Starting position – standing in the Smith machine. Spread your legs wide enough. Place the bar of the Smith machine behind the neck on the trapezius muscles:
– inhale and lunge with one foot back on the front of the sole. Lower the body onto the other leg (front), bending it at the knee and hip joints, until the knee of the back leg almost touches the floor.
– return to the starting position by straightening the hip and knee joints of the front leg, exhaling.
Repeat the movement, lunging back alternately with different legs. This exercise primarily loads the gluteus maximus muscle. Smith machine lunges are one of the best exercises for beautiful buttocks.

We isolate the buttocks as much as possible:
– setting the legs so that the angle in the knee joint, in the lower position, is approximately 90 º;
– when lifting, we try to push off with the heel of the front leg, the entire load should be concentrated exclusively on the supporting leg;
– a large (wide) lunge focuses on the gluteus maximus muscles. A short (narrow) lunge loads more quadriceps.
Keep your torso straight during the lunge, for this exercise it is important to have flexible hip flexors.
At the top of the amplitude, do not try to fully straighten the front leg at the knee joint (180º), do about 150º in the starting position. If straightened to the end, the entire load is aimed at our knees, the gluteal muscles, on the contrary, relax. Breathing during the exercise: Exhale during the effort / tension (the most difficult part of the exercise), and inhale during the return / recovery (the easiest part of the exercise).
For example, when doing push-ups, exhale while extending your arms, and inhale while bending your arms. When squatting, exhale as you straighten your legs (standing up), and inhale as you bend your legs (squat).
Instructors often say: inhale while preparing for the movement, and exhale during the actual movement.
Don’t hold your breath
Holding your breath while doing a strength exercise can really raise your blood pressure. In addition, holding your breath can restrict blood flow to the brain and increase chest pressure, both of which can be dangerous. This can lead to a heart attack, stroke, hernia – not to mention the “simple” loss of consciousness. Always breathe!
Exhale through your mouth and breathe in through your nose
This technique helps control breathing pressure. Inhaling through the nose better regulates the level of oxygen in the blood. When you exhale, you can breathe out through your mouth and puff if the movement is fast.
Concentration and breathing
If you are a beginner, take your time, repeat the correct form of exercise and breathing with light weight until you have mastered them.
Once proper breathing becomes completely natural to you, it’s a good idea to start focusing on the muscle you’re exercising. If you focus on your breathing all the time, this will reduce the effectiveness of the exercise.
Even when correct breathing becomes completely natural for you, it does not hurt to take some time to analyze the breath before doing a new exercise in order to avoid the formation of “bad habits”.