Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett Forums General On my way to a better Lunge pattern without knee pain

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    • #70889
      AvatarROBERT KUNKEL
      Participant

      Hi supples,

      currently i am working extremly hard on improving my lunge. I experience a significant asymmetry between both sides of my body.
      The right leg leading and left leg / hip in extension keeps me in a wonderful stable position.

      However the other side feels very creepy and unstable! It is very hard for me to place the rear knee on the ground in the bottom position. In addition i experience some kind of knee pain near the bottom position. My right ankle is more restricted in comparison to the left one.

      What i have done yet :

      – smash the whole quad / it-band
      – hip capsule stretch with band
      – couch stretch
      – smash and voodoo floss my right ankle

      This routine seems to make things a little bit better, but i would like to know if i miss some peace yet.
      Any tip would be very helpful, looking forward improving this important pattern and make the knee my best friend 😉

      Best regards
      Felix

    • #74464

      I would add in some good adductor work.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTb3alz0Z8k

      and

      Super Frog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6cmn_S98K8

      These made HUGE impacts on my ability to lunge, jump and land.

    • #74465
      AvatarNathan Richer
      Participant

      so just to be clear – you are doing a lunge with the knee down on both sides?


      try putting a pad or Abmat under the down knee. Does that help the pain?

      the classic progression for developing stability in the lunge position with knee down would be:
      1. feet shoulder width apart, facing fwd, perform lunge for 15 sec, 30 sec, etc.  hold for the entire time, goal is to not wobble and be very still. 
      2. start moving the feet closer together and perform lunge for time. eventually end up with feet lined up which is the toughest stance.
      3. get in stance 1, start slowly turning your head from left to right and back again.  this now challenges your balance. progress in time, and also moving your feet to be lined up.
      4. get in stance 1, put PVC pipe or similar on your shoulders. slowly rotate your body and rotate the pole from left to right and back again. this again challenges your balance. progress in time and also moving your feet to be lined up.
      5. i don’t know if you have access to “chopping” with a weight machine, or a Gray Cook Band, but the chop and lift work well:

      6. as you progress, you can add weight. the half kneeling press is great:


      this video also shows some interesting concepts like unweighting the lead leg, as well as the stance wide to narrow.

      so the progression moves from static stability to dynamic stability to strengthen. i would not jump to the KB press until you are very ready.

      Carl Paoli’s lunge progressions are worth watching after you get the above down:


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