Start by finding a soft flat area. Under no circumstances are plyometrics to be done on hard surfaces.
- Stand with your feet staggered front to back and shoulder width apart
- Start by quickly dipping the hips, followed by an explosive jump upwards
- While in the air, split your legs so that your feet change position, the one that was out front becomes the one behind.
- Hold that position, so when you land you are in a lunge position, but opposite from your starting stance
- From this lunge position you’re going to reverse the movement and spring back up as high as you can
- Again, while in mid air, scissor your legs so that your feet change position. The foot that was once in front is now and back and now the rear foot becomes the front foot.
- Once again, land in the lunge position then explosively spring back up for another rep
- As with any exercise you do in the gym, keep your chest up and your back straight.
- Limit your reps. The first time he do these take the easy and don’t do very many. As you get more familiar with them you can push the effort and the numbers. But under no circumstances are they to be done in high volumes on regular basis.
- Make sure that you are fully warmed up before you do them.
Muscles Worked
With this exercise there isn’t a lower body muscle that doesn’t get worked. The primary muscle groups used are:
- Gluteus Maximus (your butt)
- Quadriceps (front of your legs,and the side of your thigh)
- Hamstrings (the back of your leg)
- Soleus, Gastrocnemius (the calf muscle)
Alternating Lunge Jumps Variations
- Prisoner Lunge Jumps
- This is the same as the alternating lunge with a slight variation. Your hands are clasped behind her head and they remained there for the entire exercise.
- Pogo Lunge Jumps
- The mechanics of this variation are the same as the classic version put the one exception. You do not scissor your legs. Each rep is done with the same leg out front in the same leg and back.
- Half Rep Lunge
- This variation takes a little more coordination. It starts in an athletic stance. You spring into the air and land in the lunge position. From there you explode back up this time landing in an athletic position. Again you jump into the air, scissor your legs, and land in a lunge position opposite from your last jump.
- Highland Swing
- This variation starts in an athletic stance as well. Start by jumping in the air as high as you can. While in the air quickly split your legs so that one knee is brought to chest and the other leg is kicked out back.
- This position is position is reversed and you land back in the athletic position.
- What you think make contact he jump again and says your legs in the opposite direction this time.
- Assisted Lunge Jumps
- Because these are so intense doing them assisted is a good place to start. There are two ways to make this exercise easier. The first is to use a small scissor action. When your feet aren’t split that far apart you can’t go down as deep in the exercise is much easier.
- The second modification is to hold onto a fixed object to help you with your jump.
Workout Incorporating Lunge Jumps
The 3’s Company Finisher
Do the following circuit as many times as you can in 3 minute period. Rest when needed. But the idea is to take as little rest as possible and
- Spiderman Push Up (3/side)
- Burpee x 3
- Pogo Lunge Jumps (3/side)
- X-Body Mountain Climbers (3/side)
Jason, CSCS
[SlideDeck2 id=3966]