JoeTraining series: Reverse lunge, do it backwards for maximum impact

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“Oh no, not the lunge,” your knees scream. Never fear little knees, there’s another way to do it.

Alternate Dumbbell Front Lunge to Dumbbell Laterals

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Front lunges train the major muscle groups in the legs, giving you strong thighs and glutes. Adding the lateral raises develops the shoulders while also raising your heart rate and burning calories.

Hold Lunge with Dumbbell Rows

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By maintaining a lunge while doing dumbbell rows, you train not your legs and lats, but also your balance and coordination.

Dumbbells-High Alternating Side Lunge and Shoulder Press

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Holding dumbbells at your shoulders while doing side lunges increases the weight in each lunge for a tough workout. The shoulder presses make it an upper-body workout too.

Double-Leg Power Hop With Stepback Lunge Twist Holding Plate

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To combine flexible strength with explosive power, try alternating jumps out of a squat with stepback lunges and upper body twists.

Standing Power Cable Chest Press with Alternate Front Lunge

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Add difficulty to the standard cable chest press by doing it with power out of a forward lunge.

Alternate Front Lunge Hold with Quick Alternate Dumbbell Rows in Low Position

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Hold a lunge while you do quick, strong rows through your upper back.

Single-Leg Power Hops with Stepback Lunge Twist

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A single leg jump out of a lunge is a quad-buster. To take it to the next level, add a weight plate and an upper body twist between jumps.

Hold-Weight Center Height Jump with Alternate Side Lunge Floor Taps

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This exercise demands reach in every direction. Holding a weight plate in your hands, you'll stretch up into a height jump, then laterally and down into a side lunge.

Single-Dumbbell Front Lunge and Power Row at Bottom

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For this lunge and power lunge combination, you not only train your legs and lats, you also make your entire body a stronger and more cohesively functioning machine.

Front Lunges with Shoelace Tap

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This modified lunge without weights gives your legs a great workout and improves flexibility.

Alternate Side Lunges with Shoe Taps

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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.

Walking lunges

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Walking lunges give the muscle-building benefits of traditional lunges with the additional benefit of balance and control training.

Super Legs

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The one leg exercise you can't live without, it develops both strength and power.

Drop-Down Lunges

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Drop-down lunges not only strengthen the quads and glutes individually; they also greatly improve overall balance and flexibility.

Alternate Stepback Lunges with Plate Twist

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Using a weight plate and body twist adds an intense edge to the classic lunge.

Alternating Lunges and Scissor Switches

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This exercise starts with alternating lunges, one of the best full-leg workouts available, then adds in scissor switches, which are essentially jumping alternating lunges that build not just leg strength but also balance and coordination.

Step Back and Single Rows

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Pair the leg-strengthening benefits of the lunge with the powerful cable row for your back.

Dumbbell Walking Lunges

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Walking lunges give the muscle-building benefits of traditional lunges with the additional benefit of balance and control training.

Dumbbell Multidirectional Reach Lunges with Shoulder Press

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Adding dumbbells and shoulder presses to your lunge routine turns a great leg exercise into a full body challenge.

Lean Barbell Single Side Row

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Side rows work the entire complex of muscles in your upper back. For this variation, you use a barbell rather than a dumbbell so that you can be certain you're controlling your arm's motion.

Multidirectional Speed Lunges with Floor Tap

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Forward lunges develop your quads and hip flexors; multidirectional lunges bring in your abductors and adductors, giving you a more complete leg workout.

Alternate Prisoner Lunges onto BOSU Ball

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Lunges on a BOSU ball add a balance challenge to the ordinary demands of a lunge.

Slow Super Legs

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Super Legs is one leg exercise you can't live without, particularly since it combines four incredible leg exercises: squats, reaching lunges, jump scissor switches, and jump squats.

Jump Scissor Switches

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This exercise asks you to jump between alternating lunges, switching your front leg with each jump. You'll build not just leg strength but also balance and coordination.

Speed Super Legs

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Super legs gives you a great overall leg workout because it combines four incredible leg exercises: squats, reaching lunges, jump scissor switches, and jump squats.

Alternate Scissor Switches Onto BOSU

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Scissor switches are the most murderous of lunges, since you change your leg position in mid-air. The additional challenge of doing them on a BOSU ball makes them even harder by adding a balance challenge.

The Workaholic's 30-Minute Workout

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Too busy to work out? Don't despair. If you can spare 30 minutes a day, we can give you a healthy, strong body that looks good to boot.

Ask Billy Bean: Building Functional Arm Strength

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Welcome to a new edition of "Ask Billy Bean" with advice from former Major League Baseball player Billy Bean. This month: building functional arm strength to improve performance.

Forward Dumbbell Lunges

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For killer legs, hold dumbbells as dead-weight while you do forward lunges.

Big Blue Half Balls

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Wobble your way to a better body - the BOSU awaits. We've got exercises - and videos! - to help you work on your stability, and your abs.

Diakadi Fitness Tips: Why the Cable Machine Is King

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Get functional! Find out why cable machines rock and which of the cable machines are best, and check out 21 cable exercise demos.

Train Like a Fighter—Without Being One

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Want the cut muscles and lean hard abs of a fighter—without all the bleeding? Then get started with our one-hour fighter program.

Try the San Francisco Bootcamp Workout—Week 1 of 4

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Last Saturday 25 of us met up in SF for our first local bootcamp workout with DIAKADI Body. See the workout we did. So tough!

Try the San Francisco Bootcamp Workout—Week 2 of 4

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Last Saturday, 32 people showed up to Golden Gate Park for the second week of our SF bootcamps. Want the workout? Get it here.

Do the San Francisco Bootcamp Workout—Week 3 of 4

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Ready to sweat in public? We've got Week 3 of our San Francisco Bootcamp workout. Print this and try this at home—but prepare to suffer.

Try the San Francisco Bootcamp Workout—Week 4 of 4

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It's all over—the fun, sweat, and grass-stains of the RealJock/DIAKADI Body SF Bootcamps. Do them at home—print the last in the series!

Diakadi Fitness Tips: Perfect Basics—Improve Your Lunges

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Lunges are one of the best lower-body and core exercises you can do—so isn't it worth doing them right? Make the best of your basics.

Long and Loose: Six Stretches for Optimal Training

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Time to get limber. If you want to lift, you have to stretch. Learn six must-do stretches from super-trainer Billy Polson.

Harder Core: The Med Ball Core Workout

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For a total-body, core-busting program you can do anywhere, all you need is a medicine ball—and a custom workout from Mike Clausen.

Outside and Over the Top: RJ/Diakadi SF Bootcamp Workout #1

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See the guys in the photo? Yeah, they kicked our butts last Saturday, bootcamp-style. Try the workout yourself, if you dare.

Weight Loss Challenge Strength Training Day 2

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Here's the second strength training workout for our Weight Loss Challenge guys—and anyone else who wants a Diakadi butt-kicking.

One Week Down: Weight Loss Challenge Strength Training Day 3

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Congratulations! With this routine, week one of the WLC workouts is complete.

Go Hard Core: Week 2 of the RJ/Diakadi San Francisco Bootcamps

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Take your show on the road with week 2 of the RJ/Diakadi SF Bootcamps. Try this workout at home—and join the next one in person!

RealJock/Diakadi January San Francisco Bootcamps Week 3

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Our RJ/Diakadi bootcamps went into week 3 with light rain and a brutal butt-kicking. Do the workout at home, and join us next week.

Last But Not Least: RealJock/Diakadi January San Francisco Bootcamps Week 4

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It's the last of the four current RJ/Diakadi SF Bootcamps. Relive the workout, and look forward to the next series!

Spring Fling: Workout #1 From Our March 2009 RJ/Diakadi SF Bootcamps

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It's spring, and time for some outdoor frolicking! So do a RJ/Diakadi bootcamp workout, and sign up to join us next week.

Bootcamp, Baby: Do the RJ/Diakadi SF Bootcamp Workout, Week 2

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Do the workout from last weekend's super San Francisco bootcamp, and sign up to join us for the next one!

RealJock/Diakadi March 2009 San Francisco Bootcamps, Week 3

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Great workout in a beautiful location. Print out week three of our SF bootcamps and get a touch of spring fever.

The Final Frontier: Week 4 of RJ/Diakadi SF Outdoor Bootcamps

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Last but not least, the final workout from our current series of bootcamps. Print, workout, get psyched for the next series.