Overview
This is the library's sagittal standing work — the standing patterns that take the legs front to back rather than out to the sides. They share a base: one leg takes the load, the other travels with the carriage, and the pelvis has to stay square while it does.
- Standing Lunge — the front foot on the footbar, the carriage gliding back into a lunge and pressing home.
- Front Splits — the same line taken deeper, hips lowering toward a split with the hands on the bar for balance.
- Sprinter Lunge — standing on the floor behind the carriage, pressing the carriage away with the back leg and changing legs through.
- Scooter — a lunge that rises to standing and lowers back, the back leg straight until it has to bend.
- Sprinter — the squat version: stay low in the squat and press the carriage away with leg and glute power.
They are also the family that most easily becomes a balance drill by accident. Decide before you start whether the hands are a support or a spot: the hands take the balance challenge out of the exercise and put it into the legs, which is usually what you want first.
Setup
- Standing Lunge: footbar low, headrest medium — the deepest lunge of the family.
- Front Splits, Sprinter Lunge, Scooter and Sprinter: footbar medium, headrest down.
- Springs stay light to medium across the family; each exercise lists its own setting. A heavier spring presses the carriage home on its own, which is a different exercise from pressing it home with the leg.
- Standing Lunge and Front Splits: stand on the carriage facing the footbar, front foot centred on the bar, back foot long on the carriage.
- Sprinter Lunge, Scooter and Sprinter: stand on the floor, one foot grounded and the other against the shoulder rest on the carriage. Scooter and Sprinter keep the grounded foot in front; Sprinter Lunge stands behind the carriage, facing away from the footbar.
Key Teaching Cues
- Keep the pelvis square and facing the mirror. In every version, a hip that opens or lifts has stopped doing the exercise.
- Keep the spine tall over the hips — the carriage glides, the trunk does not collapse.
- Track the front knee over the second toe, and keep the weight through the front heel so the glute stays in the movement.
- On the lunges, keep the working hip higher than the grounded hip rather than letting the pelvis drop on the loaded side.
- Exhale to press the carriage away, inhale to draw it home; on Scooter and Sprinter the rise is the effort, so the exhale belongs there.
Common Faults
- Weight shifting into the front leg and the back leg going along for the ride.
- The pelvis dropping, opening or rotating as the carriage travels.
- Losing the tall spine — the torso folding forward over the front thigh.
- Letting the front knee travel forward past the toes as the lunge deepens.
- Using the arms to pull the carriage home instead of the working leg.
Variations
- Regression: shorten the stride or the press range, keep both hands on the footbar for support, and slow the tempo right down. A shorter stride with a square pelvis teaches more than a deep lunge with a collapsed one.
- Progression: take the hands off the bar or the hips and reach them forward; quicken the press with a lighter spring for power; slow the rise to a three-count.
- Programming: place the family after footwork and before the standing stretches, when the legs are warm and the pelvis has already been taught to stay level. Two or three sets of six to eight presses per side is plenty — this is a strength block, not a conditioning one.
Safety
The front knee carries the load in every version: keep it tracking over the second toe, limit the depth, and shorten the stride for knee sensitivity — see the Knee Issues Protocol. For hip impingement, keep the back leg's travel pain-free and shorten the range — see the Hip Impingement Protocol. Keep the pelvis square rather than chasing depth if the low back complains.