Do try this at home: Lunges

Positive steps: bending the knee can help make you a more balanced person, and useing weights while lunging will increase the benefits.

Why do it?

A good exercise for strengthening the lower body and improving balance.

Method

Stand with feet hip-width apart and take a large step forward with one foot. Keep your body upright and your weight evenly distributed between your legs. Raise your back heel and bend both legs so that the back knee travels towards the ground. Make sure that you bend the back leg enough to allow the front knee to stay behind the front toe. At the bottom of the movement you should have achieved a 90-degree at both knees and hips. Straighten up the legs without locking out the knees, and repeat 15 to 20 times on each leg before swapping the legs around.

Progressions

Lunges can be performed with dumbbells or a barbell across the shoulder to increase the difficulty. Make sure you increase the weight gradually, though – it's an exercise in balance as well as strength, not a macho test to prove how much weight you can endure before buckling under the strain.