Dumbbell Side Lunge

Who Should Do?

General Population

The general population’s training focus is to increase lean muscle mass and improve function. This can be done using compound exercises. Compound exercises target multiple muscle groups, which is great for increasing resistance, volume, and intensity, therefore increasing muscle growth.

The dumbbell side lunge is a compound movement designed to target the glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and adductors. By targeting multiple muscle groups, we can enhance function and increase muscle mass.

Athletes

An athlete’s training requires the development of power and strength using functional compound movements. These movements allow us to increase strength, speed, power, and balance.

The dumbbell side lunge is an alternative lunge movement. It engages the lower body while strengthening lateral movements under load. This enables us to increase muscle mass, lateral movement strength, and balance. These elements make it great for athletes participating in sports such as tennis, football, and combat sports.

Athletes should consider combining it with other hip abduction exercises and cool-down exercises. This will enable them to continue developing lateral movement while enhancing flexibility and mobility.

Who Should Not Do?

People With Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

If you are experiencing knee pain, you should avoid performing the dumbbell side lunge. Patellofemoral pain syndrome is characterized by a dull pain at the front of the knee when bending the knee. This is due to weakness of the surrounding muscle of the knee. Leading to poor alignment of the kneecap and femur.

The dumbbell side lunge is an intermediate exercise that can place a great deal of stress on the knee. While safe, the side lunge can cause pain for those who lack poor knee alignment. 

Strengthening of the quadricep muscles can help to improve alignment. However, we recommend performing the standard lunge or squat. This gives you great control of your knee position. This improves alignment and enables you to strengthen the quadriceps without further aggravation.

People With Poor Hip Mobility

If you struggle with poor hip mobility, you should avoid the dumbbell side lunge. Poor hip mobility presents as a limited range of motion at the hip, negatively impacting our movement patterns. This can be the result of decreased flexibility, joint restriction, and lack of muscular strength.

The dumbbell side lunge is excellent for increasing strength through a greater range of motion. However, if we lack mobility and hip muscle strength, it can place additional stress on the joints.  This can increase pain, leading to poor technique and injury.

We recommend increasing your hip mobility using a range of hip strengthening, stretching, and mobility exercises. Exercise such as traditional lunges, glute bridges, and clam shells will help improve strength; while hip flexor stretches will improve flexibility. Once your mobility and strength have increased, you can try the dumbbell side lunge.

Benefits Of The Dumbbell Side Lunge

Strengthens Muscles

Increasing muscular strength requires progressive overload of muscle tissue by increasing resistance, intensity, and volume. This can be achieved by performing compound exercises with a moderate to high mechanical load. This entails using free weights, machines, and bands to directly load target muscle tissue.  

The dumbbell side lunge is a compound exercise that can be performed with a moderate mechanical load. Being a compound movement it utilizes the glute, quadriceps, hamstrings, and abductors. This enables us to increase our resistance to moderate to high mechanical load, increasing intensity to enhance our strength.

Enhances Physique

Enhancing your physique requires targeting several muscle groups to increase muscle mass and symmetry. This can be achieved by performing compound and isolation exercises. Compound exercises enable us to increase the load, which is essential for muscle growth. Meanwhile, isolation exercise allows us to increase training volume for specific muscles, to improve symmetry.

The dumbbell side lunge is a compound exercise that enables us to target many alternative muscle groups. While traditional lunges engage the glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings; the side lunge’s lateral movement also targets the abductors and adductors.

When we apply significant load to these areas we increase lower body training volume. This increases muscle growth and the circumference of our thigh muscles, enhancing our physique.    

Improves Functional Strength

Functional strength is the ability to efficiently perform real-life activities. Improving functional strength requires the training of multi-dimensional motion. This is achieved by performing multiplane weight-bearing exercises to enhance a specific movement pattern or activity. This enables us to increase balance, strength, and proprioception, which is our body’s awareness of itself in space. 

The dumbbell side lunge is a prime example of a multiplane weight-bearing exercise, stacking a traditional lunge with lateral movement. This requires strength, balance, and coordination. By performing this exercise as a part of your routine, you will improve your functional strength. 

Frequently Asked Questions