An Exercise of the Week Post about the FMS In-Line Lunge Assessment by Chanhassen Personal Trainer & Weight Loss Expert Justin Yule
I’ve really enjoyed sharing our Exercise of the Week videos each Friday. 
As we kick off a new month, I’m going to start off with another video that breaks down one of the Functional Movement Screens (FMS). This month we’re going to address the In-Line Lunge.
This is a MUST-DO screen before adding lunges to your workout program!
With that being said, let’s take a look at how to test the in-line lunge:
Now, if you score a 1, asymettry, or have pain in this assessment DON’T DO LUNGES (or split squat variations)!!
SERIOUSLY, if you have a dysfunctional in-line lunge, besides asking for knee issues down the road, there's a pretty good chance that you're not actually working the targeted muscles (glutes) the way you want to anyway. Your compensated movement pattern has to call upon other muscles to help out. For example, most people who lunge with a dysfuctional in-line lunge movement pattern either feel their working leg quadriceps muscle (wrong muscle) and/or their trail leg quadricpes muslce (wrong muscle, wrong leg!).
Instead, you want to focus on fixing the movement pattern and getting your glutes to actually fire when called upon. By the way, check out THIS E-BOOK. It covers Dormant Butt Syndrome (yes, it's a real thing) and helps you target your glutes really well.
Oh yeah, one more thing… If you have a dysfunctional in-line lunge you should NOT run. Think about it – that's potentially a lot of "out of alignment" steps… You wouldn't drive your car for very long if it was out of alignment, would you?
Here is a simple daily routine you can do to improve your In-Line Lunge:
Let me know if you have any questions in the comment section below…
HAVE FAITH & TAKE ACTION!
Justin Yule, BS, CPT, MTE, FMSC
