maratoolWalking Lunges
How to do the walking lunges
- Start by either placing a barbell across your upper back or by grasping a dumbbell in each hand.
- Stand with your feet about 8 inches apart, toes facing forward.
- Take a lunge forward 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 to just above the floor and hold for a moment before pushing off with the back foot.
- Step through and repeat the exercise with the other leg.
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 quadriceps straighten the knee and take load on the descent; the glutes finish hip extension; the calves control the ankle and hold the heel position.
Every exercise for:HamstringsQuadricepsGlutesCalves
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
These train the hamstrings too, using equipment this one does not:
- Wide Stance Stiff Legsbarbell
- 90/90 Hamstringbody only
- Alternating Hang Cleankettlebell
- Ball Leg Curlexercise ball
- Band Good Morningband
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.