Barbell side lunges

To execute lateral lunges with a barbell, start by standing upright in a hip-width stance. Keep your gaze forward and maintain a natural arch in your lower back to protect the spine. Position yourself in front of a rack, grip the barbell with an overhand grip outside your shoulders, place the bar on your rear shoulder muscles or neck, engage your core, and take a step forward to begin the exercise.

Movement execution

Initiate lateral lunges with the barbell by taking a lateral step. This automatically leads to a bending of the leg that performs the lunge. The knee should not extend beyond the toes and should be approximately at a right angle. The other leg is now almost fully extended. Keep the barbell unchanged, and your back remains upright.

Continuing lateral lunges with the barbell can be done in various ways. You can rise again over the heel of the stance leg to return to the starting position. Either return to the same side and complete the repetition or move from the starting position to the opposite direction. Alternatively, you can smoothly transition from left to right in the lunge.

Stressed muscles and common mistakes

For further insights into the involved muscles and common mistakes during the exercise Side Lunges with the barbell, you can find on the page Side Lunges / lateral lunges.

Alternative variants to side lunges with the barbell

To make your training more diverse, you can also resort to similar exercises or other executions of Side Lunges with the barbell.