Lunges, I Hate Them. Is There BJJ Application?

Bigger Stronger Leaner
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So I’d rather have my teeth drilled. I don’t need a speech on why they are good for my legs…

Is there any direct benefit or application in BJJ?

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I think by definition any gym exercise will only have an indirect benefit on sport, unless that sport is lifting

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I think Bulgarian split squats are even more hatable or lovable, depending on how you look at them. Do you do them? The more I do them, the harder they are. My goal is BW (half BW weight in each hand) for 10 reps, which I’m not far from.

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I’m not very good at lunges either. I do other leg exercises. My real question is would they make my sweeps better? Or bridges? Any Jiu jitsu guys out there ?

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I have a strong belief that whatever you’re not good at is something that should have more focus when it comes to being a full-body athlete. You keep going until you are great at them and then when progress slows you find something else different but similar that you’re not very good at and start the process again.

It is hard to really know what will specifically improve anything for an individual for any given sport, not without knowing what your weak points are or being a coach that has experience in training those specific athletes… But an exercise that you don’t feel good at is almost always the place where the most growth can happen. Finding and working on things you aren’t good at (as long as you can do them safely) will make you a more balanced athlete and will go a long way in helping to avoid injury.

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I think there’s a lot of wisdom here, even for non-athletes.

I had back problems in my early 30s. After learning about Gray Cook’s functional movement screen, I ended up programming lunges. I hated them, too, like to the point of almost crying doing 10 with just my body weight.

In a matter of weeks, though, they seemed to fix my low back issues.

Even now, a decade later, I still feel like I move better–stairs are easier, for example–when I program lunges or split squats.

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I checked the rulebook. There is nothing in there saying that lunges are a requirement. I believe you can live a happy and fulfilled life without them. Carry on.

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I’m not even going to pretend I’ve ever spent a period of time targeting getting better at lunges, but it’s still great to hear stories like yours and I know how common these experiences are with people. I feel that if something is more difficult than you thought it should be, that’s a great sign waving in your face that there’s a ton of progress to be made. I see so many people say things like “I can’t do this because of that”, and I am guilty of it myself. If your weak points reveal themselves to you then that should be considered a golden moment, an opportunity… not an excuse to avoid. Whether that means working on shoulder mobility so you can squat with a bar on your back, or doing lunges to fix a problem in your kinetic chain.

With that said, if you don’t like or don’t want to do something then you don’t have to. All our journeys are different and no single exercise is essential. Even the big movers.

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Try them for a period of 6 to 8 weeks of progressive overload and keep a detailed journal about your results on the mats.

It’s the only way to know if they will translate for you, your body type and your rolling style.

Stronger legs will help in GENERAL.

Being able to lunge with good form is more likely to help with injury prevention than anything else. Maybe finishing a takedown etc.

I would say in terms of bridging being able to jump UP onto a box and FORWARD for distance would be far more beneficial than a lunge. But that is just my opinion.

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All basic lifts/exercises, lunges being one of them, tend to help a bit, some proficiency required, though.
But it’s very rare for an exercise to have a direct, noticable impact.
All main mass builders will have a noticable effect for young adult trainees the first time they seriously push the iron because they get their newbie gains.

Some exercises that might work for BJJ:

  • weighted situps or turkish getups
  • military press
  • weighted chinups
  • the classic mace drill
  • classic chopping exercises
  • power cleans
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