Medicine Ball Side Lunge
The Medicine Ball Side Lunge is a lateral lower-body exercise that targets the quadriceps, glutes, and adductors while engaging the core for stability. By holding a weighted ball at chest level, this movement improves balance, hip mobility, and functional strength in the frontal plane.
Since lateral movements often expose mobility restrictions or muscle imbalances, the AI coaching system analyzes your performance data to detect if one side is significantly weaker or limited compared to the other. It uses your recovery status and pain history to adjust load and volume, ensuring you build strength without aggravating the adductors or knees. Additionally, by integrating your biometric data, the app can recommend optimal rest periods based on how demanding the stabilization aspect is for your current heart rate variability.
Form Cues
- Hold the medicine ball firmly against your chest with elbows tucked.
- Step out wide to the side while keeping the trailing leg perfectly straight.
- Push your hips back and down as if sitting into a chair on the lunging side.
- Keep your chest upright and your spine neutral throughout the descent.
- Drive powerfully through the heel of the bent leg to return to the starting position.
- Don't let the knee of the lunging leg collapse inward past your big toe.
- Don't lift the heel of the lunging foot off the ground.
- Don't bend the knee of the stationary leg; keep it locked out.
- Don't round your upper back or hunch over the medicine ball.
- Don't step so wide that you cannot push yourself back up with good form.
Common Mistakes
- Bending the non-working leg
- Lifting the lunging heel
- Rounding the upper back
- Knee caving inward (valgus collapse)
- Shifting weight to the toes instead of the heel
Muscles Worked
This exercise primarily strengthens the quadriceps and glutes while placing significant demand on the adductors (inner thighs) and abductors due to the lateral movement pattern. The addition of the medicine ball forces the core, specifically the obliques and spinal erectors, to work harder to maintain an upright torso against the anterior load.
Primary
Secondary
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