Tutorial: Jumping lunge with arms overhead

The jumping lunge with arms overhead is an explosive whole-body movement that demands high levels of power and control. These are the steps to perform this demanding exercise correctly and improve your sports performance.

WHAT

The jumping lunge with arms overhead is an explosive whole-body movement that demands high levels of power and control.
The exercise is a progression of the jumping lunge, which in itself is a progression of the classic lunge. Be sure to master the technique of these two movements first before you dwell into this progression.

HOW

In a standing position, raise arms straight overhead in line with the body. Engage the core and set the shoulders to stabilise your torso.
Keeping the arms in this position, quickly jump the legs into a lunge, dropping the back knee as close to the floor as possible.
Stabilise the body before jumping back up and switching legs to drop into the opposite side lunge.
Repeat alternately for time or reps. The arms should remain straight overhead throughout.

WHY

Proper control of hip extension is an integral part of hip/low back health, as well as for efficient exercise/sports performance. The jumping lunge requires you have rapid hip extension while the arms are overhead – both of these demands need a higher contribution from the core and shoulder girdle to maintain balance.
If you are new to this exercise, it is common to experience small losses of balance when landing; or a forward movement of the arms during the jump. Both of these observations may indicate a loss of core/shoulder control. While further engaging the core and setting the shoulders may provide temporary stability, a better strategy is to reduce the size of the jump and keep the arms out to the side. This will allow you to focus on maintaining a strong core with right balance – as you gain stability, start to take the arms further overhead and increase the range of your jump.
Finally, don’t forget that the more aligned you are vertically (with gravity) the more efficient you will be. This means arms straight overhead, dropping the hips vertically down and not over-striding with the lunge. This will result in lower fatigue, reduced risk of injury, higher reps/duration, and better exercise performance.