#160 John Izzo and Working Up to the Lunge

This is John Izzo showing you how to teach your body the lunge.



John's Blog is called IzzoStrengthTraining.com and it's one I've been following and reading for a while. I recommend it to you if you are at all interested in personal training either as a pass time or as a career.

I like John because he has built a career and reputation without having to look like a Greek God. I promise you, that's a compliment. (No offense intended to Greek Gods.) He talks straight about his job, his victories, his challenges, and his professional ethics. And he makes sense.

Lunges are particularly difficult for me because they are about lifting most of your body weight with one leg. That's not always easy for me. Watching me get up off the floor can be pretty comical. So here's how John says to get started:

1.) Prepare by lowering your body unto the floor. Maintain an erect torso while on your knees. Eyes should be facing directly at a path in front of you and arms should be relaxed to your sides. At this point, the glutes and abdominals should be rigid or braced.

2.) With control, bring one leg forward. The knee of the other leg should still be touching the ground. This position resembles a “genuflect”. Eyes are still facing forward and shoulders are squared. The glute of the front leg should be contracted for the next phase.

3.) The front leg (which was forward) propels the body forward. With abs tight and glutes contracted, the trainee returns to the starting position with a “genuflect” and finally a kneel. The exercise is repeated on the other side.

What's good about Izzo's approach is that you start out in balance. If you start from a standing position, you have to execute the move without tipping over as you drop down. The difference may be mostly mental, but it makes sense to me to start out down on the floor. It isn't as far to fall.

I was never very good at this movement, but I'm hoping John's good counsel will help me to get better. I want to see those big old quads pop. And better lunges will make everything from my squats to my vertical leap bigger, too. to say nothing of the tight bootay that drives Mrs P wild.

Peace,
Pennsy