Fancy a mega effective leg and butt workout? Then you should try Jumping Lunges! Here's how to do this lunge variation correctly and what to look out for.
If you've never heard of jumping lunges, it's high time you did. They are a great variation of the traditional lunge. You strengthen your legs, bounce, balance and get a crisp butt.
A true all-rounder, so to speak!
All you need for this are training shoes and a little space in your living room.
In a small space, you can really get your leg and butt muscles burning with this simple exercise. Because you don't need any equipment, you can easily adapt it to your fitness level.
You control the difficulty of the Jumping Lunges by the number of repetitions.
Table of contents
Why are jumping lunges a good idea?
If you're tired of squats and regular lunges, you'll love the Jump Lunge. It adds a lot of variety to your workout and works the muscles pretty effectively. Especially the legs and butt benefit from it.
Unlike normal lunges, you perform the movement here jumping. Compared to classic lunges, this variation is much more dynamic. This ensures that your endurance and sense of balance are also challenged.
That's also why Jumping Lunges are so good for beginners and advanced exercisers. They make even the strongest leg muscles glow.
- Equipment needed: no
- Difficulty: medium
- Suitable for beginners: medium
- Designations: Jump lunge, jumping lunges, dynamic lunge, jumping lunge.
- Muscle groups used: Thighs and buttocks
How to do Jumping Lunges?
If you want to perform a Jump Lunge, you can choose the beginner or advanced version. Since even the beginner version requires a lot of balance, this is usually sufficient for the beginning.
The exercise is dynamic, trains the legs and at the same time provides improved balance.
Jumping lunges execution for beginners
- You start standing, with your legs slightly open. You can put your arms on your hips or fold them in front of your body.
- Tense the torso and straighten the shoulders backwards.
- Keep your upper body upright.
- Make a small jump and spread your legs. You land in a lunge.
- Sink with the back knee as low as possible. At the same time, bend the front leg at a right angle.
- Once you reach the lowest point, do an explosive jump. To do this, push yourself off the ground with your back leg.
- When you reach the highest point, place the back leg forward and the front leg backward.
Once the right leg forward and once the left leg counts as one repetition.
As a beginner, do 8 repetitions and 3 passes. Pay attention to clean execution rather than many repetitions.
Here you can watch a video that shows you this exercise again in detail.
Jumping lunges advanced execution
Is that still too little for you? No problem. Of course, you can also make the Jump Lunge more difficult. For this you need weight cuffs, which you attach to the ankles. But please do not overdo it. Start with little weight, even 0.5 kg per side makes the exercise much harder.
The rest of the movement remains the same. Because of the weight, you have to pay special attention to how your legs land on the mat. If the weight is too heavy, you may twist your ankle.
Take your time when putting on weight. Better to slow down than risk injury.
If you want, you can also take two small dumbbells or an exercise ball in your hands.
With these 11 exercises you can train your legs effectively!
Jumping lung with stopover
Especially as a beginner, the presented jump lunges can cause problems. By taking a small break between the jumps, the exercise becomes easier.
You start the same as in the classic Jumping Lunge, but instead of changing legs in one step, you jump from the squat position to the starting position and pause.
This pause lasts about a second, now switch legs and bend them again.
What you need to pay attention to during execution
Jumping lunges are not an exercise for total beginners. You need a certain basic level of fitness. On the one hand, it involves the muscles in the legs - starting with the hips and ending with the ankles. On the other hand, it's about endurance, which you clearly need for this exercise.
And of course also around a certain stability of the trunk muscles - it helps you keep your balance.
But let's look at it in detail.
The frequency
With dynamic exercises like jumping lunges, many tend to be too fast. This makes the execution sloppy and increases the risk of injury. In particular, the risk of twisting an ankle increases when you train quickly.
Therefore, take your time for this exercise. Do it slowly and pay attention to the position of your legs.
The legs
This exercise is a nice challenge for your legs. That's why you need to take extra good care of them. You can do Jumping Lunges either with training shoes, in which you have a firm grip, or you can do them without shoes. It is important that your foot feels stable so that you can land on the mat with a safe step.
The front leg always forms a right angle. The thigh is parallel to the floor. The fact that the upper and lower leg are in the right proportion to each other is important for your knee. If the angle is too large or small, the pressure on one knee is very high.
The back
Attention to all beginners: The back is always straight during the execution. Do not form a hollow back and also do not let the shoulders tilt forward.
To avoid a hollow back, you need to tighten your abdomen. Pay close attention to what your back is doing each time you perform the exercise. Push your shoulders back so that you don't develop a hunched back.
The arms
Yes, where to put the arms when jumping lungs? You have three options.
You can use them
- folded in front of the chest - like me, in the photo,
- take off in the hips
- or resonate right and left
Just try out what you like better and what you get along with. As long as your back is straight and your shoulders don't tilt forward, anything goes.
Take on the 30 Day Leg Challenge!
What are the benefits of Jumping Lunges?
When you work out, you should regularly incorporate asymmetrical movements into your workout. The lunge is one of the few exercises that does just that with the lower body. Jumping lunges are even more effective than traditional lunges.
If you do them at a fast pace, you'll work out your balance as well as your legs and butt. It also improves your posture.
The higher the speed, the better your body control must be. You'll be doing your cardiovascular system a big favor with this exercise. After just a few repetitions, your heart rate will increase noticeably, which will ensure more endurance in the long run.
If you're doing a short and effective full-body workout to build muscle and increase performance, Jumping Lunges can't be missing from your training plan.
What muscles you train with the Jump Lunge
Lunges are just great. They effectively strengthen your lower body and provide a crisp butt and shapely legs. Your entire thigh and the back of your legs are challenged.
The primary muscles used in a lung are
- the large gluteal muscle (Musculus Gluteus Maximus)
- and the leg extensors (quadriceps femoris muscle).
Along the way, however, there are more muscles at work. They help you keep your balance and perform the lunge cleanly.
These include
- the leg flexor, also called leg biceps (Musculus Biceps Femoris)
- the calf muscles
- the semitendinous muscle
- and the plate tendon muscle
However, for the exercise to be successful at all, you need strong core muscles - i.e. abdominal and back muscles. If you have too few muscles here, you will most likely fall into a hollow back quite quickly.
That's why you should stretch your legs right now!
What are the most common mistakes with Jumping Lunges
By the way, these mistakes are also classic with conventional lunges. You don't even have to hop from one position to the next.
Avoid these mistakes to minimize the risk of injury. Only if you perform Jumping Lunges cleanly will you benefit from them during your workout.
Watch out for these typical mistakes:
You forget to warm up
The Jumping Lunge is a dynamic exercise and strongly challenges the legs. That's why it's important to warm up before doing this exercise. This will prepare your muscles, vision and joints for the upcoming movement.
Stretching legs and feet, circling, bobbing, lifting and swinging is optimal as a warm up.
Momentum from the body
Swings in Jumping Lunge always come from the legs and never from the body. Use the existing power from the legs and buttocks to explosively jump straight up.
The hollow back
Probably the most common mistake when performing Jump Lunges and also traditional lunges. So, no matter which version you choose, always keep your back in mind.
The back should always be straight and not curved. Tighten the muscles of the torso firmly. This way, a hollow back is simply not possible.
The knee over the toes
Make sure that you form a right angle with your legs. When lunging, the knee of the bent leg must not protrude above the tips of the toes at any time. Slowly move the upper body vertically downwards - now the shin should automatically align itself correctly.
If this is not the case, then increase the step forward. And the 90° angle will work.
Hold your breath
Beginners and those who are a bit overwhelmed tend to hold their breath and breathe very sporadically. Breathe in when the exercise is easier and out when you need to exert yourself. Or in other words, breathe in when you bend your knee and breathe out when you push up/jump.
Avoid compressed breathing and only taking a quick breath in between. This will cause the blood to back up in the brain and you will go black or dizzy.
Fancy a change of pace? Try lunges with dumbbells!
The knee falls inward
Admittedly, the most common mistake I make with Jumping Lunges. If the knee drops inward, then you should slow down and shift down a gear.
Make sure that your knees do not tilt inward when unwinding and landing. Due to the dynamic movement, this happens faster than you would like.
If you are unsure, you should either do the exercise in front of a mirror or record 2-3 sequences on a video. Then you can see what is not yet optimal.
Maybe your ankles are not trained enough or you have weaknesses in your legs in general. If in doubt, take 2-3 lessons with a trainer and let him show you the most important exercises from scratch.
What are the alternative exercises for the Jump Lunge?
You want to complement the workout and are looking for more exercises for legs, torso and Co? Then take a look at these exercises:
Mountain Climbers
The climber is a popular exercise for abdomen, legs and buttocks. From the push-up position you pull your legs alternately in the direction of the chest. Super effective and with guaranteed muscle building!
Stretch jumps
If you want to get really out of breath then try stretch jumps. The stretch jump can also be done by beginners and all those who want to really stretch. It often helps against tension in the neck!
Step Up Exercise
For the Step Up you need a sturdy chaira sofa or a tapboard. You can master this simple exercise well even as a beginner and improve your balance.
Bulgarian squat
Bulgarian Squats make even trained thighs glow. In this exercise, you place one leg on an elevation, usually an armchair. Now bend the front leg until it is at a right angle.
Our conclusion
Jumping lunges are a very effective exercise for legs and buttocks, which bring new momentum to the workout, especially for advanced athletes. We do not recommend this exercise to complete beginners, because it requires body tension and strength in the legs.
Happy Workout!
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