maratoolBarbell Lunges
How to do the barbell lunges
- Start by placing a barbell across your upper back, using a grip slightly wider than your shoulders.
- Stand with your feet about 8 inches apart, toes facing forward.
- Take a step forward (2-3 feet) keeping your abs drawn in and your upper body straight.
- Slowly lower one knee down as if kneeling while keeping your other knee bent at a 90 degree angle, do not let your knee touch the ground.
- Lower your body so that your rear knee is just above the floor and hold for a moment before returning to the starting position.
- Repeat on other side.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the hamstrings, which extend the hip and bend the knee, frequently at both joints in the same repetition.
Even with a single joint doing the moving, the muscle is not working alone — the glutes finish hip extension; the quadriceps straighten the knee and take load on the descent; the calves control the ankle and hold the heel position.
Every exercise for:HamstringsGlutesQuadricepsCalves
How this movement works
Everything happens at one joint. That gives you direct control over where the tension sits; the trade-off is that the muscle gets no help, so the load that feels hard here is a fraction of what a multi-joint version of the pattern would take. Slow, complete repetitions beat heavy ones.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
A barbell locks both hands to one bar, so neither side can drift and the load climbs in plate-sized steps. That makes it the simplest way to add weight and the least forgiving thing to bail out of.
Every exercise using:Barbell
These train the hamstrings too, using equipment this one does not:
- Double Kettlebell Alternating Hang Cleankettlebell
- Dumbbell Cleandumbbell
- Flutter Kicksbench + body only
- Front Leg Raisesbody only
- Glute Ham Raisemachine
Illustration: Everkinetic — CC BY-SA 4.0 — license. Modified versions are shared under the same license. Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.