Revolved Lunge: Turn Your Mid-Back and Open Your Hip
From a lunge, palms together at your chest, turn toward the front leg and hook the opposite elbow outside the knee. Turns the mid-back, opens the back hip.
Strength · Hips · Hip flexors · Glutes · 2 min read
Why it works: Chapter 23, Stiff people work harder for every stroke
How to do it
- 1
Build the lunge first
Right foot forward, knee over the ankle. Left leg long behind, back heel lifted, feet hip width apart side to side rather than on one line. If you wobble, lower the back knee to the floor: it is the same twist on a steadier base.
- 2
Hands to the chest, stand tall
Palms together in front of your breastbone. Lengthen up through your spine before you turn. A slumped or arched back hardly rotates.
- 3
Turn from the ribs
Rotate your chest toward the front leg and rest your left elbow outside your right knee, or just above it; never crank on it. Hands stay together at your chest. That is steadier than a hand on the floor, and your ribs do the turning. If the elbow will not reach, turn less.
- 4
Keep the back leg long
Back leg long and strong, hips facing forward. The twist happens above the pelvis, so do not let the back hip swing round to buy more turn.
- 5
Breathe in and out of the turn
Grow taller on each breath in and turn a little further on each breath out. Move in and out of the twist rather than parking in it.
- 6
The test
A stretch across the front of the back hip, a turn through the middle of your back, and the front leg working to hold you. Sharp in your lower back or front knee: lower the back knee and turn less.
Watch for
- Cranking on the elbow. Your arm shoves the shoulder round and the spine stops turning.
- Arching back before you turn. The ribs lock and the twist feels stuck.
- The back hip swinging forward. Your pelvis turns instead of your spine, and the back-hip stretch is lost.
- The front knee drifting inward. The knee takes a twist and your balance goes with it.