Lower body · movement pattern
Lunge / Split exercises
Unilateral knee + hip drive — balance, symmetry, and control.
What the lunge / split pattern is
A split-stance knee and hip extension loading one leg at a time, with the trunk balanced over the working side.
Why it matters
Unilateral loading exposes and corrects left–right asymmetries, drives knee and hip strength with less axial spinal load, and trains the frontal-plane stability the bilateral squat skips. Essential for athletic and durable lower bodies.
Coaching cues
- Most of your weight on the front leg; drive through the front heel.
- Keep the torso tall and the pelvis level.
- Lower under control — knee tracks over the foot.
- Match reps and depth side to side.
Common faults
- Pushing off the back foot instead of loading the front leg.
- Front knee caving in or drifting past the toes uncontrolled.
- Torso pitching forward / hips rotating open.
- Uneven depth or strength between sides.
- Front knee sailing well past the toes with no hips-back adjustment (the squat's knee-toe relationship, applied to a unilateral stance).
- Spine rounding into an unstable "C" shape through the descent instead of holding a stable, braced position.
Checking your form on video
Best camera angle: front-on. Front-on shows knee tracking and left-right symmetry — the main things checked for this pattern.