How To: Strengthen your legs with side lunges and shoe taps

Learn how to do alternate side lunges with shoe taps. Presented by Real Jock Gay Fitness Health & Life.

Benefits
The shoe tap of this weights-free variation of the side lunge forces you to go all the way down, giving your hamstrings and adductor (inner-thigh) muscles a much-needed stretch and providing excellent balance training.

Starting Position
Stand with your arms at your sides and your feet shoulder-width apart.

Exercise
1. From the starting position, lift up your right leg and step out into a lunge.
2. As you step your right foot down, bend your right knee and reach both of your hands down to touch the top of your right shoe, while keeping your left leg straight. Keep both toes front throughout the movement and the majority of the weight on your right foot should be on your heel.
3. Once you have touched your shoe, reverse direction, stand back up and step your right foot back into starting position.
4. From starting position, repeat the lunge on the other side by stepping your left foot out, bending your left knee and touching your left shoe, keeping your right knee straight throughout the movement and both toes front, and then standing up and returning to starting position. When you have completed a lunge with shoe tap on both sides, you have completed one repetition.