Dumbbell · intermediate · upper legs
Dumbbell reverse lunges slider lateral raise
Also called Slider reverse lunge, Sliding reverse lunge with lateral raise, Reverse lunge lateral raise, Slider reverse lunge with lateral raise.
This slides one foot backward on a disc into a reverse lunge while both arms raise out to the sides. The front foot never moves, and the quads of that leg are what take you down and bring you back up, with the glutes straightening the hip at the top. Your shoulders raise the dumbbells, and your trunk keeps you upright while a load travels out away from you. The slider is what separates it from a stepped reverse lunge: the rear foot never lands, so there is nothing to push off, and the front leg has to drag it home.
How to do it
- Step oneStand with feet hip-width apart holding a dumbbell in each hand, with sliders under your feet if available.
- Step twoStep one foot back into a reverse lunge, lowering your back knee toward the ground.
- Step threeAs you lower into the lunge, raise both arms laterally to shoulder height.
- Step fourLower the arms as you drive back to standing.
- Step fiveRepeat on the other leg, alternating sides.
What usually goes wrong
Each starts with what you would notice.
The sliding foot runs further back than you meant it to and you cannot get it home.
WhyA disc on a smooth floor has almost no friction slowing it, so how long your lunge ends up is decided by whatever the front leg lets out.
FixSend the foot back a short way for the first few reps and lengthen it once you know you can pull it back. Keep your weight over the front foot from the start instead of letting it drift back with the slider.
You are leaning out over the front leg by the time you reach the bottom.
WhyYou are steering with your upper body. A slider gives no feedback about how far the foot has gone, so people lean out to feel for it.
FixStay stacked over the front hip and let the rear knee find its own depth. If leaning is the only way to reach the bottom, the foot is going further than the front leg can currently control.
The same pair you raise standing feels like a heavier pair here.
WhyYou are lifting them out sideways while one leg is doing the work underneath you, so the weight is traveling away from a base that is already narrow and your trunk is holding both jobs at once.
FixUse a lighter pair than your usual raise. If the raise is the point of the set, do it standing still. If the lunge is the point, hold the weights at your sides.
Your arms carry on past shoulder height and finish overhead.
WhyThe demonstration does exactly that while the written steps say shoulder height, so the exercise is not settled on which one it is. It matters, because above shoulder height your shoulder blade has to rotate upward for the arm to keep rising, and the muscles that turn it take on that job.
FixDecide which version you are doing and hold to it. Stopping level with the floor keeps the work at the side of the shoulder. Going overhead makes it an arm elevation exercise with the shoulder blade involved, which is a reasonable thing to train and a different thing.
What it is for
The reverse lunges slider lateral raise pairs a reverse lunge with simultaneous lateral dumbbell raises to challenge the lower body and shoulders together. It targets the quads and glutes through the lunge while building shoulder strength and requiring core stability.
Questions people ask
- What does the slider add?
- Two things. The rear foot stays in contact and travels rather than stepping and landing, so there is no landing to absorb. And you cannot push off it to stand up, which removes the usual way of quietly turning a lunge into a two-legged exercise. No study has compared the slider version with the stepped one.
- What muscles does the slider lunge and raise work?
- The front leg is the one being trained, quads first, with the glutes finishing the hip. The middle of the shoulder raises the dumbbells. Your trunk keeps you tall, and if the arms pass shoulder height the muscles that rotate your shoulder blade carry the last part of the range.
- How high should the arms go?
- The steps say shoulder height and the demonstration goes higher. Stopping where your upper arm is parallel with the floor is what a lateral raise means. Carrying on upward is not forbidden, it simply turns into a different exercise partway up.
- What if I do not have sliders?
- A towel on a hard floor, or a paper plate on carpet, does the same job. Test it with no dumbbells first, because how far the foot travels depends entirely on the surface.
- Is this easier or harder than a normal reverse lunge?
- Different rather than easier. You lose the balance problem of stepping into space and gain a foot that keeps moving unless the front leg controls it. Nobody has measured either version against the other.