Rear Lunges with Dumbbell

Muscles worked

The prime movers are the quadriceps across the front of the thigh, which straighten the knee and, just as importantly, control it on the way back down.

Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the calves control the ankle and hold the heel position; the hamstrings assist hip extension and slow the knee down; the glutes finish hip extension.

The abductors take a share of the work as well.

Every exercise for:QuadricepsCalvesHamstringsGlutesAbductors

How this movement works

Several joints move together, so effort spreads across a chain rather than concentrating in one place. Coordination is part of the difficulty: the movement is only as good as its weakest link, and improving it often means fixing a position somewhere other than the muscle you meant to train.

It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.

What you need

Dumbbells let each side work on its own, surfacing a strength difference between limbs that a barbell would quietly cover for, and leaving the wrist free to rotate through the movement.

Every exercise using:Dumbbell

These train the quadriceps too, using equipment this one does not:

• Recumbent Bikemachine
• Reverse Band Box Squatbarbell
• Rocket Jumpbody only
• Smith Machine Hack Squatsmith machine + machine
• Squats with Exercise Bandsband