Barbell · intermediate · upper legs
Barbell reverse lunge press
Also called Reverse lunge to overhead press, Reverse lunge press, Lunge and press, Reverse lunge with overhead press.
The bar starts racked across the front of your shoulders. You step one foot back into a lunge and press the bar overhead from the bottom of it, then bring the bar down and stand up. Your front leg does the lunge, driven by its quads, and the delts and triceps do the press. What makes this its own exercise is where the press happens: at the bottom, on a base one foot long and one knee wide.
How to do it
- Step oneStand with feet hip-width apart holding a barbell at shoulder height in a front rack position.
- Step twoStep one foot back and lower your back knee toward the ground, entering a reverse lunge.
- Step threeAt the bottom of the lunge, press the barbell overhead until your arms are fully extended.
- Step fourLower the bar back to your shoulders as you return to the starting position.
- Step fiveRepeat on the other side, alternating legs.
What usually goes wrong
Each starts with what you would notice.
A rep you cannot finish leaves you with nowhere to go.
WhyYou are pressing with one knee near the floor. The two normal escapes from a press that stalls, stepping under the bar or shoving it away in front of you, both need feet you do not currently have.
FixPress this inside a rack, or keep the weight far enough under your best press that a stalled rep is not on the table. It is the one thing about this movement worth deciding before the first set rather than during it.
Your chest turns slightly toward the front leg as the bar goes up.
WhyA split stance is not symmetrical. One hip is forward and one is back, and if the back one gives at all, your shoulders follow it round and the bar leaves your shoulders crooked.
FixPoint both hip bones straight ahead and keep them there while you press. If the turn only appears on one side, that side is where the set should stop.
The presses keep coming and the lunge quietly gets shallower.
WhyFatigue shows up in the press first, which is what pulls your attention up there. The one you are not counting is the one that shrinks.
FixJudge the set on how close the back knee gets to the floor. When the lunge stops arriving, the set is finished, however many presses are still in you.
Your front heel lifts as you press.
WhyPressing pushes you down into a stance that is long from front to back and narrow across it, and the front heel is the easiest part of that stance to give way.
FixGet the front foot flat and the shin close to upright before the bar moves. If the heel still comes up, the step back was too short and the knee is too far forward to hold you.
What it is for
The barbell reverse lunge press is a compound lower and upper body exercise that combines a reverse lunge with an overhead press. It targets the quadriceps and glutes while simultaneously developing shoulder strength and core stability.
Questions people ask
- What muscles does the reverse lunge press work?
- Your front leg lifts you out of the lunge, with its quads straightening the knee and its glutes opening the hip. The delts and triceps press the bar. Everything through your middle is holding you steady while a loaded bar sits above your head and one knee sits near the floor.
- Should you press at the bottom or at the top?
- Both versions exist. Pressing at the top lets you use more weight, because you are back on two feet. Pressing at the bottom, which is what this one does, keeps the load lower and asks a split stance to hold a bar overhead. What changes is the base you press from, not the two lifts inside the rep.
- How heavy should it be?
- Less than you would press standing on two feet, and far less than your legs could lunge with. If you are picking between the two halves, pick from the press. The legs will cope with whatever is left.
- Why does my torso turn when I press?
- Because a split stance is not symmetrical, and turning is your shoulders following a hip that gave way. Square the hips before the bar moves, and end the set when you can no longer keep them there.
- Is this the same as a thruster?
- No. A thruster drives the bar up with the legs as you stand out of a squat. Here the two are separate, and the press happens at the bottom of the lunge while your legs are holding still.
- Do you need a rack for this?
- It is a press you cannot easily bail out of, so treat it the way you would any overhead lift you cannot step away from. A rack with the pins set answers it, and so does a weight comfortably below your best press. Nothing else about the movement is unusual.