The Side Lunge is an excellent exercise for the hips and entire lower body. It works the lower body in a lateral movement plane rather than the much more commonly-worked front and back movement plane.

It’s a VERY valuable exercise that can be a pain in the butt to do with barbells (better to use a rack, but you have use a rack that you can walk out of because you have to move side to side) and the normal way with dumbells hanging down at arms-length – your legs get in the way very easily.

THIS version is done with one dumbell held in front of you at your chest, with you hands under the top set of plates like a big goblet (hence the name). It keeps the dumbell out of your way and requires no special rack or setup to do. Hits the core nicely, too, because of how you’re supporting the weight.

GREAT exercise for the lower body overall.

Here’s what it looks like:

Top position – standing with your dumbell held under the top plates.

Now take a wide step to the side.

Come all the way down into a “lunge” position then push back up.

Now repeat to the other side.

Simple exercise, made even simpler by holding the dumbell like this.

If you want to build great lateral hip and leg strength, this is the IDEAL exercise to do it with.