Workout of the day: The Lunges

Do you think lunges are just for your legs? Think again! These dynamic exercises are essential to any fitness regimen since they engage your core, activate your glutes, and enhance your posture. Learning lunges can help you improve your fitness level regardless of your degree of experience.

Fitness enthusiasts highly recommend lunges, but poor form might result in injuries, imbalances, or knee pain. This underrated exercise is a full-body powerhouse that develops your lower back, improves balance, and strengthens your core. It’s not just about building powerful legs.

By the end of this tutorial, you will learn about the advantages of lunges and the correct form, variations, and expert advice to steer clear of typical blunders. Read on to learn the procedure for the lung exercises—a must-try for your next leg day at the gym.

Read More: Try Doing Forward Lunges For an Effective Difference In Your Weight

Types of Lunges

Although a lunge is a multi-purpose exercise that works for various muscle groups, did you know there are a few modifications to improve your training? Every lunge strengthens your lower body, works different muscles, and enhances balance. Let’s examine them:

Body weight Curtsy Lunge:

The glutes’ lateral (side) and inner thighs are the focus of the body weight curtsy lunge exercise. The curtsy challenges the glutes to provide stability by shifting weight to one leg and hip.

Method:

• Start standing, then step one leg back behind you like a reverse lunge.
• As you step the leg back, cross it over like you would a curtsy, making sure your lead foot is grounded, and your back knee touches the floor.
• The further you drop your leg and the more crossed it is, the harder it will be on the glutes and abductors.
• Get up and do it again.

Lunge Sideways:

Although many popular strength training exercises, such as squats and deadlifts, require forward and backward motion, improving mobility in other directions is crucial to creating a well-rounded routine and avoiding injury. Side lunges are helpful in this situation. By practicing these, you can enhance your lateral (side-to-side) motion skills and speed.

Method:

• Place your feet about hip-width apart and point them forward.
• Push your butt back as far as you can while taking a significant step to the side with one knee bent. Maintain a straight stationary leg.
• Push through the foot of your bentleg to get back to standing.
• Like forward lunges, you can perform repetitions on one leg before moving on to the other or switch sides.

Read More: Strength Training for Longevity: Best Workouts to Stay Strong and Age Gracefully

Lunge Dumbbell Curtsy:

In contrast to the bodyweight variation, the dumbbell curtsy lunge enables you to increase the weight and intensify the muscular difficulty. This is perfect for those who have perfected the bodyweight exercise and want to get even more out of the typical curtsy lunge.

Method:

• Raise yourself to your full height while holding a pair of dumbbells.
• Holding the weights by your sides, perform the curtsy lunge as you would in the body weight version.

Lunge Walking:

A dynamic lunge that tests balance, coordination, and stability. You can use bodyweight, barbells, and kettlebells to accomplish this.

Method:

• To begin, stand up straight. Your hands or weights should be by your sides in the position required by the equipment you are using.
• As you take a single, large, natural-length step, ensure your front foot is level, your heel is down, and your knee is bent and aligned over your toes.
• Your back knee should touch the floor, and your back leg should bend.
• Stand upright with your front leg bearing most of your weight, then lower your back leg under you.
• Move the other leg forward.

Read More: How to Boost Endurance Without Running: Top Workouts for Stamina

Lunge Forward with Twist:

For the most part, the forward lunge is a quad-dominant lunge. In this form of the lunge, you are not walking. Adding a twist will also target the obliques.

Method:

• To begin, stand up straight and hold a plate, medicine ball, or dumbbell at chest or stomach height.
• With one leg, step forward and place your front foot flat, keeping your hips back to prevent the front heel from lifting off the ground.
• Once placed, perform a single side-to-side rotation of your torso, shifting the weight to the side of your body like you would with a Russian twist.
• Reset and repeat after pushing yourself back up via the lead leg.

The Advantages Of Lunges

Lunges are perfect for athletes, cyclists, runners, and those who want to get stronger.

Weight Loss: By targeting your lower body’s big muscle groups, lunges help you gain lean muscular mass and lose body fat. Your resting metabolism may rise, enabling you to burn more calories and lose extra weight.

Stability and Balance: Because you work separately on both sides of your body, lunges are a unilateral lower-body workout. The single-leg exercises activate your stabilizing muscles, improving stability, balance, and coordination.

Stand Taller: Lunges help build stronger core and back muscles without overtaxing your spine. A strong, steady core makes everyday activities easier, improves posture, and lowers your risk of injury.

Read More: Incorporating Functional Training for Everyday Strength and Mobility

Conclusion

Lunges are a full-body exercise that increases strength, balance, and endurance. They are not only a leg workout. Whether an experienced athlete or a beginner learning forward lunge, you can improve your strength and stability.

It’s your turn now! Feel the difference in strength and stability by starting with a few different lunge variants in your next workout. Do you need direction? Please comment below if you have any questions or want to share your favorite lunge variant

• Jun 2016
  Written by Abhro
• Feb 2025
  Edited by Ankita