The side lunge is an extremely important exercise for improving knee and ankle stability as well as increasing glute strength. It is often overlooked as an exercise, because it involves moving laterally (side to side) and most people focus on front to back or up and down.
In other words, when people think of lower body exercises, they think of the squat, dead lift and lunge. But these do not take into account that the body also moves in other ranges of motion that are also important (i.e. side to side).
First of all, it is important to understand that most knee injuries and ankle sprains occur when the body moves eccentrically and laterally. That means that your legs are moving to the side and trying to brake. Unfortunately, the muscles may not be strong enough to stabilize the braking motion and tear or sprain.
In fact, up to 70% of ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) injuries to the knee are non-contact. And we also know that the #1 most common sports related injury is a sprained ankle. So, improving stability and strength in the knees and ankles is a vitally important step to protecting yourself from injury.
One of my favorite exercise choices for this task is the side lunge. I hardly ever see anyone doing it, but incorporating this into your routine will really help your overall movement and reduce your risk of injury. So, let’s take a look at the classic side lunge. Of course, there are lots of great variations on this exercise, but first start with the basics and then you can always advance it.
Side Lunge Exercise
1. Stand tall and make sure your feet are pointed straight ahead. (I always tell people to look at the outside of their feet not the inside, when pointing their feet straight). It may feel a little awkward at first, but you will get the hang of it quickly.
2. While under control, move one leg out to the side (about 2-3 feet). As that foot lands, let the knee bend, but keep the other leg straight.
3. Make sure the foot that steps to the side lands straight. Do not let that foot angle out to the side.
3. Sink the butt back and down as the knee bends. Do not let the knee extend over the toes. Imagine sitting back into a chair. In fact, when I first teach people this exercise, I usually have a chair or bench behind them so they can sit if desired, to get the feel of it.
4. You can use your arms as a counterweight and bring them out in front of you. If you are using weights, keep them in front of you and let your arms hang straight down, as seen in the image.
5. Now, push off from the leg that stepped out to the side and bring it back to the middle, standing tall.
6. Do 8-12 reps per leg.
In the beginning, do not use any weights. Instead, learn the proper form and get good at doing the movement under control. Once you feel comfortable, you can begin adding weight to increase the challenge. Just make sure you sink back and do NOT bend too far forward with your back.
As I mentioned, once you master the basic side lunge, you can begin doing variations that add difficulty and introduce more speed and power. But, simply adding more and more weight and focusing on proper form will also give you great benefits.
Secret of the Pros
Everything You Need To Heal At Home
So, Why Rehab?
Most people think rest and ice will heal their ankle (even a severe sprain), but they end up with chronic ankle instability… 30% still have pain one year later!
And that causes all kinds of muscle imbalances in the body, which can lead more serious injuries, repeated ankle sprains and chronic ankle pain. It’s a terrible domino effect that can last for life.
That’s Where Rehab Comes In.
A great rehab program significantly improves how a sprained ankle heals. It eliminates pain fast and ensures your ankles are strong and stable with healthy range of motion, which helps prevent future sprains.
Rehab Is The Key To
Healing Ankle Injuries Fast
Recent studies have shown that rehab heals ankle ligaments safely and effectively. It’s the difference between the people that don’t heal a sprained ankle and the ones that do!
Injured Ankle
Without Rehab
Injured Ankle
With Rehab
HEM Ankle Rehab “Rehabs” Your Ankle
HEM is a complete ankle rehab and prehab program for the entire ankle, foot and calf complex. This is a very thorough program that contains so much more than anything else you can find online, but it’s still easy to do.
Scott will coach you through every step, as if you are with him, one on one. Just follow along with the videos to rebuild your ankle from the ground up.
You can expect pain free mobility and strong, stable ankles that are protected from an ankle sprain, without ankle braces!
REAL PEOPLE, REAL RESULTS
-
Casey Moriarty, Owner, The Runner's Resource ,| -
Greg Shaible, DPT, Licensed Physical Therapist ,| -
Steven Kornfeld, CPT, PES, CES, FMS ,| -
Wayne Slappy, S.H.O.T.T.S. Basketball Academy ,|
From Scott Malin, NASM-CPT, CES
Creator, HEM Ankle Rehab
August 03, 2025
Fifteen years ago, I had to give up what I love doing most… playing basketball. I sprained my ankles so many times that I could no longer play. It was devastating.
Like you, I used R.I.C.E. (rest, ice elevation, compression), but my ankles healed so slowly and badly, they eventually got so weak, I would sprain them just walking down the street!
Being a fitness trainer, the only thing I had going for me was a fascination with helping people get out of pain and strengthening their bodies.
So, I decided to research all the cutting edge techniques to heal an ankle sprain much faster and better than R.I.C.E.
After months of research, I discovered that icing an injury can have a negative affect on the body’s healing process. Studies show that ice can actually slow down healing and too much rest left the ankles weak and unstable. This was shocking, but only part of the story…
New research was suggesting a much more proactive approach to healing that involved much better rehab techniques proven to dramatically speed up the speed and quality of the healing process.
Instead of months, healing took only days. And, if you had a chronically weak ankle that was in pain, these techniques would quickly strengthen and stabilize the ankles.
I kept improving on these techniques, drawing from many different disciplines and simplified them.
Eventually, after many more months of trial and error, I created a simple at-home healing system with very reliable results.
Since I was a fitness trainer, I was able to help all my clients (celebrities and athletes) whenever they got injured. I was even on the news a few times.
The response from my clients and friends was so overwhelming that a few of them eventually convinced me to share it with everyone.
Today, I am humbled that over 100,000 people have healed fully and fast with my program.
So, if you have any kind of ankle injury (new or old), just follow along with me in the videos and I’ll show you exactly what to do until you are completely pain free.
My message is simple… you do not have to give up what you love. And you do not have to live with chronic pain from old injuries. Life is too short and there is a better way!
I truly hope you will start using my program so you can get your life back and do what you love, pain free (and yes, I still play basketball every week and LOVE it!)
Thank you!
Scott
Heal Your Ankle FAST ⇣
30 day money back guarantee
15 YEARS. 100K HEALED.
Secret of the Pros
Everything You Need To Heal At Home
REAL PEOPLE,
REAL RESULTS
So, Why Rehab?
Most people think rest and ice will heal their ankle (even a severe sprain), but they end up with chronic ankle instability… 30% still have pain one year later!
And that causes all kinds of muscle imbalances in the body, which can lead more serious injuries, repeated ankle sprains and chronic ankle pain. It’s a terrible domino effect that can last for life.
That’s Where Rehab Comes In.
A great rehab program significantly improves how a sprained ankle heals. It eliminates pain fast and ensures your ankles are strong and stable with healthy range of motion, which helps prevent future sprains.
Rehab Is The Key To
Healing Ankle Injuries Fast
Recent studies have shown that rehab heals ankle ligaments safely and effectively. It’s the difference between the people that don’t heal a sprained ankle and the ones that do!
Injured Ankle
Without Rehab
Injured Ankle
With Rehab
HEM Ankle Rehab
“Rehabs” Your Ankle
HEM is a complete ankle rehab and prehab program for the entire ankle, foot and calf complex. This is a very thorough program that contains so much more than anything else you can find online, but it’s still easy to do.
Scott will coach you through every step, as if you are with him, one on one. Just follow along with the videos to rebuild your ankle from the ground up.
You can expect pain free mobility and strong, stable ankles that are protected from an ankle sprain, without ankle braces!
100,000 PEOPLE HEALED-
-
-
-
Casey Moriarty,
Owner, The Runner's Resource
,
|
-
-
-
Greg Shaible, DPT,
Licensed Physical Therapist
,
|
-
-
-
Steven Kornfeld,
CPT, PES, CES, FMS
,
|
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Wayne Slappy,
S.H.O.T.T.S. Basketball Academy
,
|
-
Casey Moriarty, Owner, The Runner's Resource ,|
-
Greg Shaible, DPT, Licensed Physical Therapist ,|
-
Steven Kornfeld, CPT, PES, CES, FMS ,|
-
Wayne Slappy, S.H.O.T.T.S. Basketball Academy ,|
From Scott Malin, NASM-CPT, CES
Creator, HEM Ankle Rehab
August 03, 2025
Fifteen years ago, I had to give up what I love doing most… playing basketball. I sprained my ankles so many times that I could no longer play. It was devastating.
Like you, I used R.I.C.E. (rest, ice elevation, compression), but my ankles healed so slowly and badly, they eventually got so weak, I would sprain them just walking down the street!
Being a fitness trainer, the only thing I had going for me was a fascination with helping people get out of pain and strengthening their bodies.
So, I decided to research all the cutting edge techniques to heal an ankle sprain much faster and better than R.I.C.E.
After months of research, I discovered that icing an injury can have a negative affect on the body’s healing process. Studies show that ice can actually slow down healing and too much rest left the ankles weak and unstable. This was shocking, but only part of the story…
New research was suggesting a much more proactive approach to healing that involved much better rehab techniques proven to dramatically speed up the speed and quality of the healing process.
Instead of months, healing took only days. And, if you had a chronically weak ankle that was in pain, these techniques would quickly strengthen and stabilize the ankles.
I kept improving on these techniques, drawing from many different disciplines and simplified them.
Eventually, after many more months of trial and error, I created a simple at-home healing system with very reliable results.
Since I was a fitness trainer, I was able to help all my clients (celebrities and athletes) whenever they got injured. I was even on the news a few times.
The response from my clients and friends was so overwhelming that a few of them eventually convinced me to share it with everyone.
Today, I am humbled that over 100,000 people have healed fully and fast with my program.
So, if you have any kind of ankle injury (new or old), just follow along with me in the videos and I’ll show you exactly what to do until you are completely pain free.
My message is simple… you do not have to give up what you love. And you do not have to live with chronic pain from old injuries. Life is too short and there is a better way!
I truly hope you will start using my program so you can get your life back and do what you love, pain free (and yes, I still play basketball every week and LOVE it!)
Thank you!
Scott
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