Need a good reason to lunge off of a low box instead of the floor? Men’s Health Fitness Director BJ Gaddour can give you six reasons. 

Elevated Backward Lunge 
1. With your front foot elevated, your front hip can fully flex. In that position, your quads and glutes automatically have to work harder. 
2. Your back hip can fully extend, too. This increases the mobility in your hip flexors, and area that’s tight on most men. 
3. The position is easier on your joints than lunging on the floor. 

Elevated Front Lunge
1. When you lunge forward from a low box, your quads must work harder to decelerate your body weight.  
2. Your inner quad takes on a large majority of the load as your front foot hits the floor. The stronger this muscle is, the more stable your knee joint.  
3. You’ll build power in your quads since they have to explode your weight back up to the box.  

Ready to try it? Grab a low box that’s about 3 to 6 inches high. Then watch the video above of Gaddour demonstrating the elevated lunge series. 

You could plug these exercises into a circuit as your lower-body movements. You could also finish off your next workout with 5 to 10 minutes of elevated lunges, doing all backward lunges or forward lunges or mixing between the two.