Learning Correct Lunge Form Can Help You Get Stuff Off Floor

As we age many people lose the ability to quickly and efficiently pick something off the floor. Is it lack of ankle flexibility/mobility or lack of strength in the quads and glutes? Maybe it’s both but for many it’s tight lower leg muscles that essentially form the triceps of the lower legs. The soleus muscle is the muscle just above your achilles tendon. As you go up the back of your lower leg you will find your tibialis posterior and gastrocnemius muscles.

Foot wear can hinder the ability of a proper gait cycle which can shorten some muscles and lengthen others making the lunge awkward. I see this time and again as well as tight hip flexor’s and a tilted pelvis but we will focus on the ankle joint area in this post.

Oh and another thing is that so many people tend lunge wider because because they just can’t get that back knee bend properly caused from those tight lower leg muscles. Bringing that back leg in forces you to tilt the pelvis under (which is also often tight) and really bend at the foot and ankle. Try holding on to a wall, chair or foam roller and practice in whatever range you can do and build up to being able to go down to eventually grace the back knee to the floor. Once you have better range of motion then your balance may improve as well when you go to pick up something you dropped on floor or let’s be honest for those of you with kids and dogs…something they left laying in the middle of your path.

Check out the videos below and try the stretches/exercises so you can more easily pick things up off the floor now and in the future.

Look at the difference in how low the back knee goes in the down position on the lunge.

You decide where you are going from and what your goal is.

Start with your body weight, move on to clicking the end of a pen (you might have to put a few books or a yoga block if you can’t go that low), then try lunging across the floor and finally they with dumbbells.

Here are a few foot, ankle and calf stretches that will help you achieve better form. Stretching everyday for 3 minutes for 6 weeks will scientifically lengthen the muscle(s) you are stretching. If you don’t have 3 minutes then do 30 seconds several times a day and get the accumulative effect.