Jumping lunge and kick is a quad-killing exercise that quickly get your legs burning and your heart rate skyrocketing.

This quad-killing exercise requires maintaining proper form, balance and coordination throughout the movement.

Benefits of Jumping lunge and kick Exercise

Jumping lunge and kick is a great lower body exercise that increases the intensity and difficulty of the basic lunge by adding a jump and kick. The addition of this pleometric jump not only challenges your quads, hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors, and calves, but also recruits the cardiovascular system. This exercise boosts your heart rate and helps you burn more calories.

Steps of Jumping lunge and kick Exercise

• Come into a regular lunge position with the right foot in front of the left.
• Keep the torso as tall as possible as you bend your both legs to sink into a lunge position.
• Making sure that the front knee doesn’t extend past the toes as you sink down.
• Keeping the chest lifted and core tight, jump up with enough force to propel your both feet from the floor. While in the air, scissor-switch your feet and land in a lunge position on the opposite side.
• Do this three times before lifting the back leg and engaging the core to bring it into a front kick.
• Repeat this process again, and scissor-switch the feet to land softly in a lunge position with your opposite leg.

Beginners

• You can perform regular reverse lunges without jumping.
• Once you practice Jumping lunge and kick exercise on your own and feel confident about your form, it’s time to incorporate it into your workout. The easiest way to incorporate a Jumping lunge and kick is to incorporate it into your lower body routine or cardio training day.
• If you usually do Jumping lunge, swap for a Jumping lunge and kick at least one day a week. You can pair this move with squats, deadlifts, leg presses or hamstring curls.
• Jumping on your own should be done with a 30 second rest break after each set from the beginning to the intermediate levels.
• More advanced levels can superset this exercise with a set of light squats, leg presses, or squat thrust exercises.

Precautions

• Pay particular attention to the impact imposed during your landing.
• Attempt to land as softly as possible so that your force of the deceleration is distributed between your knee, hip, and ankle joints.
• If you feel any discomfort in your lower body, especially the knees, then stop exercising and check the form. If the pain continues, ask the trainer to evaluate the form. This exercise is not recommended for individuals with knee or hip issues.
• Keep your torso longer than the chest and square with your front wall. This will prevent you from leaning forward and rotating your upper body. When you jump, think of yourself as, “straight up and straight down.”
• Once you are comfortable with this step, try to spend as little time as possible on the ground. Walking at a quick pace is key to making this a pleometric exercise. ¹

Try it out

• High knees
• Donkey hop to one-leg reach
• Air jacks
• Burpee

1. Davies G, Riemann BL, Manske R. CURRENT CONCEPTS OF PLYOMETRIC EXERCISE. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2015 Nov;10(6):760-86. PMID: 26618058; PMCID: PMC4637913. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4637913.[↩]