Lateral lunge
A lunge taken sideways instead of forward. The simplest way to train the one direction almost every program ignores.
The movement
Feet together
01 Feet together
Stand tall with the feet together, both pointing straight ahead.
02 Sit into the hip
Step wide and sit the hips back over that leg; the trailing leg stays long with its heel down, both feet still pointing straight ahead.
How to do it
Setup
- Stand tall with your feet together and your arms ready to reach forward as a counterweight.
- Keep both feet pointing straight ahead throughout.
Execution
- Take a wide step directly out to one side and sit your hips back over that leg.
- Bend the stepping knee while the other leg stays straight, with both heels flat on the floor.
- Push off the bent leg to return to standing, then repeat to the other side.
BreathingInhale as you step out and lower, exhale as you push back to the middle.
Form cues
- Sit back into the hip instead of letting the knee bend sideways.
- The trailing leg stays straight with its foot flat.
Common mistakes
- Letting the stepping foot turn out, which lets the hip avoid the range this exercise is for.
- Bending forward at the waist instead of sitting your hips back.
- Stepping too narrow, which turns it into a shallow squat on one side.
Worth knowing
- The inner thigh of the straight leg is stretched here, and it is the part most likely to complain. Build the depth over several sessions rather than reaching for the floor on day one.
General guidance, not medical advice. See how Setkit works.
Notes
Most programs train forward and backward and then stop. Squats, hinges, lunges and step-ups all move in the same direction, which leaves the muscles that move your leg sideways almost untrained, along with the hip range that goes with them. The lateral lunge is the cheapest fix available. No equipment, nothing complicated to learn, and immediate feedback about how little range you have.
Despite the name, it works more like a single-leg squat than a lunge. Your hips travel back and over one leg while the other stays straight, so the working side gets a real squat and the straight side gets stretched through the inner thigh. Both halves are useful and both usually get skipped.
Keeping your feet pointing forward is what makes it work. Turning the stepping foot out lets your hip rotate instead of moving sideways, which is more comfortable and trains something you already have plenty of. Feet straight ahead is harder, shallower and correct.
It leads naturally to the Cossack squat, which is the same pattern taken to full depth with the trailing toes lifted. Getting comfortable here first, with twelve controlled reps per side and both heels down, makes that step straightforward.