How To Do Medicine Ball Cross-Behind Lunge With Front Raise

By: Chris Freytag, CPT


Chris Freytag demonstrating a cross behind lunge with a medicine ball wearing a black top and workout pants.

Medicine Ball Cross Behind Lunge With Front Raise is a multi-dimensional move that strengthens both your lower and upper body as well as your core strength. The cross behind lunge part of this move is focused on strengthening your glutes and quadriceps. The front raise is an excellent anterior deltoid or shoulder move. When you put the two moves together you add a great core stabilization piece to the exercise. What does this mean? If you learn how to do Medicine Ball Cross-Behind Lunge With Front Raise you are getting an awesome full-body exercise.

Moves that use more than one larger muscle group are ultimately more effective for an overall strengthening and for calorie burn. When more muscles are added into the equation, the heart rate goes up higher and more calories are burned. Often people turn to cardiovascular exercise alone for burning calories and fat. The truth is that, when done properly, those same cardiovascular benefits can be found in strength training.

When you perform the Medicine Ball Cross-Behind Lunge With Front Raise, you will want to choose your medicine ball carefully. Remember that medicine balls come in a wide variety of sizes from 2 pounds all the way up over 20 pounds. For this move an average person might grab a 5 to 8 pound ball to try it out. If that sounds too light, remember that the ball is going farther away from the midline of your body making it more challenging than something you would hold closer in. In addition, once you master the move you can always go heaver if you decide.

Posture is important in this move. Keep your abs tight and as you perform the lunge, be sure to lower your bodyweight into the heel of the standing leg.

Here are the steps to performing Medicine Ball Cross-Behind Lunge With Front Raise:

1) Stand with feet hip width apart and hold a medicine ball in hands with arms straight down in front of your body.

2) Cross your right foot behind your left leg and bend knees while raising arms/ball up to shoulder level. Keep hips facing the front.

3) Return to start position and switch sides. That is one repetition.

Targets: glutes, legs, shoulders

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