Walking lunges with a kick

There's nothing new under the sun when it comes to exercise. We are either pulling or pushing upwards, downwards, forward or backward at a slow, medium or fast pace; or there is no movement in the case of isometric exercises.

The set and rep schemes and whether we do an exercise in combination with other exercises in a superset or circuit cadence are the spices of variety that make our workouts challening and helps us achieve our multiple fitness goals.

An exercise I sometimes do is called the walking lunge with a kick. It's a great alternative to the standard burpee and can be done as part of a bodyweight circuit workout when you are short on time.

You've probably done the walking lunge part of it before. What I do is add a kick to it - a traditional karate front kick - to make it more interesting. This front kick adds an extra balance and cardiovascular challenge that I enjoy.

It's important to perform the front kick correctly to get the full benefit from it. It's a 4-part movement: step one is to chamber your knee upwards close to your body, step two is to perform the snap kick making sure to pull your toes backwards and drive the ball of your foot forward, step three is to return your leg to the step one position, and step four is to return your foot to the floor. Make sure you perform all four steps fast while maintaining good balance and form.

If you are looking for a quick workout that uses the walking lunge with a kick, try performing 10 reps of it followed by 10 reps of a standard pushup for 10 rounds, a total of 100 reps of each exercise. If you want a total plyometric workout, perform clapping pushups instead of the standard pushups where you explode upwards during the push up part and clap both hands while airborne before returning to the start position.

Here's a demonstration of walking lunges with a kick.

Give it a try because I think you'll like them - walking lunges with a kick.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum