Exercise of the week - PNF- Walking lunges with medicine ball

How to: To start this exercise you will need to hold a medicine ball out in front of you with your feet positioned shoulder width apart. Step one foot out in front of you while maintaining the position of the medicine ball. To initiate this exercise you will need lower your hip straight down towards the floor while maintaining majority of the weight through the heel of the front foot. Lower your hips until your forward leg is bent to 90 degrees and then push yourself straight back up to an upright position. It is important that throughout out the exercise that your knee stays aligned with your heel and that you maintain a good posture. Keeping shoulder back and down while sticking out your chest will help achieve a good posture for this exercise.

What is strengthens: This exercise is a multi-joint exercise which means it use multiple muscle groups. The primary muscle is the quadriceps. And the secondary muscles are the hip flexors and hamstrings. Since this exercise requires you to hold weight, this will also strengthen your core, forearms and shoulders.

Equipment needed: Medicine Ball

Modifications: An easier modification for this exercise is to limit the amount of weight being lifted or perform it stationary instead of walking. To make this exercise more challenging: increase the weight being used without losing good technique or add a trunk rotation at the bottom of the lunge.

Applications: This multi-joint exercise strengthens multiple muscle groups that can be very beneficial for work or leisure related physical activity. This is a challenging exercise that will improve strength and power throughout the lower extremities of the body. Another added benefit to this exercise is that it will work on correcting bad posture throughout the upper extremities of the body.