Lunge Knee Taps
Lunge Knee Taps
Muscle Group Stretched: Hip Flexors
Muscle Group Strengthened: Quads (and some glutes)
Type of Stretch: Active Dynamic
Difficulty: All Levels
Suggested Prerequisites: none
This is a great “active” (strengthening) variation of a traditional kneeling lunge that can help strengthen both your quads and your glutes to better support deeper lunges (and front splits!).
How To
Note: because we’ll be transitioning from a kneeling to standing lunge, you may want to do this drill next to a wall or a chair to have a hand on for balance.
Step 1
Start in a kneeling lunge with your front shin vertical (knee stacked on top of the ankle), hips “square” (both hip bones pointing forwards), and torso lifted (shoulders stacked on top of hips). Try not to lean forwards - which reduces the stretch in your hip flexors. If you’re not feeling a stretch in your hip flexors, tuck your tailbone towards the floor even more.
Step 2
Tuck the toes of the back foot and start to lift the back knee off of the floor (this should feel like a strong squeeze in the front of the back leg thigh (your quads). It’s OK if the knee only lifts a couple of inches and the leg doesn’t straighten all the way. Your challenge is to: keep your chest lifted (don’t lean forwards) and try to keep your hips from floating up higher in the air as you lift the back knee (which means you’ll have to engage your glutes in the back leg to help keep pushing your hips to stay lower).
Step 3
Bend the knee and bring it down to just barely tap the floor, then lift the knee back up.
Repeat for 8-12 knee lifts/taps.
Modifications
Need to make it easier?
Lean forwards. Leaning forwards will reduce some of the stretch you get in your hip flexors, but it can still be an effective strengthener for your quads and glutes.
Want to make it harder?
Elevate the back foot off the floor. If you can easily get your back leg straight while keeping your hips low, you can make this more challenging by elevating your back foot (on a yoga block or two, low table, or if you’re quite flexible, a chair).
