Exercises You Should Be Doing: Angled Landmine Reverse Lunge

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I’m horrible when it comes to naming exercises.

I mean, in this instance, should I have gone with the literal name: Single Stance to Reverse Lunge w/ Contralateral Hip Extension & Flexion?

Or, I don’t know, something like Cool Landmine Reverse Lunge Thingamajiggy?

Decisions, decisions.

As you can see, I chose something in the middle.

Shrugs.

Copyright: realstock / 123RF Stock Photo

Angled Landmine Reverse Lunge

Who Did I Steal It From? – Virginia based strength coach Vernon Griffith. If you’re not following him on Instagram you should be. There aren’t many coaches putting out better content than he at the moment.

What Does It Do? – Well, lets take a look at it in action first, shall we?

See what I mean about coming up with a suitable name now?

Anyway, what I like most about this variation is that I can lean into the plate/bar which provides just a smidge of balance, but still allows me to focus on one leg at a time.

As it happens, when I saw Vernon first demonstrate this exercise he ended up lowering the moving leg to his knee (a gentle tap to the floor) whereas I chose to lower so that my foot contacted the ground.

Both are viable options. However, I’d encourage people to start with my option and progress to Vernon’s.

What I also like about this drill is that because I am leaning INTO the plate/bar I get more (closed chain) hip abduction on the standing side.

End Result?: GLUTE O’CLOCK.

Key Coaching Cues: I caution anyone from using an aggressive weight here. I was only using a 25 lb plate in this video and a part of my soul died it was challenging. I prefer a Zercher (in the crooks of your elbows) hold for this drill, but you could also utilize a supinated or underhand grip too.

From there it’s a fairly intuitive exercise. As noted above the lean helps to provide a bit of balance and because the barbell is situated somewhat in a fixed path, you’ll have all the “guidance” you’ll need to make it pretty smooth.

GO SLOW.

The real benefit here is learning control and to recognize how to move through your hips and not to compensate via the lower back.

Aim for 8-10 repetitions/leg.

You’ll feel things firing you’ve never felt before.

Glutes, deep hip stabilizers, core, your eyeballs, everything.

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