StrengthIn review

Dumbbell Overhead Lunge

An alternating reverse lunge with two dumbbells held overhead.

This page is a working draft. A coach has not reviewed it, so read it as a starting point, not as checked instruction.

Pattern: Lunge
Modality: Strength
Difficulty: Intermediate
Mechanic: Unknown
Force: Unknown
Laterality: Alternating
Impact: Low
Trains where: Gym, Home
At home: Yes

How to do it

Set up

Stand with the feet hip-width apart and clear space behind you.
Raise one dumbbell in each hand overhead. Keep the elbows straight and the dumbbells over the shoulders.

Do the rep

Keep both dumbbells overhead as you step one foot back and lower the rear knee close to the floor.
Push through the front foot and return to a full stand. Change sides each rep.

What counts as a rep

A rep counts when the rear knee lowers close to the floor and you return to a full stand with both dumbbells overhead; each side counts as one rep.

Breathing

Breathe in as you step and lower; exhale as you return to standing.

Cues

Keep the elbows straight.
Keep the ribs over the pelvis.
Step back under control.

Common mistakes

Losing the overhead position
What you seeThe elbows bend or the dumbbells move forward.
FixUse less load and keep the dumbbells over the shoulders.
A stable overhead position helps control the load during the lunge.

Stop the set if

Stop if you feel sharp pain.
Stop if you lose balance or cannot keep both dumbbells overhead.
End the set and lower the dumbbells under control before the overhead position fails.

General educational content, not individual coaching or medical advice.

Muscles worked

Prime movers

Quadriceps · moderate confidence
Glutes · moderate confidence

Assisting

Adductors · moderate confidence
Hamstrings · moderate confidence
Deep core / trunk stabilizers · moderate confidence
Forearms and grip · moderate confidence

Equipment

Dumbbell

Stand with the feet hip-width apart and clear space behind you.

In the app

You log this by hand. The camera coach does not watch this movement yet.

Tracking: Camera candidate

How this page was checked

Draft. A coach reviewer has not signed this off yet.

Draft text is original copy for Wave 2 batch 11, adapted from existing Allena records and the owner rules approved 2026-10-12 (#340). No human review is complete.
Technique, cues, rep standard, breathing, stop cues, and error corrections need independent sources and the assigned review tier (blueprint two-source rule).
Programming roles, skill tier, failure cost, timed use, goal fit, and equipment follow the owner rules; the switch-on PR must confirm them.
Anatomy uses the CSV planning hints; the assigned review tier must confirm it.
Legacy relations and engine edges stay empty until the progression ladder lane and S2-CAT-005.
Timed use and goal fit copy ex_reverse_lunge, the closest Wave 1 record. The draft carries no Wave 1 review evidence.
Technique uses 2 dumbbell(s). Load is logged in kg with load-and-reps only; the bodyweight variant is a separate record.
The CSV says squat. The record uses lunge, as the Wave 1 and batch 4 lunges.
The CSV says bilateral. The movement is alternating and counts total_alternating, as the closest one-leg model.
The CSV bench-or-box is removed; the movement requires only dumbbells. Home changes from no to yes (rule 1).
Skill changes from CSV beginner to intermediate because an overhead lockout on a one-leg base needs training (rule 3).
Failure cost moderate: the user must control the stop with dumbbells or on one leg (rule 3).
The draft uses an alternating reverse step. The owner must confirm this technique choice and moderate failure cost, or high because the dumbbells are overhead.

All instruction and editorial text in this record is original draft copy written for Allena. Planning metadata comes from the internal Wave-2 blueprint CSV.

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