Forward lunges are one of the most effective exercises for working thighs and glutess. Find out how to do them correctly and put your legs and glutes on fire.
Lunges are perfect for strengthening the lower body. Many of us have been familiar with them since we were kids, but not everyone appreciates the effectiveness of this apparently simple exercise. When you do it for a while, your thighs will be on fire and your glutes will be strengthened to the limit.
You can do this exercise in the gym or at home, as you don’t need any special equipment.
Forward lunge is a highly recommended exercise to strengthen legs and glutes but also will improve your balance, your hip flexibility, your posture and coordination. As if all these benefits were not enough, forward lunge also involve our core and hips, which must work in sync to maintain the correct posture during the execution of each lunge.
To get results doing forward lunge and build great glutes and strong legs, you must master the technique. Even the best leg exercises are useless if they are not performed correctly. In order to get the most out of your workout and reduce the risk of injury, proper technique is essential.
To begin each lunge, you’ll have to check your posture by making sure your feet are flat on the floor, your back is straight and your abs are contracted.
Stand with your feet hip-width apart and look straight ahead. Your arms should be at the sides of your body. Take a big step forward with one leg, leaving the other foot back on the floor. Lower your body until the front knee is just above the ankle, at a 90-degree angle. The knees should always tend to pull outward, to avoid unconsciously bringing them inward and falling into a bad posture.
Lower as far as you can and check that the upper body is firm and straight at all time. With the impulse of the front leg, return backwards to get back to the starting position.
Once you’ve mastered the basic movement, it’s time to add a little variety to those workouts. In addition to making the workouts more dynamic, the different variations will work different parts of your thighs and glutes. If you want to increase the difficulty of the workout, you can always do weighted forward lunge variation (kettlebell, dumbbells or barbell). Just make sure you learn how to do it and master the basic technique before.
If you want to build strong legs and glutes with forward lunge, we suggest these variations of the exercise according to your level:
Basic level
The forward lunge we all know. Performed with only your body weight and without incorporating any type of extra resistance. Without any doubt, if you are looking for an effective exercise to work the glutes, you have already found it. Keep in mind that it will be easier to do the forward lunge if you have a strong core and abs, because you won’t arch your back when performing the movement.
This is the best way to master this exercise. As you practice and gain more control of the movement, you can increase the speed of the repetitions before adding some weight.
Intermediate Level
Weighted forward lunge. If you have already mastered the basic version of the forward lunge and want to add weight as something extra, you can try with a barbell on your back, in front rack position or go with any other type of weight such as a kettlebell or dumbbells. Remember to distribute the weight to avoid swaying to the sides.
Advanced Level
When you already know the basic movement and you have tried it with weight, you can increase its difficulty trying forward lunge with straight arms and overhead weight.
In addition to working your legs and glutes, you will also activate your abs, shoulders, chest and arms. Of course, it requires total mastery of the exercise, as the overhead weight will make it more difficult to maintain balance. Also, remember that the arm, or both arms, that is loaded must always be fully extended.
And if you are still thinking about adding something extra to your forward lunge to train your legs and glutes even more, you can play with static or walking variations of forward lunge.
Static Forward Lunge
The static lunge is a great exercise to train most of the muscles of the legs. Performed in the same spot, alternating legs generates a great activation of the quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, calves … So if you want to have strong legs, this exercise can not be missed in your routines.
Walking Forward Lunge
This version involves a slightly different movement. When you move your leg forward, you will notice a major work of the glutes, hamstrings and quads in the leg stepping forward. At this point, the muscles of the back leg are not fully engaged, but they help to achieve the stability and balance so necessary for this movement.
When stepping, at the point of reaching full body extension, both feet come together and the previous back leg steps forward into the lunge position, engaging the quads, hamstrings and glutes as well.
Jumping Lunges
One of the benefits that lunges really stand out is the incredible amount of variations that exist when practicing them.
Adding the jump to this exercise transforms the movement into a more aerobic exercise. Therefore, this powerful and effective combination of exercises makes it a perfect to gain strength and cardiovascular endurance.You can perform jumping lunges with or without weights, depending on your fitness level or technique.
As we have seen, forward lunge is without any doubt a great movement, so don’t forget to include it in your leg and glute routines.
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Image Sources
- leg workouts: Photo courtesy of CrossFit Inc
- walking-lunges: RX'd Photography
- sara-sigmundsdottir-walking-overhead-lunge: RX'd Photography
