How to Do Walking Lunges: Techniques, Benefits, Variations

Walking lunges are a great way to tone your lower body while improving your balance and core strength. This movement is a lunge, which most people are familiar with. It involves taking wide forward steps, bending both knees, and lowering your back knee to the floor while keeping your torso upright and tall.

Walking lunges are different from regular lunges because you have to balance yourself while taking a step forward between each lunge. This requires you to shift your weight and body position while standing on one leg temporarily. The added challenge of working against instability is beneficial for preventing falls and fall-related injuries, considering how important balance and stability are for functional fitness.

When it comes to strength training for the lower body, walking lunges are a great exercise to include in your routine. Because lunges engage multiple muscle groups and joints, they can send your heart rate soaring when performed for high reps or time. They are a good choice to include in a circuit training routine or a high-intensity interval training routine that is designed to have both strength and cardiovascular benefits.

What are Lunges?

Lunges, along with squats, are some of the best leg exercises out there. Not only does training your leg muscles improve your strength, but it also makes everyday activities easier. Activities like walking, running, and climbing up or down stairs are all examples of things that require aerobic activity.

Lunging is an excellent way to train many lower body muscle groups at once, including the quadriceps (front thighs), hamstring (back thighs), gluteus maxima (hips), and calves. This exercise has many variations that target different muscles.

You can target a particular muscle group or many at the same time by varying the techniques of an exercise. Research has demonstrated that lunge variations can help improve your power and agility.

The most common type of lunge is the forward lunge. Step forward and lower your body by bending your knees. This exercise works your lower body muscles by having them lengthen and shorten.

Lunges can be done anywhere with just your bodyweight. You can also make your workout more challenging by adding free weights such as dumbbells, kettlebells, and barbells.

While performing this move, you focuses on one side of your body at a time, which helps to correct any muscle imbalances between both legs, and also provides a challenge to your balance and stability. One-sided exercises that strengthen muscles are called unilateral exercises.

Lunges are often used by athletes and weight trainers in calisthenics or cross-training programs to improve performance in their sports. Lunges are a type of exercise that is similar to running, except that there is a greater reaction force. This makes lunges an excellent exercise for runners. This exercise is also great for preventing injuries or getting back to training after a long break.

Variations of Lunges

This exercise is easy to modify, making it a good choice for beginners. It can also be challenging for more advanced exercisers.

1. Walking Lunges

Walking lunges are a variation of the standard lunge exercise that helps to strengthen your lower body and improve your balance. This exercise is excellent for targeting all the major muscle groups in your lower body, as well as improving your balance and core strength. Walking lunges are more challenging than static lunges because you have to keep your body stable and upright while stepping forward between each lunge. This move is harder for beginners because they are constantly shifting their weight and position while temporarily standing on one leg.

If you are experienced with walking lunges, you can make the exercise more challenging by doing it with additional weights like dumbbells and kettlebells, or with a torso twist. Walking lunges are also popular for promoting athletic performance. This exercise is perfect for warming up your body before a tough training session or race, which is beneficial for runners.

2. Reverse Lunges

The reverse lunge is a lunge exercise that is easier for beginners. This exercise is good for building muscle in your thighs, glutes, and calves. This move is less stressful on your knees when compared to standard lunges and still strengthens your leg muscles. Reverse lunges make you work harder because you have less momentum going forward, meaning they require more stability than basic forward lunges.

You will get more benefit from performing the traditional lunges if you master the reverse lunge first. When performing reverse lunges, you can use heavier weights to increase resistance and build muscle.

3. Curtsy Lunges

Curtsy lunges are an advanced variation of the basic lunge exercise that is great for targeting the lower body and burning fat. This move is great for strengthening your inner thighs and glutes. This exercise is effective in improving your balance and stability as your legs are very close to each other. This exercise helps to build strength in your glutes medius, which is located on the side of your hip. This muscle is less active during other leg exercises like basic lunges and squats. The gluteus medius muscle is key for controlling your body and improving your posture.

4. Lateral Lunges

If you are familiar with the basic lunge, then learning the lateral lunge will be easier. The lateral lunge is a lower body strength training exercise that is a variation of the standard lunge exercise. This move works your glutes, quads, and hamstrings just like a regular lunge, but also challenges your balance and coordination. This move targets the biggest muscles in your legs, such as the hamstrings and quads. This exercise also targets the muscles in your inner thighs and your outer glutes. This exercise is easier on your lower back than exercises like basic lunges and squats. Though they require more balance and stability, lateral lunges are more difficult than other variations of lunges.

If you do this exercise often, you can improve your body control and muscle coordination. This is helpful for doing things in your everyday life. Having good balance makes it easier to do things that you do every day, like sitting, standing, and playing sports. It also helps you to avoid falling and to have better posture when you are working out. Step out to the side instead of forward or backward. This variant of the lunge exercise activates your adductors more than other variants.

5. Jumping Lunges

Rather than alternating legs with each step, you jump forward, alternating legs in the air. In a jumping lunge, you jump forward rather than alternating legs with each step. This exercise is a variation of the walking lunges that includes a plyometric transition. This move is performed by jumping high in the air to swap legs in mid-air before landing. This exercise is great for toning your lower body while also challenging your stability. Adding a plyometric jump between each transition not only develops your major lower body muscles, but also engages your cardiovascular system. Exercising at a high intensity level will help to increase your heart rate and burn more calories.

How to Do Walking Lunges

Walking lunges are a great bodyweight exercise that don’t require much to get started. The less room you have, the less lunges you will be able to take without turning around. Most importantly, you need an open space to take at least a few big steps in succession. There are many places you can go to get some exercise, such as parks, gyms, or hallways that are open to the public. Even if you don’t have access to any of these places, you can still get some exercise by using your living room.

1. Stand with your feet roughly hip-distance apart.
2. Check your posture before starting—your torso should be upright and tall, core engaged, your shoulders back and chin lifted.
3. Look straight ahead.
4. Take a wide step forward with your right foot—plant it roughly two feet ahead, allowing your left heel to lift naturally as you step forward. You may want to put your hands on your hips, or you may want to swing your arms naturally—elbows bent at 90-degrees—as you take each step.
5. Keep your core engaged and upright.
6. Bend both knees and lower your back knee toward the floor. Stop just before it touches down. Breathe in during the lowering (or eccentric) phase of the exercise.
7. Press firmly through your right heel and extend your right knee to rise to stand as you lift your left foot from the ground, swinging your left foot forward to plant it about two feet ahead of your right foot. Avoid leaning your torso forward from your hips as you take this step. Breathe out as you rise to stand (the concentric phase of the exercise).
8. Continue stepping forward with each lunge, alternating sides as you do. If you find yourself losing balance as you walk, pause at the top of each lunge when your feet are next to each other. Gather your balance, then continue.
9. Finish your set by bringing your back foot to meet your front foot on the final lunge.

Benefits

This exercise is effective in targeting your lower body and core. It is a good idea to add this to your workout routine, whether you are just starting to exercise or if you are already strength training. In other words, you should feel the exercise in your legs, bum, and stomach.

Functional exercises are exercises that work multiple muscle groups at the same time and mimic the movements of everyday life. These types of exercises make you stronger and better able to do the types of movements that are necessary for everyday living.

For example, getting up from the floor always requires some movement that includes bending your legs, such as a squat or lunge. Similarly, walking lunges will improve your balance, making it less likely that you will fall or injure yourself if you have to take a large step to recover.

This exercise only requires a small amount of equipment and space, so you can do it anywhere. You can do a few sets of exercises while at the park, or you can do them in your living room or hallway. You can even do them in a hotel room or on a beach while traveling. You can develop lower body strength without going to the gym by using bands.

Other Variations

The number of possible variations and modifications to the walking lunge exercise are almost limitless. Start with these options.

Pause-Step Walking Lunges

If you want to lunge while walking, but feel like you might lose your balance, try taking a pause between each step forward.

1. After taking one forward lunge with your right foot, as you rise to stand, bring your left foot forward and plant it on the ground hip-distance from your right foot.
2. Pause here, making sure you’re well-balanced.
3. Continue by stepping your left foot forward to perform a lunge on the opposite side.

Dumbbell Walking Lunges

If you want to make walking lunges more difficult, you can add weight to the exercise.

1. Hold a set of dumbbells or a couple of kettlebells, and carry one in each hand while performing the movement.
2. Take your time and move with precision to ensure you’re maintaining perfect form while taking on this added challenge.

If you would like an even bigger challenge, try holding a dumbbell in each hand with your arms extended overhead for the entire set. This exercise variation requires you to engage your core muscles while also working your shoulders and arms.

Safety and Precautions

Bodyweight exercises, like the walking lunge, are safe for most people as long as they pay attention to their form. Make sure to keep your stomach muscles and lower back engaged while you are riding to help with balance and to avoid tipping over.

Lunges can be difficult for people who experience knee pain. You may want to try the exercise with a smaller range of motion if deeper lunges cause pain.

You can also try step-ups as a modification. Step-ups are less likely to damage your knees while still working the same muscle groups because the angle of the motion is different. You will be lifting your body to meet the first leg, rather than lowering it into a lunge.

Lunges are a great way to work your lower body and will give you a “burning” feeling in your muscles as they get tired. This is normal. What’s not normal is any sharp or shooting pain. If you experience a sudden feeling of pain that is not associated with normal, working muscles, stop the exercise.