Cross behind under a loaded bar and torch your glutes.
Keep your hips and shoulders facing forward as you cross behind. Don't let your torso rotate.
Crossing the stepping leg behind you drops the working hip into a position a straight lunge never finds, so the quads control the descent while the glutes get loaded at an angle they rarely see. The barbell on your back lets you progress it far beyond the bodyweight version. It earns its spot as the lunge variation for hips that do more than move forwards and backwards.
Not when done with control. The front knee should stay tracking over the foot while the hips do the crossing behind. Trouble starts when people rotate the torso and let the front knee cave, so keep the crossing step tidy and the load honest.
Reverse lunges are the bread and butter strength move. The curtsy adds a cross-body angle that hits the hips differently, so it works well as a second movement rather than a replacement. Plenty of programmes run both.
The crossed stance shrinks your base of support, so some wobble is the exercise working. Slow the step down, keep your eyes forward, and shorten the cross behind until you can lower without tipping.
