Stronger Swimming Kick with Reverse Lunge
Being able to do this one exercise properly has benefits in the water and out
When looking at video of someone walking down the street alongside someone kicking in the water, you’ll probably notice a lot of similarities between gait on land and kicking in the water. Exercises such as the reverse lunge can help you transfer good walking habits to the water to build a stronger kick.
Reverse Lunge
To execute a reverse lunge, start by standing up straight with both feet flat on the floor about hip-width apart. Then, with spine straight and core engaged, take a large step back with one foot and plant your toes as you bend the knee on the forward leg. Lower your body down in a straight line toward the ground. Your back knee should not touch the ground, but a deep reverse lunge should have it coming very close, stopping an inch or two off the floor before you push back up. Bring that back leg back to the starting position next to the other leg.
While doing these lunges, focus on minimizing any side-to-side shake in the front knee. If you're wobbling all over the place, you're not demonstrating the stability and control that we want to see for this movement. Tighten up the core and the glutes and control the wobble.
When stepping back into the reverse lunge, focus on controlling that back knee so you don’t have lateral motion there either. Again, a tight core and engaged glutes can keep this movement steady and controlled.
Start with four sets of six repetitions on each side using just your bodyweight. Once you feel comfortable with that, you can add some dumbbells and increase the weight from there.
