Your Complete Guide to Lunges: The Best Exercise for Toned Legs

The lunge is one of the most effective exercises if you want to build strong, toned legs.

It’s also one of your body’s basic movement patterns – meaning your body was made to perform the lunge in order to do daily activities. That’s why some variation of it should always be included in your strength training programs – so you can master the movement and strengthen it!

Lunges strengthen your entire lower body and improve your mobility and balance. The lunge is also one of the most versatile exercises – making it accessible for anyone to do.

In this article you’re going to learn:

• the many benefits of lunges
• how to perform them
• common mistakes to avoid
• variations of lunges

Let’s get to it!

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Your Complete Guide to Lunges:
The Benefits of Lunges

You already learned some of the benefits of lunges above, such as lower body strength, getting toned legs and improving your mobility and balance.

But there’s so many more!

Now everybody loves to hate on lunges because they’re hard – really hard.

They don’t allow you to lift as much weight as you could with a squat or leg press. And they reveal your weakest links.

But what makes lunges difficult is what makes them beneficial – the lunge is a unilateral, or single leg, exercise.

Working each leg separately, although tough, has many benefits.

• Evening out strength and movement imbalances between both legs
• Preventing injury caused by overuse of the stronger leg
• Improving mobility
• Improving balance, stability and coordination
• Building muscular strength and size of your quads, hamstrings, glutes & hips (which, in addition to adjusting your nutrition, is the key to getting toned legs)
• Keeping your knees healthy and pain-free
• Improving endurance

And most importantly, because of the benefits listed above, building strength in your lunge will help you stay functional. The lunge has great carryover to daily life. Like I said above, it’s one of your body’s most basic movement patterns. You perform the lunge to do all sorts of activities every single day. Think about getting down to or up off the ground. If you’re doing it right, you’re lunging! Think about climbing the stairs, walking uphill or even hiking to the top of a mountain. All of these movements require a strong lunge.

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Your Complete Guide to Lunges:
How to Perform Lunges

Now you know why you need to be training lunges. Next up is how. Lunges are a simple looking exercise, but there is a lot of detail to pay attention to if you want to get the most benefit out of it and perform it safely and pain-free.

There are many variations of lunges, so I’m going to cover the proper form of the reverse stepping lunge here.

How to Lunge with Proper Form

Step 1. Reverse Lunges Setup

The first step to performing lunges correctly is getting the setup right.

1. Start with your feet hip width apart
2. Makes sure your toes, hips and torso are square to the direction you’re facing
3. Keep your shoulders down and back, chest lifted, chin tucked and neck long for proper posture

Step 2. Reverse Lunges Movement

Now that you’re setup correctly, let’s get into the movement.

• Step 1: Step back with one leg – when your back foot makes contact with the ground, your heel should remain naturally raised

• Step 2: In a controlled manner, bend both your knees until your back knee slightly grazes or hovers above the ground – this will look different from person to person based on their individual strength and mobility. Your front knee will travel forward slightly, but your front heel should remain on the ground throughout the movement. Maintain the position of your front knee over the front foot instead of letting it shift inwards or outwards, as well.

***Keep your bodyweight shifted forward over your front leg***

• Step 3: Drive through your front foot to rise back up and return to the starting position.

Now you’re wondering about the lines in red above. Remember when I said above that the lunge is a unilateral (or single leg) exercise? The leg that’s working is the one in front. So when you step backwards – or even in the split squat where you’re stationary or in the forward stepping lunge where you’re stepping backwards – you should be keeping your bodyweight over your front leg and driving through the front foot from the bottom up. This ensures you’re not pushing off your back foot and are keeping the tension through the front leg. This is a biggie to get the most out of the lunge and prevent knee pain!

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Your Complete Guide to Lunges:
Common Lunge Mistakes

You’ve now got a good handle on how to perform lunges. Let’s go over some of the most common – and costly – mistakes and how to fix them!

Mistake 1 – Pushing off the back foot

The first lunge mistake is pushing off the back foot, as shown on the left below. In any variation of lunges, the front leg should be doing the work. Putting too much weight in the back leg will take away from the muscle engagement of the front leg and can lead to stress and/or pain in the back knee.

Instead, fully focus your attention on the front leg throughout the movement, as shown on the right above. Think of the back leg just being there for balance and having very little weight in it. Keep the weight through the front leg and foot and drive through the front foot on the way up.

Mistake 2 – Front heel lifting

The second lunge mistake is allowing the front heel to lift up, as shown on the left below. If you feel knee pain during lunges, this could be the culprit! Lunges done properly should not hurt your knees – in fact, they keep your knees healthy and pain free. Allowing the heel of your front foot to lift up – and consequently pushing off the ball of the foot or toes – can stress your front knee, lead to knee pain and does not allow for the appropriate muscles to be worked.

When moving into your lunge, keep the weight in your entire front foot – including the heel, as seen on the right above.

While this mistake can simply be a matter of not knowing the proper form of lunges, it could also be related to limited ankle mobility or tight calves. If you try to fix this issue and find yourself having a tough time, you can try three drills I go over in the video below.

1. Calf Foam Rolling – Foam roll your calf as shown in the video. Roll up and down the length of your calf & be sure to roll side to side, as well. Settle on tight areas until you feel a slight release.
2. Wall Ankle Mobilization – Setup in a half-kneeling position facing a wall. Place your hands on the wall then drive your front knee forward as close as you can get it to the wall. Ensure your heel stays on the ground. Move into and out of the stretch.
3. Stair Calf Stretch – Setup standing on the edge of a step or elevated surface with your heels hanging off. Bend into one knee and allow the other heel to stretch down. Alternate between sides.

Another drill I cover in the video below that can help you correct this mistake is the bottoms up lunge. Start in the bottom position of your lunge, then practice driving through your entire front foot (including your heel) to rise up.

Mistake 3 – Front knee caves in

The third lunge mistake is allowing your front knee to cave inward, as shown below on the left. This mistake is important to fix to avoid ACL damage, IT Band pain, knee pain and meniscus injuries.

When performing lunges, your front knee should remain aligned with your front hip and ankle, as shown on the right above.

Again, while this mistake can simply be a matter of not knowing the proper form of lunges, it could also be due to weakness in the hip – more specifically the gluteus medius. In addition to that weakness, your adductors – or inner thighs – could be tight. I cover 3 drills in the video below you can use to improve the mobility of your adductors, strengthen your gluteus medius and prevent your knee from caving in during your lunges.

1. Inner Thigh Rockback – Setup in a table top position with one leg extended straight out to the side. Rock your hips back & forth.
2. Band Squat – Place a band just under your knees. Squat & drive your knees outward to keep tension on the band.
3. Band Resisted Lunge – Anchor a band on a sturdy object. Setup in a lunge position with the band around the outside of your front knee. Perform the lunge keeping outward tension on the band.

Mistake 4 – Improper stance

Mistake 5 – Overarching lower back

The fifth lunge mistake is overarching or hyperextending your lower back. This mistake can be seen when you try to maintain a fully upright torso and do not keep your core engaged, as shown on the left below. This position can put unnecessary tension on the lower back and can lead to discomfort and pain.

Instead, lean your torso forward slightly by hinging from your hips and engage your core by thinking about closing the distance between your ribs and hips. This will help you maintain a neutral spine, as shown on the right above.

You will take away the strain on your lower back, improve your balance and engage your front leg more!

Mistake 6 – Not going low enough

The sixth and final lunge mistake is not going low enough. If you don’t use a full range of motion in your lunges – as shown on the left below – you’re not going to recruit as many muscles to perform the exercise, making it less effective.

Ensure you are moving through a full range of motion by bending your back knee until it hovers right above or grazes the ground, as shown on the right above. Of course, this mistake could resolve as you build strength and mobility practicing lunges over time. But your goal should be to use a full range of motion so you can use your quads, hamstrings, glutes and hips and maximize the effectiveness of this exercise!

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Your Complete Guide to Lunges:
Variations of Lunges

Now that you’re a master at performing lunges correctly, I’m going to show you different variations of lunges you can incorporate into your workouts. All the above information about proper form and mistakes to avoid will apply to these lunge variations.

We’re going to go over the lunge variations in order from least to most advanced. It’s important to choose the variation that best fits your skill level. Jumping to the most advanced variation of lunges will only result in pain and possibly injury. And unfortunately, this is the reason many people associate pain (most commonly knee pain) with lunges. So please do yourself a favor – start where you feel comfortable and progressively work up to more advanced variations over time!

Now if you are an advanced trainee, that doesn’t mean you only do the hardest variation all the time. You can still benefit from using all the variations of lunges. Don’t limit yourself!

Lunge Variation #1 – Split Squat

This is just a stationary lunge. You’re going to setup with your feet hip width apart. Then step one leg back. Your toes, hips & torso should be pointed forward. Your back heel should be naturally off the ground. Bend into both knees to lower into the lunge. Then drive through the front leg to rise back up. Your front leg should be doing all the work here. So keep your bodyweight over the front leg the whole time.

Lunge Variation #2 – Front Foot Elevated Split Squat

This variation is stationary as well, however you’re going to elevate your front foot off the ground to increase the range of motion. All the same cues still apply – you’re going to focus on driving through the front foot that is elevated. The increased range of motion just makes this variation more intense!

Lunge Variation #3 – Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat

Beware because this is the variation of lunges that everybody – yes, even me – complains about. But it is incredibly beneficial! This variation takes away any help that back leg was giving you and shifts the work completely to the front leg. And it not only works your quads, but your glutes and hamstrings as well. The rear foot elevated split squat can also serve as a great alternative to back squats. It has been shown to provide as much muscle activation! You’ll have the same setup as the split squat, except with the top of your back foot elevated on a bench.

Lunge Variation #5 – Walking Lunges

The walking lunge is up next. You’re going to be stepping forward and alternating which leg you’re lunging with. Take a step forward and lower down into a lunge by bending both knees. Then drive through your front foot and lunge forward with the other foot.

Lunge Variation #6 – Forward Stepping Lunges

This continues with the forward stepping motion, however now you’re going to have to stop your forward momentum before lowering into the lunge. And then forcefully drive your front foot into the ground to return back to your starting position. Also be sure to step forward far enough that you’re able to plant your entire foot & keep the heel on the ground.

Lunge Variation #7 – Forward to Reverse Lunges

And we have arrived at the most advanced form of lunges! We’re going to combine reverse and forward lunges. First you’ll step forward into the lunge. Then drive off your front foot to step straight back into a reverse lunge. Then drive off the front foot again to come back into the forward lunge. Don’t forget that the front leg is always the one working in lunges, which means in this variation – the leg that’s working switches when you move from the forward to the reverse! Sounds fun, right?! This variation will be a challenge to your entire lower body, your cardiovascular system, your balance and coordination!

BONUS Lunge Variation – Lateral Lunges

I’m adding this one as a bonus since it is a lunge variation, but you’re now moving in a different plane of motion. It’s important to include side to side movement in your training. Think about it… you don’t only move forwards and backwards in daily life, right? You move laterally as well. So training lateral movement is valuable to daily living! Here, you’re going to step out to the side and lunge into the moving leg. Your other leg will extend straight. Then you’ll drive through the lunging leg to rise back up to center.

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And now you know everything there is to know about lunges!

Just kidding – there’s more you can learn.

But this will give you a strong start and solid foundation – you’ve learned the benefits of lunges, how to perform them correctly, how to fix common mistakes and different variations you can use.

If you have any questions at all, leave a comment below and I’ll be happy to help!

If you’re still wanting more detailed guidance, you can click here to fill out a coaching application so I can determine if we’d be a good fit to work together.

Hope this helps!

– Juhee